Key Term Definitions

Continuity: The maintenance of continuous action and self-consistent detail in the various scenes of a movie or broadcast.

Match on action (Cutting on action): Editing technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject of the first shot. This creates the impression of a sense of continuity the action carrying through creates a “visual bridge”. This draws the audience’s attention away from slight cutting.

Shot reverse shot: a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character.

The 180-degree rule: a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.