Film Continuity

Film Continuity

Film Continuity; The way a film is made to provide continuous and clear movements of events during a film, making sure cuts are edited together in chronological order and keeping location and props the same between cuts, allowing the film to flow and the audience to not get confused.

180 degree line of action

This is a basic line of action between 2  characters, or objects, usually used during a conversation between the two. This 180 degree line makes sure the camera is kept on one side of the axis for each shot in the scene, the line is usually imagined running from one character to the other, linking them and carrying on throughout the location of the scene. The camera stays on one side of the line to make sure the location of the characters is consistent between shots, not confusing the audience of the special relationship between the characters and in the scene. If the 180 degree line were to be broken, the audience would be disorientated throughout the scene, showing the characters switching sides of screen and the background’s behind them changing throughout each shot. The line of action prevents this so the scene flows nicely with no confusion of where the characters are stood in the scene.

Shot reverse shot

This technique is used with the 180 degree rule between two characters, separately cutting to close ups of the two characters faces as they speak in conversation with one another, switching between the two to catch reactions and their speech.

Match on action

This is an edit of film where a cut is seen in the middle of an action, to another shot where that action is continued, the action matching on both cuts. E.g. a woman grabbing a handle of the door and pushing it open, cutting to the woman finishing that push of the door an entering the room from the other side.