Richard Rannabargar
Reading Guide #3: Editing
It is highly recommended that you look over these questions before you begin your
reading. Answer the following questions using the fifth chapter on Editing from Essential
Cinema. Unless a question asks you to do otherwise, please answer in your own words and
do not cite from the text. Each of your responses below should be approximately 75 words
in length.
a. On p.120-131, Lewis discusses some ways in which filmmakers use editing in order to
affect how the viewer experiences time when watching a film. What is one of those
techniques and how does it work?
A montage sequence is a collection of short scenes in order to suggest the passage of time.
These sequences allow the viewer to understand what is occurring over a greater period of
time than necessary to understand the film. This technique can be useful to show
something that would take up a great deal of time to present entirely in the film. Aging,
training, or developing skills are examples of these events.
b. What is the overall effect of continuity editing? Refer to a specific type of editing
defined on p.132-137 in order to fully explain how said continuity can be achieved.
Continuity editing creates the effect of a continuous action even when multiple cameras
and different angles are being used through a variety of techniques. One of these
