Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing: retains a sense of chronology  and generates the feeling that time is moving forward.

• May use flashback or flash forward but the narrative will still be seen to be progressing forward in an expected or realistic way.

Key Techniques

• Eye line match

We see a character looking at something off screen and then we cut to a shot of what they are looking at.

• Match on action

We see a character start an action in one shot and then we see them continue in the next.

• Graphic Match

When two shots are linked with a similar shape or composition of an image. When two consecutive shots are matched in terms of the way they look.

• The 180 degree rule

This is the basic guideline that states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left or right relationships to each other.

If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects it is called crossing the line

Shot/Reverse Shot

Used in conversations and arguments.