Rules of Filming - Continuity

Continuity

Continuity is to film certain shots and make particular edits in order to make the scene flow as best as possible making the audience feel it’s a well-produced movie without them be aware its real life, they like to escape real life while watching films and ensuring the following features help with that escape:

• The 180 rule

This is a basic guideline about the on-screen relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.  To understand the 180 rule and to apply film making you need to imagine a line which cuts the scene in half. Similar to an axis and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene it creates continuity.

• Match on Action (cutting on action)

This is where the editor cuts from one shot to another that matches the first shot's action. It looks as if they had been filmed all at the same time but in fact they may have actually been shot hours apart from each other. This creates continuity because it all flows well when edited together. To prevent the audience from noticing the editing the editor creates a “visual bridge” which is designed to distract them while watching so they are concentrating on something other than the editing.

• 30 degree rule

This is a simple rule that all film makers abide by. The camera shouldn’t go within 30 degrees between shots of the same subject occurring in succession. Failure to follow this rule a jump cut occurs which can distract viewers and make them concentrate on filming where they might notice editing as well. Exception can be made through; some films intend to do jump cuts to create a certain mood.

                                   

• Shot reveres shot

This is where one character is shown looking at someone else, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character as if they are having a conversation.

                                              

• Rule of thirds

This is when the frame is cut up using 4 invisible lines creating 9 sections which create reference points which act as guides for framing the image. So you know where to place certain features.