Movie Mistakes: When does Film Continuity REALLY Matter?

Film continuity editing errors and movie mistakes happen in big and small films. But do they matter?

Continuity editing is the process, in film and video creation, of combining more-or-less related shots, or different components cut from a single shot, into a sequence so as to direct the viewer's attention to a pre-existing consistency of story across both time and physical location.

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This Guy is Sven, an A.C.E. Award nominee who cut for James Cameron, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and James Franco.

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[ThomasCoispel]

Thank you very much ! I worked with so many persons who were obsessed with continuity, as if the only thing they wanted was making a flawless but commonplace story. Without risk there is no chance to make the difference...

[gordo_cabron]

Noticed the train. Didn't see the jacket, lol.

[PaperPatriot]

Haha I saw the train was different, not the jacket

[ClaySoup]

Is there an insert with a completely different train as well or am I crazy

[karin]

Usually people say "wow that's a shitty editor" but I have to say, as an editor, I have to work with the footage I had been given and nothing more than that, and that happens most of the time. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

[DigitalicaEG]

You notice continuity in two situations; if the movie is so boring that you're looking around for anything to entertain you. Or if you absolutely loved every second of the movie that you're rewatching it a 100 times and know every scene by heart.

[neilshea]

That scene from Shutter Island with the water glass is so obviously not a continuity error...it's an extremely deliberate choice to show that DeCaprio's character is not trustworthy.

[redladymelisandre]

I thought it was the child holding a cup and then his hands are empty. Didn't notice the jacket.

[tobiashenriksen]

To me (and to the last 27 years worth of IMDB users, I presume) errors in continuity are different from revealing mistakes. Continuity is about shot B and C being in accordance with shot A. That is, if for example the cigarette is halfway smoked in shot A, then only just lit in shot B, and then perhaps in shot C halfway smoked again, it is a error in continuity. Same if, say, a car as yellow in one shot, blue in the next etc.

Revealing mistakes (visible crew, camera, rigging etc) is in a category of its own.

Anyway, when does errors/mistakes matter? When they take something away from the film (like the viewers attention). Most often is just fun catching it, but in films that relies on details for giving clues, for interpretation, or for foreshadowing, errors can be devastating though.

[anthemofadam]

"I found the train/cup, not the jacket!"
He knows about them.
8:02

[varuntnindia]

Its quite simple... what will the audience be looking at in a particular shot? Is there a continuity error in that element? Then it matters...
[In the shot where you showed the train leaving, there is nothing more important than the train. Everybody sees the train, and they all notice that it is different. It matters then! Same with the jump in location, audience are thinking 'where is he going?' and they are trying to look for it, that's not when you are allowed to make a continuity jump in location!]

[MHTutorialsD]

Also, the train in 00:09 is not the same one as the train in 00:16

[AlexeiXC]

Continuity can mean a great deal - as a VFX compositor, it's one of the number one things I get hired to fix on films, and some people with budgets will pay thousands to fix things that differ between shots (or if there's an historical continuity error or goof). It all depends on the scene, the budget, and it's influence on the audience's attention in relation to the story.

I worked on the feature film Person to Person and there's a scene where it's cutting between two characters. One has a digital alarm clock next to him. The takes the editor chose to cut together caused the alarm clock to constantly change what time it was during the back and forth talking. It was completely distracting and I imagine that most people's attention would have shifted from the face of the characters to the alarm clock had I not been hired to fix it, effectively ruining the emotion of the scene.

To me it's all about whether the error (whether it be continuity or a goof) takes you out of the story - if it does then fixing it "in post" would be a good idea. I'm not saying things have to be perfect but I find that I have to be especially diligent with my work because many people are more perceptive than you might give them credit. And emotion is certainly key, but the emotion of a scene dies the moment the audience isn't thinking about the characters anymore, and about a continuity mistake or goof instead...but once again, this is a gray case-by-case issue. I would leave the jacket take in if it was the best take in your first example (it'd be very time consuming to digitally replace anyway), while the camera goof on the stairwell I'd comp out because it wouldn't take too long and it's something I think most will notice.

[charliechasesmountains]

Nice spot. I managed to spot the train was different too!

[LivingSpiritism]

I always thought there was something wrong with me because of all the critics on the internet who constantly point out continuity errors (check the "goofs" section on IMDB) but I rarely ever notice them. But, now that I saw this video, I decided I like not noticing them.

[simon_patterson]

I didn't notice the jacket but I did notice that the actor seemed to magically be teleported from a level crossing to the middle of a car park.

[TimothyMathews]

For me, a continuity only really matters when it pulls you out of the film experience. The biggest example, which I note they've fixed for the blu-ray, is in Star Trek V. Kirk is falling from El Capitan, and wearing a blue vest. Halfway down the stunt double takes over and is just wearing a black jumper, and then we cut back to Shatner wearing the blue vest again.This wasn't for performance. They just didn't get the wardrobe right on the stuntman. If it doesn't draw attention to itself, then it's fine.For example, I don't care about the blue milk switching hands in Star Wars. I only notice it because people write about it.

[eddybriones]

I used to think that continuity "errors" were all caused because editors didn't notice them, but this video helped me realize that it's because of the shot that was already taken having an emotional impact. I used to hate continuity errors because it seemed like something unprofessional to me. Thanks to this video, I've realized through the poll you made that it's not as bothersome as i made it out to be. It would be a cool idea to use this for a movie idea!

[SNORKYMEDIA]

ones like the camera man in the window are ok as you can easily mask him out/blur him slightly in post

[MarkHoltze]

Editors know how difficult it is to cut an emotional scene, or an action scene. People who watch films often assume editing is very easy. It's actually very difficult, I don't think anybody appreciates a brilliant actor as much as the editor. There is a nuance to editing and honestly when you break it all down continuity just doesn't matter in the same way to the story tellers.

Nice job explaining it.