use a reverse-angle shot(one in which the angle of
shooting is opposite to that in a preceding shot) or to
dolly or zoom out to include more people or actions.
But if the director asks the cinematographer to
cross the line, the shooting and editing must be done
carefully so as not to confuse the audience.
Editing Techniques That Maintain Continuity
In addition to the fundamental building blocks—the
master shot and maintaining screen direction with
the 180-degree system—various editing techniques
are used to ensure that graphic, spatial, and tempo-
ral relations are maintained from shot to shot.
Shot/Reverse ShotA shot/reverse shot, one
of the most common and familiar of all editing
patterns, is a technique in which the camera (and
editor) switches between shots of different charac-
ters, usually in a conversation or other interaction.
When used in continuity editing, the shots are typ-
ically framed over each character’s shoulder to
preserve screen direction. Thus, in the first shot
the camera is behind character A, who is looking
right, and records what character B says to A; in
the second shot, the camera is behind character B,
who is looking left, and records that character’s
response.
Michael Mann’s The Insider (1999; editors:
William Goldenberg, David Rosenbloom, and Paul
Rubell) provides a good example. In one of their
first discussions, Dr. Wigand (Russell Crowe) and
Mr. Bergman (Al Pacino) are sitting in the closed
confines of Wigand’s car. As their conversation
begins, Wigand is on the right of the frame, in the
driver’s seat, and Bergman is in the front passen-
ger’s seat, the imaginary line being the backs of the
seats. But as you first might expect, the scene is not
shot through the windshield. Instead, the camera
shoots Wigand through the window adjacent to
Bergman and vice versa. Although the two charac-
ters are essentially facing the windshield, they con-
tinually turn to face the other and maintain eyeline
contact. The conversation is tense and perfectly
suited to this closed, conspiratorial space.
The shot/reverse shot is one of the most funda-
mental of all filmmaking conventions, and because
it is so frequently used, directors over the years
have developed many variations on its basic tech-
nique. Besides playing an essential role in main-
taining continuity, the shot/reverse shot helps ease
some of the logistical challenges of making a movie.
For example, this editing technique fools our eyes
by bringing together two characters on the screen
that could have been photographed in completely
different locations or at completely different times.
Thus, we are reminded that a movie is not shot in
the order we see it on the screen and that the edi-
tor has the power to make it appear that it was.Match CutsMatch cuts—those in which shot A
and shot B are matched in action, subject, graphic
content, or two characters’ eye contact—help cre-
ate a sense of continuity between the two shots.
There are several kinds of match cuts. Technically,
they are identical; the differences between them
are in what is depicted.
David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962; editor:
Anne V. Coates) features a match cut that is leg-
endary in film history. Call it elliptical, poetic, or sim-
ply brilliant, it both wows us and moves the story
forward. T. E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) receives a
charge to make a perilous journey from Mr. Dryden
(Claude Rains), a British officer in Cairo; as he does
so, he lights Dryden’s cigarette, holds the match up
and watches the flame burn closer and closer to his
fingers (he enjoys such pain), responds to Dryden’s
skepticism about the assignment by saying, “No,
Dryden, it’s going to be fun,” and blows out the
match. The editor cuts to the rising of the sun above
the desert horizon, thus “matching” two flares of
light in two different places and time. Film critic
Anthony Lane writes, “It was a moment that Steven
Spielberg saw at the age of fifteen, and which, he
says, ignited his determination to make films. If you
don’t getthis cut, if you think it’s cheesy or showy or
over the top, and if something inside you doesn’t
flare up and burn at the spectacle that Lean has con-
jured, then you might as well give up the movies.”^6364 CHAPTER 8EDITING
(^6) Anthony Lane, “Master and Commander: Remembering
David Lean,” The New Yorker(March 31, 2008), p. 116.