Section 3: Video Guide Conclusion

Continuity has become the most dominant principle of editing as the Early cinema editing developed and influenced the Modern period. Continuity is the most mainstream technique of all single camera techniques as it allows a production to include a sense of time and space and flowing (continuing) story line, performed actions and cuts. Continuity, allows the audience to view a production and understand what is taking place as the production was formed for their entertainment, this is oppose to montage. Montage, breaks continuity with several videos placed back to back which may include, jump cuts, flashback, flash forwards, etc. It challenges the audience to understand why the clips are shown. It's quite obvious why continuity is supreme to montage as continuity is formed entirely for entertainment whereas, montage makes the audience think.

Continuity techniques such as: Seamless Cuts, Motivated Cuts, Cross-Cutting, 180 Degree Rule,Cutaways, P.O.V Shot & Shot Reverse Shot, are all still used today for their own individual reasons.
Seamless Cuts - Follows the actions and emotions of characters rather than visible shots.
Motivated Cuts - Maintains interest and sometimes creates suspense.
Cross-Cutting - Creates suspense and mystery.
Shot Reverse Shot - Intensify and focus on several characters having a conversation.
180 Degree Rule - Used to sustain characters conversing and maintains continuity.
P.O.V Shot - Makes the audience to imagine they're in the character's position.

Montage, and discontinuity techniques developed from Early to Modern cinema to challenge continuity as jump cuts, made a subject or object appear supernatural/magical. Also, open endings made the production suspenseful.

Contemporary cinema still use the techniques (listed above) today. However, they also use alternative techniques such as jump cuts and montage, but this is only used for entertainment. A example of this would be Quinton Tarantino's film 'Kill Bill' in which a several montages (fighting scenes) take place., this was most probably used to intensify the action of the scene. Moreover, jump cuts are used to skip unneeded sense of time and space (continuity).





Einstein & Kuleshov had mastered the use of montage as they wanted the audience to think for themselves why they're trying to understand they're viewings of several shots/scenes instead just being entertained. They lost the battle to continuity as it was much more interesting and preferred. The Kuleshov effect allowed the audience to perceive and form an opinion on the male looking at the several other subjects in the next scenes - it's obvious the montage was use to mentally challenge it's audience. However stylistic usage such as; training montages (Rocky), shopping montages, (A Cinderella Story), action montages (Kill Bill), etc. are simply used to show that a subject is performing an action or doing something for a long period of time, however, continuity is not necessary as it will not give the audience the feel that time is passing by quickly. This alternate version of montage/discontinuity shows that the original purpose of montage has been abandoned.

Contemporary Cinema pioneers used montage to be artistic purposes as they want to entertain their audience. 

The New Wave set out to break continuity as they want the audience to think instead of being entertained, eliminating the use continuity