Film editing is a crucial post-production process in filmmaking and television production that involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences. This process serves several vital functions: it establishes narrative coherence, dictates the rhythm and pace of the story, and significantly influences the viewer’s emotional response. In exploring the diverse techniques of film editing, two pivotal styles stand out: continuity editing and montage editing. Each possesses distinct characteristics, methodologies, and artistic intentions, shaping the way stories are told on screen.

Understanding Film Editing

Film editing transcends mere splicing together of footage. It is an art form that requires a deep understanding of storytelling, rhythm, visual aesthetics, and audience psychology. The editor works closely with the director to ensure that the film’s narrative flow is seamless, engaging, and coherent. Through careful selection and arrangement of shots, editors can manipulate time, space, and the viewer’s perception, crafting an immersive cinematic experience. Continuity editing and montage editing seek to accomplish this aim in different ways, as described below.

Continuity Editing: The Invisible Art

Continuity editing, also known as “invisible editing,” aims to maintain a seamless narrative flow, ensuring that the viewer remains immersed in the story without becoming aware of the editing itself. This style is characterized by its adherence to the principles of spatial and temporal continuity, making the sequence of events appear logical and smooth.

Key Features of Continuity Editing:

• Match on Action: This technique involves cutting from one shot to another while maintaining the continuity of an action, creating the illusion of a single, continuous action.
• 180-Degree Rule: To maintain spatial orientation, the camera stays on one side of an imaginary line (the axis of action), ensuring consistent screen direction and spatial relations among objects and characters.
• Shot-Reverse-Shot: Used in conversations, this involves cutting between participants, typically over their shoulders, to maintain a sense of interaction and engagement.
• Eyeline Match: Ensures that the gaze of a character in one shot matches the line of sight to an object or person in the subsequent shot, reinforcing spatial continuity.

On a film set, the director, cinematographer and script supervisor will all work to ensure that this level of coverage is secured, with matching eyelines where relevant and adherence to the 180-Degree Rule in most cases (except when it is deliberately being broken to deliver a sense of panic, confusion or similar). This ensures that the editor has access to the shots that they will need to seamlessly piece together a scene with naturalistic continuity in mind.

Montage Editing: The Power of Juxtaposition

Montage editing, in contrast, emphasizes the juxtaposition of disparate shots to generate new meanings, emotions, or thematic connections not inherent in the individual shots themselves. This style, rooted in Soviet cinema of the 1920s, relies on the collision of images to elicit intellectual and emotional responses from the audience.

Key Features of Montage Editing:

• Thematic Montage: Combines shots to create a thematic or symbolic pattern, often to convey complex ideas or emotions.
• Rhythmic Montage: Focuses on the visual and auditory rhythm created by the sequence of shots, often independent of narrative coherence.
• Intellectual Montage: Pioneered by Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, this technique juxtaposes unrelated images to elicit an intellectual response, creating a new, abstract meaning.

With montage editing, great consideration must be paid during pre-production in order to storyboard scenes and to develop a shot list. Since not all shots for a scene will be secured in the same location for this style of editing, b-roll footage will need to be secured through a secondary crew, through stock sources, or through scheduling a separate day of shooting for the crew to pick up this material, in order to have everything ready for the editor to piece together.

Comparing Continuity and Montage Editing

While continuity editing seeks to preserve the illusion of reality, maintaining spatial and temporal coherence to support narrative flow, montage editing exploits the power of editing to generate symbolic or thematic resonance, often at the expense of narrative clarity. Continuity editing aims to be invisible, smoothing over the seams between shots to immerse the viewer in the story. Montage editing, on the other hand, embraces the visibility of the edit, using it as a tool to provoke thought, evoke emotions, or convey complex ideas.

Purposes and Applications

The choice between continuity and montage editing often depends on the narrative requirements, genre conventions, and directorial vision. Continuity editing is the backbone of mainstream cinema, particularly genres that prioritize narrative clarity and character development, such as dramas, comedies, and action films. Montage editing finds its place in more experimental or avant-garde filmmaking, documentaries, and certain genres like musicals or epic films, where the aim is to evoke specific emotional responses or convey thematic messages.

Key Take-Aways

Film editing is not merely a technical phase of post-production but a pivotal creative process that shapes the storytelling of cinema. Through the nuanced application of continuity and montage editing techniques, editors and directors can manipulate time, space, and emotion, crafting unique cinematic experiences. Understanding these editing styles not only enhances one’s appreciation of film as an art form but also provides insight into the myriad ways stories can be told through the visual medium.