This week in Film Study, I learned about editing and the various techniques of editing that make a movie a film. Something that stood out to me as something really interesting was the concept of discontinuity editing.
This technique interested me because most conventional movies try their hardest to make sure continuity is preserved. However with this concept of editing, all prior rules of continuity and editing are out of the window. For instance in order to show an action scene in XXX, the editor decided to show the same stunt three times from three different angles. I thought that this was a really different approach to the just standard slow motion explosion shot that other action movies seem to cling to like a baby to a bottle.
Another reason I think this is an interesting concept is its overall ability to tell a story. For instance if a director wanted to show significance of a certain or object, they might show that scene then show another action then jump back to where the actor is redoing that action. This shows that the action was important because it was important enough to repeat. Another way this is able to show a story is that through the use of jump cuts which are a form of discontinuity editing, it can show how a character has supernatural powers or is able to teleport. The movie Jumper does this very well. It is about a man named David who is capable to teleport anywhere instantly of “jump”. The movie shows this through the use of a jump cut which show the main character in one place and then in the next shot in a different place. This is very important to the story because this ability causes the government to go after him and like most movies in this similar vein, he wins.
The last reason I like this concept is the ability it has to be continuous or just an accident. For instance in a clip shown in class for the movie Goodfellas, it is in the funny how? where Joe Pesci,Ray Liotta and a couple other mobsters are in a restaurant and Pesci is telling a story about a job that he had been on. When he is done Liotta says that he’s funny. Pesci then asks funny how? and goes into a tirade against Liotta about the question of his humor comparing himself to a clown. Liotta is obviously befuddled and just says that he’s funny and a moment of absolute tension ensues with Pesci finally breaking it with a laugh and everybody bursting out laughing as it was just a joke. Throughout the entire scene, the editing does not keep to any certain continuity because throughout the scene Liotta’s glass keeps going up and down in a incongruent way. Another way that this scene doesn’t stick to any certain continuity is throughout the scene Liotta’s arm is all over the place. The reason for all of these seemingly odd blunders is because Scorsese wanted to focus on the story and the tension of the scene instead of a continuity.
Discontinuity editing can usually be a bad thing but can be a good thing when used in the right places. That is why this concept was so interesting to me .
justinhamilton2000 