Continuity Editing

What is 'Continuity Editing'?

Continuity Editing is a style of Film/Video editing in the post-production procress of filmmaking and television programmes. The main purpose of this style of editting is to smooth over the movie, and make each shot in line with the previous one.

Majority of the films have coherence by cutting to continuity, which shows smooth transition of time. On the other hand, some movies have a complexed technique in continuity editing, as the same shot can reflect different emotions through continiuty editing.

Another form of Continuity editing is Montage, this is a series of events that occur over a short period of time in the film. The events could be for 4 days in the films but only lasts for about 30 seconds of scenes are used.

Match on action technique can be used where there are unrepeated actions, as the character walks into a room the camera then changes into a different angle but the character remains the same action as the previous shot, this type of editing is used to express the action of the character from different views.

The flashback editing is where the scene changes into a previous event that occured in the past. This form of editing allows the audience to identify the previous events that occured prior to the present. Many flashbacks are used in horror or murder films as it allows the murderer to hide his motive on why he is comitting these crimes. An easy way to recognise flash is through the mise-en-scene as many of the characters will be wearing old clothes or even objects around the room/area.

The first shot of the movie is called an establishing shot, this shot allows the audience to understand and identify the location which the event is occuring at. However, this shot doesn't always have to be used once, when the scene changes into a different location the shot can be used again in order for the user to understand the new location.

Task 3

Eastenders editing

In this task I have been asked to review the editting and how the Camera has been used in the extract from an episode of Eastenders. I have also been asked to find out the meanings of why the edits have been used and what meaning they have.

The extract starts with title sequence which then moves onto a scene where a couple are laying in bed as if they have woken up for a new day. However the camera is faced at an angle where we aren't able to see the baby or hear it crying until the male character leaves the bed. The camera then changes angle and shows the frustration of the womens face when the man doesn't attend to the crying baby, we are able to see the emotions of the womens face as the camera slowly zooms into a close up of her face.

The scene then changes into a women picks the petals of a bunch of pink flowers, due to the camera angle we are able to presume that she is tearing each petal off due to anger or frustration whilst she's on the phone. The camera angle then changes and breaks the suspense who the character might be, we can tell that she is angry as her facial expressions are straight and clear of her emotions.

The scene then cuts away to another character who also seems to be rather angry as we can see that he is playing with him mobile phone and breaks it due to anger or frustation. The camera then tracks the characters movements and moves into a close up and shows his emotions to the audience through his facial expressions.

The scene then changes where the camera is placed still in the corner where it is able to view the room at a mid shot position. We witness a character walking into the room to find a plant which he seems rather shocked about as he seems to feel it for the first time.

The scene then changes into a shot of a character who is picking up the bottle of milk - this emphasises the fact it is a new morning.

The scene then changes back into the man who was rather angry in the kitchen, however he is with a female in the room. The camera is placed in the corner where we can witness the activities in the whole room approximately 150 degress from the female.