Why They Just Don't Care About Continuity

Why one of the greatest film editors of all time does not care about continuity.

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[JDLaney-zkwb]

Can’t wait for his next video “In praise of visible boom mics.”

[VasudevAnandCVA]

People say Kubrick was a perfectionist, so all the continuity errors in his movies must be a hidden message or whatever. Kubrick wasn't that focused on continuity, he focused on the acting and cinematography. That's his perfectionism

[LaurieTheberge]

As a script supervisor on sets, it is exactly my job to make sure these don’t happen while we film. But unfortunately I have no power in post-production, and even if the notes I write to the editor say that there’s an error in a take, the acting and pacing will always win over my continuity work! That’s life, and that’s film, it can’t be perfect all the time

[ahaskarkarde]

This was fun seeing you playing with non-continuity editing by literally altering your surrounding and even your own appearance as the video progressed. Another gem of a video.

[Bakedpotatomanforever]

Trying to find all the little things Thomas changes is so much fun

[rjonas]

I think my favorite example of non-continuity editing is in The Social Network where they cut between depositions to connect different characters' accounts of events, even when they aren't in the room together to respond to each other directly. Another best editing Oscar there too!

[RedheadDevito]

My favorite use of purposeful continuity breaking is in the movie Snatch. It’s when Benicio Del Toro’s character is trying on different clothes while on the phone. Every time it would cut to the person on the other line and then cut back, he’d be wearing different clothes, as though he completely changed in half a second.

[GetSmartish]

A similar argument in popular music is constantly beaten over our heads. The concept of "pitchiness" has been exacerbated to the point of railroading performances into autotuned blandness rather than celebrating the heartfelt emotion that variations from tonality evoke.

[akareject]

Excellent job maintaining one continuous voice throughout all of your scene changes. The objects in the background clearly changed, but your VO never felt disjointed. That is difficult to do and you executed it wonderfully!

[raidriarthegodking]

00:16 Hey, I saw that book disappear. Sneaky.

[vinylarchaeologist]

As someone who works in film, I can tell you that these mistakes are seen, acknowledged, and addressed on set. However, we also know that the footage will be edited together by someone who hasn't been on set, and didn't get to hear all the discussion, so that he or she can edit the film based purely on emotional impact. So if a mistake slipped by in one take, they might opt for that instead of a later take where it's been corrected. Their decision.

[briangonigal]

I remember when I first noticed that cigar discontinuity from Goodfellas I thought “whoa, that doesn’t match up”, but then as I began to pay attention to the cuts in that scene more closely I started to notice that NOTHING was really quite matching up. It was usually a lot more subtle, but Paul Sorveno’s position almost never really matched from cut to cut, and as it went on it started to feel less like a “mistake” and more like a deliberate aesthetic choice, one that called into question the time frame of what we were watching. By the end of the scene, I’d come to see it not as a straight forward real-time chronicle of a complete conversation, but something more like a montage of selected moments from a much longer, rambling, repetitive conversation, boiled down to the essential core moments that just magically seemed to have the flow of a real-time conversation. So maybe I wasn’t exactly sure just what they were doing, but I’d definitely come to the conclusion that it was fascinating rather than just sloppy.

[potkettle]

The one where Thomas games his audience into watching 250% of the playtime minutes to spot all his hidden details.
Well played, good sir, well played.

[MichaelOrtega]

7:32 nice touch by turning off the light off your face to emphasize the continuity example. Also the painting behind you on the wall disappeared from 5:58 to 6:28 and then changing into another painting/print on another cut.

[mikechoe]

I love how you included matching continuity errors in your own edit. It's always fun to see a video essay incorporate the same techniques it's discussing.
Also, since you started the video talking about Scorsese's films, I was surprised you didn't mention Shutter Island when you were giving examples of intentional continuity errors. There are so many scattered throughout the film, making you question the reality of Leo's character, like when the lady grabs the cup to take a sip of water, only for the cup to disappear from her hands in the next shot.

[maisiefrench]

I absolutely adore all those little ‘continuity errors’ you’ve created. There’s something so cheeky about it. Makes me smile😁

[roel.vinckens]

Most of these make me smile when I notice them.
So did this vid.
Love how you break open the language of the art by going back to its beginning. Great job.

[AnonymousOnimous]

0:00 "Huh, his background isn't usually this visible."
5:00 "Wait..."
12:00 "THE PAINTING AND TAPESTRY WENT!"
13:00 "Is he going to talk about this...?"
15:00 "What else changed? The lighting, the background, did his clothes change, is is hair different,
17:00 "What's he been saying for the last three minutes?"
17:33 "Do I rewatch it just to notice all the different adjustments?"

[cegalo]

Editor: How many continuity errors do you want?

Lars Von Trier: *Yes*

[Ronny_Papak]

Editing my own Medium Lenght Film since quite a while now, about to get back to it again in a few minutes, this video definetly lifts the spirit and helps to focuss on the essentials again. I think everyone who has edited stuff knows how easy it can be to sometimes get lost in the process. Thanks for the Video Thomas <3