Task 9 - Non-Continuity Editing

Non-continuity editing started off with the "French New Wave" which became popularised between the 1950s and '60s. It explored what it was like to not follow the traditional Hollywood editing by using 'jump cuts' which were never used before and by breaking the 180 degree rule on purpose. These two techniques were used in conjunction with horror or confusion in films to show how disoriented characters in a film were. It was effective as the sudden disorientation that these methods caused made the audience remember that they were watching a movie, not something that was happen in real life.

Jean Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut created the "French New Wave". It was a care-free type of editing that didn't follow traditional Hollywood trends of editing which always tried to maintain a sense of narrative continuity and instead drew attention to itself by using the lack of continuity that it created.

The 1960s film "Breathless" is a good example of what French New Wave was like when it was still new.

Jump-cutting is the method of jumping from scene to scene all of a sudden. It is used when scenes change locations or characters in different positions when time passes. Jump-cuts are quite useful when used correctly but can ruin a movie if overdone or not used properly as they can cut out useful parts of a story or can just ruin it as it could eventually confuse the audience due to the lack of information they are receiving. Jump cuts are most commonly used in action films where several characters are fighting each other and there is a lot going on, like in Matrix when the humans are fighting the robots.

The 180 degree rule is a continuation rule in films which is used so as not to confuse the audience with the locations of characters, objects and scenery. It is used to keep everything in the same place and to keep the audience from thinking that characters teleported and switched locations with each other. Some films do abuse this rule but only to show the audience how confused the character is or that something unusual is going on. An example of this is in a film called "The Shining" where the main character is talking to a ghost and he becomes confused as to how that is possible.