PARALLEL FILM EDITING

Important to a film maker is the ability to handle ideas and concepts.  Once ideas have been captured on strips of film they must be assembled.  For this we rely heavily on an editing principle: the alternation of two or more centers of interest.  This 'parallel film editing' is one of the most frequently used forms of film language.  It serves to present clearly conflicting or related story lines by moving alternately from one center of interest to the other. The technique is so common that audiences take it for granted in every film.  A film which avoids use of the technique irritates the viewer even though if pressed to supply a reason for this discomfort would not be able to give the right answer.

Two basic types

To clarify what parallel film editing is, here is an example - a rough description of the first sequence of a well known film.

1) Elio Petri's film The Tenth Victim, begins with Ursula Andress being pursued on a New York street by a hunter (George Wang). The hunter is momentarily detained by a policeman who checks the validity of his 'licence to kill'.

2) A man seen in close up, begins to explain what the Great Hunt is. In the not so distant future citizens exercise 'licences to kill' in government sponsored duels to the death.

3) The film returns to Ursula Andress being chased around the scenic sites of New York by the hunter, who keeps firing his gun, and misses every time.

4) Again the unknown man is presented in close up, and gives more information about the Great Hunt.

5) Miss Andress teases the hunter to keep on firing, until he runs out of bullets.

6) Once more the unknown man appears in close up and details the advantages of succeeding, in ten consecutive chases, alternating as hunter and victim.

7) Ursula Andress, followed at a short distance by her pursuer, steps on a car's hood, jumps over a net fence and runs into the 'Masoch Club'.

8) Her pursuer arrives and, after a pause, also enters the club. He moves in the futuristic interior, walking among the seated patrons.

9) A master of ceremonies on the stage (the man we had previously seen in close up explaining the mechanism of the Great Hunt) introduces a dancer.  She emerges, wearing a mask and a costume of blue and silver sequins, and starts to dance.

10) The hunter sits down and watches her.

11) She moves among the club's patrons who remove pieces of her dress, until only two small garments remain.

12) The hunter watches her.

   a) the chase on the streets of New York, and
    b) the explanation of what the Great Hunt is.

Each story line develops separately, contributing more information on each successive appearance.  On the external views of the chase (the first story line) we become aware that something unusual is happening.  Then we see how the victim is controlling the hunter at will.  Later we see how she leads him to a site she has pre-selected (1, 3, 5 and 7).  The close ups of the club's master of ceremonies (the second story line) explain what the Great Hunt is, then what its mechanism is, and later what are the advantages of surviving in ten consecutive chases (2, 4 and 6).

Second, two related situations in a common site are alternated:  the dancer, and the hunter. Once inside the club, the parallel film pattern changes, and concentrates on the relationship between the dancer (as shown in 9 and II), who is really the victim in disguise, and the confused hunter (shown in 8, 10 and 12).

The task of relating two story lines, or two characters, or two different events, or a larger number of story lines, characters and events, is assigned to parallel film editing.  These types of parallel editing could be defined as follows:

  I) The lines of interaction are close together, in the same space.
 2) The lines of interaction are far apart, in different places, and only a common motivation provides the link.

The first type of parallel film editing is exemplified by the confrontation of the dancer and the hunter.  A dialogue between two persons, where both are separately observed by the camera, falls in the same category.

The chase on the streets of New York alternating with the explanations of the master of ceremonies, exemplifies the second type of parallel film editing.  Their interrelation can be immediate (as in a race where two opponents are moving towards a common goal), or delayed to the end, such as in the example quoted, where the identity of the man who speaks (he is the master of ceremonies) is carefully hidden from the audience at the beginning of the story. This man is the link between both story lines.

Interrelating two story lines in a parallel pattern gives them a mutual dependence, since the average film viewer has been conditioned to expect such a response from this combination.

Comparative behaviours can be presented on the screen with this method.  The documentary film form is very apt to obtain remarkable image associations by the conscious editing of several events in parallel patterns, i.e. various athletes in different sports prepare to compete, the competition begins and some of the participants fail.  By observing the same athletes in the three stages of behaviour and seeing them alternately at each stage, a space-time relationship unique to the cinema is obtained.

Action and reaction

When we are told a story we unconsciously want to know two things: 1) what action is going on, and 2) how the people involved are reacting to that action.  If the storyteller forgets to keep track of those two things his audience will be confused or unsufficiently informed.  If you were telling the story personally, your audience would ask you about the missing facts, which you would then supply.  But telling a story on the screen is an impersonal act because you seldom see your audience or hear their reactions.  The film is already printed, the story immutable and if you forget something you cannot stop the film and supply the missing information.  Most film takes contain action and reaction within the length of the shot.  Witness this example where two shots are used:

    Shot 1: a hunter moves his rifle from side to side and fires.
    Shot 2: a flying bird is suddenly hit and falls.

Shot I shows the hunter aiming (an action) and then he fires (a reaction).  Shot 2 shows the bird flying (an action) and its flight is suddenly interrupted (a reaction).  But if we showed Shots I and 2 without grouping the actions and reactions, our understanding of what is going on would not be as effective as if we grouped them as follows:

   (Action) Shot 1: the hunter moves his rifle from side to side, aiming off screen.
                Shot 2: a bird is flying in the sky.

   (Reaction) Shot 1: the hunter fires his rifle.
                    Shot 2: the bird is hit and falls.

In this way we have grouped first the informative parts of the shots, enabling us to show the outcome more comprehensibly. That alternation of shots: Shot I-Shot 2-Shot I-Shot 2, is known as parallel film editing, and is only one of its forms.  In this example we were dealing with two lines of action, but the number of lines involved might be increased for a different situation.

This grouping of action and reaction permeates the whole structure of a film: from the union of two shots, to the juxtaposition of two or more sequences, and to a greater extent the construction of the whole story itself.

Peak moments and the understanding

The process of manipulating action just described forces a selection process in working out a film story.  Only the peak moments of a story are shown on a screen, and all the events or actions that delay or do not add new, significant material, are deleted from the narrative.

Selection of peak moments implies the control of time and movement.  An expert film maker is always compressing or expanding time and yet he gives the illusion of supplying us with the entire real time of the event: movement may be fragmented and controlled according to a dynamic criterion.  Film editing demolishes the old dramatic unities of place and time.  The audience is moved from here to there, from the present to the past, without warning.  And the viewer accepts all this quite naturally.

This process originates from when man invented his first written language.  Written thoughts force the reader to analyze and assimilate each graphic symbol individually to obtain meaning, and that developed capacity for instant analysis and comparison differenciates us from primitive man, who lived in a true unity with his environment, always conscious of the whole and unable to conceive an abstraction.  To properly understand the visual language of film, the viewer needs to have passed through the experience of learning a written language made of conventional signs particular to his community.  With this same ability he can assimilate a conventional way of linkage between the moving images on a screen.

As long as a succession of actions and reactions is maintained the interpretation of that visual language does not demand of the viewer an understanding of its physical construction.  But for the film maker this action-reaction pattern dictates all the formulas for camera placement and sequence construction and the needs of editing.

How parallel editing is obtained

Parallel film editing to cover a story point, can be achieved using two approaches:

  a) single shots of short duration and/or
   b) long master shots.

If short single shots are used, the two or more related actions involved are covered individually by using diverse and multiple camera set ups. These shots are edited in such a way that they shift the viewpoint alternately from one action to the other, thus piecing together the whole event or scene.  Each shot used, each piece of film, is a peak moment in the series of actions and reactions that all story lines contain.

With this method, the whole event can be appreciated only when all the shots have been cut together.  That is the main difference between the single shot and the master shot approach. As the name implies, a master shot is a single camera position from which the event is recorded in its entirety.  In practice two or three camera positions may be used simultaneously to provide several such master shots.  If fragments of those master shots are selected, and edited in parallel, the total event recorded can be reconstructed using the best or most significant segments of each master take, presenting a fragmented view similar to the short single shot process.  A good film maker uses either method.  Both are quite dynamic and offer definite pictorial advantages over a single shot recording of a scene.

Parallel editing covers greater possibilities in the interaction of two narrative lines.  Where the degree of knowledge shared between the characters of the story, or between the film and its audience is variable the alternatives can be seen as those in which:

 I)  Both story lines support each other, and the data that both contribute (alternately) builds up the story.
 2) In one line, the movement or intention is kept the same, while on the other the reactions to that steady repetition are varied.
 3) The characters involved in both narrative lines are unaware of what the other group is doing, and only the audience has all the facts.
 4) The information given in both narrative lines is incomplete, so that the characters have all the facts, but the audience is purposely kept in the dark, to stimulate its interest.

Which one of these approaches is to be used must be decided by the story writer and the film maker concerned.  But one fact remains, parallel film editing will always provide the best way of conveying the desired information to the audience.  The two basic elements, action and reaction, will help complete the presentation.  We are manipulating the occurrence, selecting with a technique that cloaks our tampering with reality.

Three types of scenes

Film stories usually have a structure that progresses scene by scene from the statement of a situation, through a development of the conflict, to a climax that closes the play.  All scenes fall within these three categories:

 I) dialogues without action
 2) dialogues with action
 3) actions without dialogues

These are of course simplified categories.  Actors may not move while they talk, but the vehicle on which they are placed can, and the camera also can be in motion.  When actors move during their exchange of dialogue the camera can be fixed, or move with them. And in the third instance the voice of a narrator or the internal thoughts of the characters may accompany the pure movement framed on the screen.  Furthermore, all three techniques can be used together within a single sequence.  But this classification is essential to the study of grammatical rules.

To translate scenes from script to picture any rules must have a twofold effect:

 I)  We must shoot film that can later be joined in continuity.
 2) We need solutions for the editorial problems that will arise in different situations.

To achieve this we must control two things:

 1) The distances from which we record the event.
 2) The motions of the subjects performing that event.

By selecting the distance, we control what the audience sees and the number of performers and objects shown in the different shots.  Points or moments of emphasis in a story, can be governed by approaching or moving away from our main subjects. With the second device, without hampering the free movement of our performers we impose a measure of control on the recording process of that motion.

The shot

Let us define the grammatical tools of the film language.  First of all we have the shot. The length of the shot or take is limited only by the amount of film that can be exposed in the camera without reloading-say, four, ten or thirty three minutes.  The shot can be used in its entirety in an uninterrupted flow, or broken up into smaller strips of film to be intercut with other shots.  A staged event can be shot repeatedly, in whole or part from the same or different positions. Generally, when the scene does not play too well the repeat shots are taken from the same position.  Changes of camera position are used more conciously, to allow the film editor to cross-cut.

Movement

During a shot the camera can remain fixed, or it can pan (sweep horizontally on its axis), or it can tilt (pivoting either up or down) or it can travel at different speeds attached to a moving vehicle.  It can record simple or complex events.  It can move supporting the action that it records.  It can do all that from different distances.  Those distances can be obtained either physically or optically.

Distances

The gradation of distances between the camera and the recorded subject can be infinite.  Actual practice has taught that there are five basic definable distances.  They are known as:

   close up, or big close up
   close shot,
   medium shot,
   full shot, and
   long shot.

These do not imply a fixed measurable distance in each case.  The terminology is quite elastic, and deals mainly with concepts.  It is obvious that the distance between camera and subject is different between a close shot of a house and close shot of a man.  Through actual practice it has been discovered that the human figure has 'cutting heights' from which pleasing compositions can be obtained, whether one or more bodies are shown on the screen.

If a full shot of the human figure is framed, the feet of the subject must be included.  Cutting above the ankles will not give a pleasant composition.

Types of editing

There are three main ways in which a scene can be edited:

 I) A master shot registers the whole scene.  To avoid monotony, there are several techniques for editing 'within the film, frame or 'in camera'.'
 2) A master shot is inter-cut with other shorter takes.  These other takes cover fragments of the scene from a different distance or introduce subjects in another place, and are intercut into the master shot to provide emphasis on key passages of the scene.
 3) Two or more master shots are blended together in parallel.  Our point of view alternates from one master shot to the other.

By using any or all of the three methods we can cover a sequence. A sequence envelopes a scene or a series of related scenes that have a time and space continuity.  Usually a sequence has a beginning, a middle and a conclusion.  This conclusion ends either on a high point or a low point or a low moment of intensity of the story.

Visual punctuation

Sequences are joined together by two types of punctuation: 1) a straight cut or 2) an optical. In a straight cut the transition is visually abrupt.  The several ways of achieving it will be discussed later on.  In the case of an optical, a fade out, fade in, dissolve or wipe, can be employed to obtain a smooth visual transition.

Scene matching

In matching scenes the following three requirements must be satisfied.  It is necessary to match:

  I) The position.
 2) The movement.
 3) The look.

The movie screen is a fixed area.  If a performer is shown on the left side of the screen in a full shot, he must be on that side if there is a cut to a close shot placed on the same visual axis.  If this rule for matching the position is not respected, awkward visual jumps on the screen will result, so that the audience has to switch attention from one sector to another to locate the main character whose adventures they are following.  This is both annoying and distracting.  The spectator must be given a comfortable eye scan of the shots with a constant orientation that allows him to concentrate on the story.  For this purpose the screen is usually divided in two or three vertical parts, in which the main performers are placed.  All position matching is done in any or all of these areas.

Matching the movement has a similar logical base.  Direction of movement should be the same in two consecutive shots that record the continuous motion of a performer otherwise the audience will be confused about the supposed direction of movement. If the ovement is of a similar kind and in the same direction, the audience follows the motion of the subject easily.  But If the direction of movement is suddenly reversed in the second shot, there will be confusion as to where the subject is going.

Matching the look is the third requirement to be taken into account when assembling shots where players appear individually or in groups.  Matched looks on the screen are always opposed.  Two subjects who exchange looks, do so in conflicting directions.  When two people face each other, their glances are in opposed directions.  If the actors are framed in separate shots, this opposition in directions must be maintained for a proper visual continuity. If both players were looking in the same direction in both shots, they would logically be looking at a third person or object, and not at each other.  Without this opposition of glances, scenes become weak and sometimes meaningless.

Establishing and maintaining a constant opposition in the direction of a look exchanged between two players, can be achieved very simply.  The only requisite is that their heads face each other. The physical distance between them is unimportant.  If a player moves to a position where he now has his back to his fellow player, the opposition of looks is maintained as he periodically glances at the other person over his shoulder, or if after a moment, he turns to face his interlocutor again.  In a group of three, one of them is the arbiter of attention.  When one of the actors speaks, the other two look at him.  As the interest shifts, one of the players looks to the new centre of attention, making an effective and clear change for the audience to follow.
 

THE TRIANGLE PRINCIPLE

 Basic body positions

All dialogued scenes have two central players.  These two dominant players in a scene can be deployed in a pair of linear arrangements: 1) a straight line composition, and 2) a right angle relation.  Within those arrangements four body rapports can be assumed during a conversation between the players.

  I)The actors face each other,
 2) the actors are placed side by side,
 3) one player has his back to the other.
 4) They are placed back to back.

Line of interest

It can be said that between two talking partners a line of interest flows.  This line has a straight path.  The line of interest between two central players in a scene is based on the direction of the looks exchanged between them.  A line of interest can be observed from three extreme positions, without crossing to the other side of the line.  These three extreme positions form a triangular figure with its base parallel to the line of interest.

Line of interest and triangular camera placement

Camera viewpoints for master shots, are on the angles of this figure.  The main advantage is that each performer is framed on the same side of the screen in each shot with player A on the left side and player B on the right.

Two triangular camera formations can be set, one on each side of a line of interest.  We cannot successfully cut from a camera position in one pattern to another on the other triangular arrangement.  If we do that, we will only confuse our audience, because using two camera positions located on different triangular formations will not present a steady emplacement of the players on the same areas of the screen.  A cardinal rule for the triangular camera principle then, is to select one side of the line of interest and stick to it.  This is one of the most respected rules in film language.

Three basic variations of the triangle principle

 EXTERNAL REVERSE ANGLES

Both camera positions on the base of the triangle are behind the backs of the two central players, angled in, close to the line of interest between the performers and covering them both.

External reverse angles.  The cameras In the two positions
parallel to the line of Interest are directed Inward towards the players.  Note that the
symbol represents a human, the flat side Indicates the front of the figure.
 

 INTERNAL REVERSE ANGLES

In this second variant, the cameras are between the two players, pivoted outwards from the triangular figure, and close to the line of interest though not representing the viewpoints of the performers.  In either case the rapport is not that of a head-on confrontation, though quite close to it in effect.

Internal reverse angles.

With the cameras back to back anywhere on the base of the triangle the effect represents the subjective viewpoint of the player excluded from the shot.

Subjective camera angles.  If the camera positions are back to
back on the line of interest itself. they each become the subjective point of view of the player
excluded from the shot.

 PARALLEL POSITIONS

With the third variant the camera sites are on the base of the triangular figure close to the line of interest, deployed with their visual axes in parallel, and cover the performers individually.

Parallel camera positions.  When both camera positions have their
visual axes in parallel, they cover each Player individually giving us a profile view.

The three situations outlined above can be combined to multiply the camera placements.  Seven camera viewpoints contained within a triangular figure.  All positions can be combined in pairs to cover both players, except for the internal and parallel sites that cover each of the subjects individually.

  The three basic variants outlined in the previous figures
can be combined into a major triangular deployment.  Thus, varied and ample camera coverage
 is obtained for two static players during their exchange of dialogue.
 
COMMON VISUAL AXIS.

To cover only one of the players in a master shot while framing both players on the other, the camera in one of the two viewpoints on the triangle base, must be advanced on its visual axis. Advancing on either of the two viewpoints (optically or physically) we obtain a closer shot of the selected performer, thus emphasizing him over his partner.  To obtain coverage of a single player In the group, one of the cameras Is moved forward on the visual axis line of either of the two positions on the base of the triangle.

Emphasis by composition

When two speaking performers face each other, the strongest camera positions to record their dialogue, are located on the base of the triangle, parallel to the line of interest.  Positions I and 3 of the external reverse camera arrangement, have two immediate advantages over the camera site situated on the apex of the triangle.  They give composition in depth, because from their view- points, the actors are placed on two different planes: one close to the camera and the other further back.

The second advantage is that one of the actors faces the camera, getting our full attention, while the other has his back to us.  In theatrical terms, the second actor has an open body position (face to the audience), while the first has a closed body position (his back to the audience).  Therefore the performer facing the camera is the dominant one. On the screen this is accentuated further by the distribution of screen space in the composition of the shot.  On normal screen sizes (3 x 4 ratio) the actor who speaks is given two-thirds of the screen space, while his interlocutor has only one-third. If the latter is slightly out of focus, the emphasis on the speaking performer will be strengthened.

The second position in the triangular arrangement is the weakest of the three.  It views the actors from the side (a half-open body position), and pictures them on the same plane and with equal screen space.  It is reserved for the opening or closing of a conversation sequence.  It is also used to introduce a pause in the cutting rhythm of the sequence or to precede a change in editorial pattern. The one-third, two-thirds, space of relationship just described works also for wide screen frames.
 

SPATIAL CONNECTIONS

Shot Size

As we all know, the universal units of composition are the long shot, the medium shot, and the close-up.  These shots are a development of the continuity system insofar as they are overlapping portions of a single space and only make sense in relation to one another.  That is, they are used together to create a consistent spatial/temporal order.  Though they can be used to describe spaces as large as the solar system or as small as the head of a pin, we always know approximately how large an area is being framed when these terms are used.  That's because the shots are scaled to the subject and related to one another proportionately.
 
A long shot of the World Trade Center frames all of the twin towers and a generous piece of Manhattan; a medium shot of the building would lop off some of the lower floors.  Moving in for a close-up, a single window might fill the frame.  There are no absolute rules in the use of these terms and even the terms themselves vary.  In the figure below, basic framing heights are shown for the human figure.
     

The change of size from shot to shot varies but is determined by the limits of identification.  As long as we recognize that each shot is an overlapping portion of the wide shot, the change in scale is permissible. Actually, even this definition must take into account the change in editing styles over several decades.  The move from wide shot to close-up was considered too radical a jump for audiences during the first five decades of motion pictures unless a medium shot was used in between.  Hollywood editors were forbidden to juxtapose a wide shot with a close-up lest they confuse the audience as to where the close-up was taking place. Today, after several decades of familiarity with Hollywood conventions, audiences easily accept extreme changes in scale.  If anything, it is likely that the conservative editing rules of the past lagged behind audience understanding.
 
Visual recognition between shots, however, is only half the strategy of the continuity style.  Most often the relationship between shots is one of implication or inference.  For example, we see a wide shot of a man approaching a door.  This is followed by a cut to an extreme close-up of the man's hand turning the doorknob.  Even if the doorknob was too small to attract our attention in the wide shot, we expect that it is connected to the previous shot since it makes logical sense, even though we could be looking at another doorway in a different place and time.  Narrative logic and the visual connection between shots cooperate to create a sense of continuous space.  This pair of ideas, cause and effect and spatial recognition, provide the organizational basis of the continuity style.
 
Shot Flow

Shot flow is the name given to the kinetic effect of a sequence of shots.  This is an apt description since it evokes the image of a river, which can be turbulent, tranquil or winding and can even turn back against itself in midcourse.  A sequence of shots is often comprised of complex rhythmic and dynamic continuity relationships that, like a river, merge into a single, unified structure.  But no matter how intricate the relationships between the shots, there are two sequential ingredients that are fundamental to our understanding of visualization: shot size and camera angle.  There are also many other compositional elements familiar to artists from photography and painting that contribute to a sequence, but camera angle and shot size are the dominant physical changes that determine shot flow.

Standard shot descriptions and their abbreviations.

 ECU       -   Extreme close-up
 MCU      -   Medium close-up
 CU         -   Close-up
 MS         -   Medium shot
 WS         -   Wide shot
 LS          -   Long shot
 ELS        -   Extreme long shot
 BG (bg)  -   Background
 FG (fg)   -   Foreground
 OTS       -   Over the shoulder
 POV       -   Point of view

The Line of Action

The most basic rule of camera placement that the continuity system observes is the line of action.  The purpose of the line of action is quite simple: It organizes camera angles to preserve consistent screen direction and space.  It's also useful for organizing the shooting plan.  Because the set has to be relit every time the camera is moved to a new angle, it makes sense to gang shots sharing a similar angle of view together, so that they can be shot at one time.  This avoids having to light any camera position more than once.

We can think of the line of action as an imaginary partition running through the space in front of the camera.  It was originally devised to make sure that if multiple angles of a scene were shot, they could be cut together without a confusing reversal of left and right screen space.  This way, subjects moving through the frame in one shot continue in the same direction in a subsequent shot.  The line of action is also called the "180- degree rule" or the "axis of action."  To maintain consistent screen direction of the two people seated at the table, the continuity system proposes that an imaginary line of action be drawn between them.

The direction of the line can be anywhere the filmmaker chooses, but it is usually the line of sight between subjects featured in a scene.  Once the line is determined, a working space of 180 degrees  is established.  For any scene or sequence, only camera positions within the established semicircle are permitted.  The result is that the screen direction of any shots obtained from one side of the line will be consistent with each other.  Camera positions that are outside this working space are said to be across the line or over the line.

The Triangle System

When the line of action is in use, another convention, the triangle system of camera placement, is a shorthand way of describing camera positions on one side of the line.  The system proposes that all the basic shots possible for any subject can be taken from three points within the 180 degree working space.  Connecting the three points, we have a triangle of variable shape and size depending on the placement of the cameras. Any shot can be joined to any other shot in the triangle system of setups.  The system includes all the basic shot sizes and camera angles used for dialogue scenes in the continuity style.  The triangle system is employed for all types of situations, including single subjects and action scenes.  It is used extensively for live television programs such as quiz shows, sports programs and sit-coms.  Even though three cameras are pictured in the following examples, a single camera can be moved to each point along the triangle and the different setups obtained individually.  This is often the case in feature films.  However, the triangle system lends itself to the multiple camera setup as long as extensive staging or camera movement is not required.  This would create the problem of one camera moving in front of another.  There are five basic camera setups that can be obtained within the triangle: Angular singles (medium shots or close-ups), master two-shots, over-the-shoulder shots, point-of-view singles (medium shots or close-ups) and profile shots.

 
In this figure, camera positions A and C are angular shots of the two subjects seated at the table.  Position B is a two-shot.  The framings accompanying each camera position, of course, could be varied, and the shot size for cameras A and C can be any size from an extreme close-up to a full shot.
 
The figure below is the second triangle setup for over-the-shoulder shots.  Cameras A and C are moved into the over-the-shoulder position.  Camera B always obtains the two-shot as in the figure above and so is not included in the subsequent examples.  Variations are only obtained with the outside or wing camera positions.

In the setup pictured below, cameras A and C have been moved just inside the line of action or, more appropriately, the line of sight of the subjects.  Camera positions A and C are now used to obtain close-ups from each subject's point of view.  In this case, the subject not being photographed would be moved out of the way to place the camera in position.  This is indicated by the broken line.

The figure below shows the last possible setup within the triangle method - profile shots using cameras A and C. Naturally, the exact angle of the shot, composition and shot size are infinitely variable within the triangle as long as the line of action is not violated.

Establishing a New Line of Action With a New Sight Line

The only time the camera is permitted to cross the line of action is when a new line is established.  One way to do this is described as follows. In this example, the old line of action is established between a couple seated at a table. A second man approaches the table and the seated man turns his attention to him.  This new line of sight establishes a new line of action and a corresponding 180-degree working space for the camera.  As a rule, the working area chosen for each new line of action keeps the camera in the center of the group when shooting dialogue situations at a table or in a confined space.

Moving the Camera Over the Line

Not only can a player cross the line and establish a new one, but the camera can pan, dolly or make a crane move to a new space and a new line of action.  This is easily accomplished as long as the camera movement is uninterrupted.  In this situation, an eyeline does not have to be established and the camera can move from one side of the line of sight
 between two players to the other without confusion.

Cutaways and Bridge Shots

Another way to cross the line to another part of the scene is to interrupt the geography of a sequence with a shot that is clearly related to the action, but not the geography of the scene.  For instance, let's say that we have established the line of action in a scene in the classroom of a school. We want to cross the line, but none of the strategies we have looked at in previous examples will work within the action of the scene.  In this case, we photograph a close-up of a student's notebook or other pertinent detail.  This cutaway serves the same purpose as the pivot shot.  When we return to the main action, the camera can be moved over the line and a new line established.  This solution is generally used as a quick fix in the editing process when problems of continuity arise.
 

Action Sequences

In action sequences there is frequently no line of sight to establish the line of action.  In this case, the line of action follows the dominant motion of the subject of the shot.  If one car is pursuing another, the line is the path of the cars.  If the two cars are alongside each other, an additional line of action can be established between the cars.  This is an implied sight line because even when the drivers of the cars are not prominent in the shot, the cars become the symbols of the drivers and their line of sight.  This situation is peculiar to cars, boats, planes or any other conveyance that has a driver.   Shots from opposite sides of the line of motion will result in a reversals of screen direction when cut together.  The implied sight line is a special case and only overrides the line of motion temporarily.  Otherwise, the line of motion is the prevailing rule.

Cutting On Movement

Edit points are "placed" in the shot or at least anticipated by the director in the staging of action.  There are three ways in which an edit can be made to preserve the continuity of action when two or more views of a subject are being combined.  Suppose we have a shot of a boy running across the front lawn of his home and jumping over  a hedge onto the sidewalk. The first shot runs the entire length of the action.  Now we decide to cut to a new angle somewhere into the first shot.  Here are the three options: 1) We can cut to the new shot at the point where the boy reaches the hedge and begins to jump. 2) We can cut to the new shot while the boy is in midjump. 3) We can cut to the new shot after he lands on the ground.

These are all acceptable edit points, but the common practice in the continuity style would locate the cut somewhere into the action rather than before or after the boy has left the ground.  This tends to hide the cut and make the transition to a new shot invisible.  The exact point of the cut is dependent on the subject and the editor's sense of movement.

Cutting on the action is found in virtually all types of sequences whether the subject of the shot is lifting a drink to his or her lips or merely turning his head or moving his eyes.  Filmmakers mindful of this essential editing strategy will stage action so that it will overlap an anticipated edit point between camera angles.

Exits and Entrances

When the subject of a shot moves into or out of a frame it is common practice to make the cut while the subject is still partially within the frame.  The effect on-screen is to make the cut smoother and to speed up the flow of action.

Clearing the Frame

This is an alternative strategy to cutting on movement when joining different angles of the same subject.  Instead of cutting while the subject is within the frame, the subject is allowed to exit the frame before the cut to a new shot is made.  It is customary in this strategy to hold on the empty frame of the outgoing shot for a moment.  Figure 7.4 shows an example of this strategy.  In the outgoing shot birds fly into the frame, which gives us action to view while holding the clear frame for a minimum of 1-2 seconds at the end of the shot.

There are several options for cutting to the incoming shot after clearing the frame, depending on how long the clear frame is held in the outgoing shot.  One option is for the incoming shot (A) to open without the subject in the frame.  This opening can vary in length depending on the action in the shot before the main subject arrives.  If we open on a busy park or  trickling stream in the woods the opening serves the purpose of an establishing shot and could be held for several seconds. A second option is for the incoming shot (B) to open with the subject already in the frame.  This is not a common practice in the continuity style since it is somewhat abrupt. A third alternative would be to cut on the subject partially in frame.

Clearing the frame can be looked at in two ways.  First, it is a method for joining shots of the same subject in different backgrounds.  In this case it serves a function similar to that of the dissolve and indicates a passage of time.  The second use for clearing the frame is as a substitute for the cut on action so that an ingoing shot and outgoing shot represent continuous time.