Continuity

Continuity

Continuity is when shots, that are more-or-less related, are edited together in order to direct the audience's to a pre-existing story across time and location. These are the rules of continuity:-

• Establishing shot = Often found in long shots or extreme long shots, this shot shows where a scene is going to take place and it can show the relationship between the location and the subject. Here is an example:-

• Shot reverse shot = Typically used in a conversation. This shot focuses on the characters that are talking, switches between the two to make a scene look like a conversation. The shot types must match. Here is an example of an image where two faces match positions.

• 180 degree rule = Not allowed to have cameras on both sides of two characters, only on one side otherwise it looks like the character has moved, breaking continuity. The image below explains how the rule works.

• Cross-cutting = To edit together two sequences that somehow connected. Something is happening at the same time in different locations. The image below shows two different characters' whereabouts and actions at the same time.

• Match on Action = The same scene from a different point of view in two separate shots. Here is an example where the shot cuts to a character walking through a door to another character doing the same action.

• Eye line match = The way an eye is looking. If the eye isn't looking at the same thing in the same shot or the next, continuity is broken. Here is an example:-