Continuity

You cannot think about the way you construct shots without thinking about how those shots will cut together. Alternatively, you cannot think about how you cut material together without considering how the shots were constructed.

The concept of editing is inextricably tied to shot design and vice versa.

That being the case, you always shoot to edit. This is the process by which you consider how the project will be edited and design your shots accordingly.

In much of today’s media, the goal is to immerse the audience in the story and dissolve the line between reality and fantasy, between real life and the screen.

As you watch a scene unfold, you might believe that everything is happening as one continuous event. The characters move seamlessly from shot to shot, almost as if there were multiple cameras present, each capturing the same moment from a different angle.

However, this is not the case. In all likelihood, there was only one camera, filming the same action over and over in different ways.

Shooting for continuity is a style that aims for a smooth blend of different shots to create the illusion of a continuous, coherent whole. It immerses the audience in the cinematic space by rendering the editing process invisible, and it generates a sense of continuity in time, space, and action.

The simplest way to shoot for continuity is to use the following approach.

You shoot the “master shot” first to establish geography, screen direction, blocking, and lighting. It is often a wide shot, but in truth, it simply needs to be wide enough to show all the relevant action of a scene.

Then, you shoot “coverage” from various vantage points and distances in order to show the various aspects of the scene. For each piece of coverage, the actors run through the same action as was captured in the master shot.

The different shots used are all considered part of the “coverage” of the scene. It then becomes the job of the editor to arrange the way the shots play out within the sequence, cutting for maximum emotional impact.

Look at the following clip and answer the following questions:

• In what way do you feel the continuity of time, place, and action?
• How many distinct shots (as opposed to edits) do you see?

This sequence is made up of three distinct shots. Let’s look at them in detail. Move the slider below the images to switch between shots.

Let’s look at another clip and ask similar questions:

• In what way do you feel the continuity of time, place, and action?
• How many distinct shots (as opposed to edits) do you see?

This sequence is made up of five distinct shots. Let’s look at them in detail. Move the slider below the images to switch between shots.

Sometimes you want to break the rules, and sometimes you do it by accident.

If you are looking to create a sense of “discontinuity,” you can break the illusion of continual action by creating a jump cut. This is a technique that interrupts the sense of continuity in the sequence.

You can do this by cutting to a shot that is too similar to the previous one or that isn’t at least 45 degrees different from the previous one. Doing so will create an uncomfortable “jump” for the audience that doesn’t feel quite right. The cut itself feels awkward and calls attention to itself. 

Alternately, you can cut to the same shot, with the action having “jumped” ahead in time to a different moment or location in the frame.

Whatever shots you have, they are all considered part of the “coverage” of the scene. The job of the editor is to arrange how the shots play out within the sequence, cutting for maximum emotional impact.