Preliminary Exercise - Continuity Editing (1)

Continuity editing is a fundamental principle of moving image production, involving the smooth editing of shots so that the narrative seems to flow uninterrupted. This promotes the feeling of realism in a piece of film, as it can be unsettling to the viewer if the natural flow of a sequence is disrupted.

Our task involved the filming and editing of a piece, which should involve a character opening a door, then sitting down with another character, with whom they would then proceed to exchange a few lines of dialogue. It should also demonstrate the usage of the '180° rule' and a match on action shot.

The 180° rule

The 180° rule is a basic film-making guideline stating that once an imaginary line (cutting through the middle of a scene from side to side) has been established in a shot, then the camera should remain positioned on one half of that line, therefore giving the two characters or other elements in that scene the same left/right relationship to each other throughout. If the camera crosses the line, thus breaking the rule, the visual outcome is often confusing and disorientating to the viewer, therefore is something that is usually to be avoided.

Match On Action

A Match On Action is a continuity cut which unites multiple different views of the same action together, at the same moment in movement, making the action appear uninterrupted. It can be fairly difficult to achieve, as the timings between cuts have to be very precise, or it will not flow properly. For our Match On Action, we shot the couple in the scene taking each other by the hand and then walking away. We shot this action numerous times, from a range of different angles and viewpoints, so that we could capture the action from start to finish.

I feel that the filming aspect of this task went quite well, as we managed to get a wide variety of shots and angles, and as far as I am aware, we included everything that we needed. When we got round to actually filming, we worked together quite effectively, although up until that point it had taken our group a while to come up with an idea. We experienced some difficulties whilst filming, such as the fact that we had missed out certain parts that would be vital to continuity, but these were resolved quite quickly, and I am fairly satisfied with how it turned out.