Rules of Continuity in Film ☮ ☮ ☮

Continuity in filming comes with the post-production of editing to make the scenes shot fit as smoothly as possible to show a realistic and believable set. This comes with certain rules that are vital to follow in order to carry out the realistic effect to make sure that the audience can follow it's narrative without getting confused about the type of edit or angle the camera cuts to at certain points, Which goes as follows...

Shot Reverse Shot

This particular type of shot is used mainly when filming a conversation between two characters, showing two different shots of the characters talking to the other in a close up, typically one character looking left and the other character in another close up shot looking right. Usually with this shot the camera crew will film the scene either by filming it twice with shooting from the different angles as to not show the camera filming the character opposite, or will film all one characters lines without moving as to get the correct spot and vice versa. This type of shot is effective when wanting to show the characters reaction to each other in the conversation and the emotion they're portraying, It also is a clever way to make the audience feel up close and personal with the characters and make them feel as if they're actually involved within the conversation.

108° Rule

This rule is set to make sure that the camera crew don't edit the scenes shot to exceed more than 180° more than the previous shot, If the camera crew where to do this it would cause confusion to the audience as you would be crossing the characters line of vision, exceeding this shows an unbalanced set, as the audience would be introduced to new surroundings quickly without being able to show more of the actors or objects whereabouts gradually through a smaller cut to a different angle. Though some films can break this rule if they do it correctly, e.g.. if the director wanted to go for a more disorientated and wild scene this can be used when a certain character is mad, drunk or depressed to show how the character feels which rejects the confusion with the audience as they can understand that this is how the character would feel and would get the correct mood that the scene was trying to give off which could be eerie, creepy, disorientated etc...  

Match On Action

This particular shot shows an actor's movement or action, in a shot, then cuts to another angle (usually a close or extreme close up shot) which shows specifically what the character is doing, which shows the audience a precise move to preform this action. This particular shot is used usually in action films where a specific stunt is performed and then edit to show a a close up or slow motioned shot from another angle to show the shock or coolness of a particular move to make the audience see in detail the difficult move. The shot is also one used to create mystery and an eeriness, especially when it is a casual or normal move that people make in everyday life which is weird to see the camera focusing on it making the tension ride and seem suspenseful, whilst also giving off the sense of continuity.