Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen (Michael Wiese Productions)

by Steven D. Katz

Listed below are the three most basic types of connections found in continuity editing: Temporal connections: We cut from a man dropping his drinking glass in one shot to the glass breaking on the floor in the second shot. Spatial connections: We cut from a wide shot of the White House to a recognizable detail of the White House in a closer shot—for example, the portico and front door. Logical connections: We cut from a wide shot of the White House to a shot of the President seated in an office. No temporal or spatial connection is necessary in this combination. If we recognize the White House and we recognize the President, then we make the logical connection that he's seated in an office in the White House, even though there is no actual information presented to tell us we are in the White House.