Understanding Continuity Editing
What is Continuity Editing?
Continuity Editing became the popular type of 'classical Hollywood' style of editing. Throughout the years, continuity editing was developed by both European and American directors, such as D.W. Griffith in his film 'The Birth of a Nation'. The classical style Continuity Editing consists of temporal and spatial (time and space) continuity as a way of advancing the narrative and this uses techniques such as the 180 degree rule, Match on Action and shot, reverse shot.
Importance with Continuity Editing:
Continuity Editing provides the sense of 'realistic chronology' and gives off the idea that time is in fact moving forward. The idea is to present a consistent shot when filming, although it doesn't provide a flashback shot to flash to the present, when using Continuity Editing we should be able to see the narrative between the shots.
Continuity Techniques:
Eye-line Match:
- Two shots are matched together.
- Character is shown shown looking in the distance off screen and then a shot is cut to showing what they were looking at.
- The audience watching has the experience to view this event throughout the duration of the film in the same way the character does.
Match on Action:
Match on Action is the technique that links two shots together. The character begins the scene with one shot being filmed on camera and then the camera films the scene from another part of the room which eventually ends with the character finishing the scene in the second shot. This provides the audience with a realistic view of the scene.
Shot, Reverse Shot:
A shot, reverse shot links two shots together and it also films one character in a scene, then the second shot films the other character in the scene. This creates the thought of the two characters conversing with each other within the scene.
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| Taken from; 'Sin City'
The 180 Degree Rule:
 
Shown below is an example of breaking the 180 degree rule in a scene.
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