Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing is the when films are edited in a coherent and realistic way. This means that the films gives the audience a feeling of time moving forward, realistically, as the narrative will progress in the expected way.
There are several techniques used to show continuity. These are:

• Match-on-action
• Eye-line Match
• Graphic Match

Match-on-action is when an action is continued through two shots. For example, in Shot One, Character A is walking through a door, and then in Shot Two, Character A is continuing to walk through the door.

Eye-line Match is when we see a character looking at something, that is off screen, and then we cut to a shot of what the character was looking at. For example, Character A is looking at a tree in Shot One, that is off screen and then, in Shot Two, we see this tree.

Graphic Match is when two shots are linked with a similar shape or composition. For example, Graphic Match is used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Dawn Of Man Scene. This is when the bone is thrown and then it changes to a space satellite.