Unit 5: Continuity Editing

Question 1

Shot

Answer 1

A continuously exposed series of frames, beginning and ending with a cut or other transitional
device.

Question 2

Editing

Answer 2

The process of selecting and joining film footage and shots.

Question 3

Transitional Devices

Answer 3

Cut
Dissolve
Wipe
Fade

Question 4

Cut

Answer 4

in the editing process, the joint or splice between two pieces of film.

Question 5

Dissolve

Answer 5

An optical effect that briefly superimposes one shot over the next.
One image fades out as another fades in and takes its place.

Question 6

Wipe

Answer 6

A transition used to join two shots by moving a vertical, horizontal or sometimes diagonal line
across one image to replace it with a second image that follows the line across the frame.

Question 7

Fade In

Answer 7

An optical effect in which a black screen gradually brightens to a full picture; often used after a
fade-out to create a transition between scenes.

Question 8

Fade Out

Answer 8

An optical effect in which an image gradually darkens to black; often ending a scene or a film.

Question 9

Iris In

Answer 9

A form of shot transition, generally concluding a scene, where a circular mask constricts the
image until the entire screen is black.

Question 10

Iris out

Answer 10

The reverse of an iris in: an iris expands outward until the shot takes up the entire screen.

Question 11

Continuity Editing

Answer 11

• also called “invisible editing”
• editing to create the impression that events flow seamlessly from shot to shot.
• a system of cutting to maintain continuous and clear narrative action.

Question 12

Techniques of Continuity Editing

Answer 12

screen direction
establishing shot/re-establishing shot
axis of action
eyeline match
shot/reverse shot
axis of action
Cross cutting, Parallel editing, Intercutting

Question 13

Screen Direction

Answer 13

The movement of one edited shot must remain consistent with the following shot to avoid
confusion on the part of the audience.

Question 14

Establishing Shot

Answer 14

A shot, usually involving a distant framing, that shows the spatial relations among important
figures, objects, and setting in a scene.

Question 15

Re-establishing Shot

Answer 15

A return to a view of an entire space after a series of closer shots following the establishing shot.

Question 16

Axis of Action

Answer 16

In the continuity editing system, the imaginary line that passes from side to side through the
main actors, defining the spatial relations of all the elements of the scene as being to the right or
left.
Also called the 180º line.

Question 17

Eyeline Match

Answer 17

a cut obeying the axis of action principle, in which the first shot shows a person looking in one
direction and the second show a nearby space containing what he or she sees. If the person looks
left, the following shot should imply that the looker is offscreen right.

Question 18

Match-on-Action

Answer 18

A rule in continuity editing, which dictates that if a cut occurs while a character is in the midst of
an action, the subsequent shot must begin so that audiences see the completion of that action.

Question 19

Shot/Reverse Shot

Answer 19

Two or more shots edited together that alternate characters, typically in a conversation situation.
In continuity editing, characters in one frame usually look left, in the other framing, right.
Over the shoulder framings are common in shot/reverse shot editing.

Question 20

Two Shot

Answer 20

A shot depicting two characters.

Question 21

Cut-In

Answer 21

An instantaneous shift from a distant framing to a closer view of some portion of the same space.

Question 22

Cutaway

Answer 22

shots that focuses audience attention on precise details that may or may not be the focus of the
characters.

Question 23

Master Shot

Answer 23

A single take that contains the entire scene.

Question 24

Iris shot

Answer 24

everything is blacked out except for what is seen through a keyhole, telescope, crack in the wall,
or binoculars, depending on what the actual shape of the iris or the point of view with which the
viewer is expected to identify.

Question 25

Tableau Shot

Answer 25

A long shot in which the film frame resembles the proscenium arch of the stage distancing the
audience.

Question 26

Crosscutting (general definition from Bordwell & Thompson)

Answer 26

Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action in different places, usually suggesting
that the events are happening at the same time.

Question 27

Parallel Editing

Answer 27

Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action in different places, usually suggesting
that the events are happening at the same time.

Question 28

Crosscutting

Answer 28

Editing that cuts between two or more actions occurring at the same time, and usually in the
same place.

Question 29

Intercutting

Answer 29

Editing of two or more actions taking place at the same time that creates the effect of a single
scene rather than of two distinct actions.

Question 30

Analytical Editing

Answer 30

typically there is an establishing shot before the action is broken down into detail shots.
the scene is analyzed or broken down by the camera to direct attention from the general
perspective to increasingly more specific views.

Question 31

4 dimensions of Editing

Answer 31

1: graphic relations
2: Rhythmic relations
3: Temporal relations
4: Spatial relations

Question 32

graphic match

Answer 32

link shots with close graphic similarities

Question 33

Kuleshov effect

Answer 33

cutting together portions of a space in a way that prompts the spectator to assume a spatial whole that isn’t shown onscreen

Question 34

Flashback

Answer 34

present one or more shots out of thier presumed story order

Question 35

Flashforward

Answer 35

moes from a present event to a future event then back to the present

Question 36

Elliptical editing

Answer 36

presents editing an action in suck a way that it consumes less time on screen than it does in the story