Chapter 9 — Quiz

Twenty-five questions to check that the ideas of continuity are yours and not just familiar. Mix of multiple choice, true/false (with justification — the justification is where the learning is), short answer, and "what's wrong with this?" perception questions. Answer them before opening the key.

Multiple choice

1. Continuity is best defined as: - A) shooting a scene in one continuous take without cutting - B) the consistency of visual and audible detail across shots so fragments read as one event - C) keeping the camera rolling between takes - D) matching the color of every shot in the grade

2. A scene is almost always assembled from fragments shot out of order. Continuity is what makes those fragments: - A) higher resolution - B) correctly exposed - C) cuttable into a believable whole - D) shorter

3. Screen direction refers to: - A) which way the camera is pointing in the room - B) the direction a subject faces or moves within the frame - C) the direction light travels toward the subject - D) the order shots appear in the edit

4. You shoot a wide of a person walking left-to-right, then carry the camera to the far side of their path and shoot a matching medium. Cut together, the person appears to: - A) walk faster - B) walk in slow motion - C) reverse direction / turn around - D) change clothes

5. The error in question 4 is called: - A) a jump cut - B) crossing the line - C) a match cut - D) breaking the 30-degree rule

6. Matching action means: - A) shooting the same action across multiple sizes, performed the same way, with overlap, so it can be cut on the move - B) matching the color of two shots - C) copying a famous director's blocking - D) using a motion-tracking effect in post

7. The reason a cut placed on a movement is nearly invisible is that: - A) the movement blurs the frame so you can't see the cut - B) the eye is tracking the motion and is briefly blind to the shot change - C) editors always add a dissolve there - D) the frame rate doubles during motion

8. The 30-degree rule says that between two shots of the same subject you should: - A) rotate the subject 30 degrees - B) move the camera at least ~30 degrees around the subject (and change size) - C) tilt the camera 30 degrees - D) wait 30 seconds between takes

9. A jump cut is: - A) always an error to be avoided - B) a cut between two too-similar shots of the same subject, making it appear to "jump" — an error when accidental, a device when intended - C) a cut that uses a jump-scare sound - D) a transition between two different scenes

10. The single cheapest, most universal continuity tool for a solo shooter is: - A) a clapperboard - B) a script supervisor - C) a reference photo taken before each reset - D) a second camera

11. Which of these is a legitimate way to change sides of the 180-degree line without disorienting the viewer? - A) just cut to the other side quickly - B) cut to a neutral head-on shot first, then to the far side - C) zoom in before crossing - D) increase the frame rate

12. Which continuity error is typically impossible to fix in the edit? - A) a shot that's slightly too dark - B) a shot that's a little too long - C) a jacket that's zipped in the wide and open in the matching close-up throughout - D) a shot with a title that needs repositioning

13. "Consumables" are a notorious continuity hazard because they: - A) are expensive - B) change fast and irreversibly (a cup drains, a candle burns down) - C) reflect too much light - D) make noise on the microphone

14. For two people in conversation to appear to look at each other, if person A looks screen-right, person B must look: - A) screen-right as well - B) screen-left - C) directly into the lens - D) down

15. The best way to gather coverage that won't produce accidental jump cuts is to: - A) zoom in a little for each new size from one spot - B) physically move around the subject (≥30°) and change size for each setup - C) use a wider lens - D) shoot everything as one long take

True / False — justify your answer

For each, mark True or False and write one sentence explaining why. The explanation is the point.

16. "A great editor can fix a crossed line in post."

17. "Jump cuts are always a sign of amateur work."

18. "If two shots match perfectly on every detail but move in opposite screen directions, they will still cut together fine."

19. "Shooting extra footage before and after the action (overlap) is wasted effort if you already know where you'll cut."

20. "The 180-degree rule and the 30-degree rule are two names for the same thing."

Short answer

21. In two or three sentences, explain why "continuity is a promise to the editor" is a more useful way to think about it than "continuity is a rule you have to follow."

22. Name the five kinds of continuity a shot has to keep, and give a one-word example of each.

23. A creator makes talking-head videos full of jump cuts and loves them; a narrative director calls jump cuts a disaster. Both are right. What actually determines whether a jump cut works?

What's wrong with this? (perception)

24. A described sequence: Shot 1 — wide, a person sits at a café table, coffee cup full, phone face-down on the right. Shot 2 — close-up of the same person, cup now half-empty, phone face-UP on the left, and they're looking screen-right (in Shot 1 they looked screen-left at the phone). List every continuity error you can find and sort them by type (spatial / detail / eyeline).

25. A described edit: An interviewer films a subject with one locked-off camera. To tighten a rambling answer, they cut out the middle and join the two halves of the identical framing. The subject's head snaps to a new position and the plant behind them jumps. Name the error, explain why it happened, and give the fix that would have prevented it on set.

Answer Key

Reveal answers and explanations **1. B** — Continuity is consistency of detail across shots so fragments read as one event; a single unbroken take (A) is a *long take*, a different thing. **2. C** — Continuity is what makes out-of-order coverage assemble into a believable whole. It has nothing to do with resolution or exposure. **3. B** — Screen direction is on-screen facing/movement (a product of camera placement), not the camera's real-world heading or the light's direction. **4. C** — Crossing to the far side of the line mirrors the motion, so the walker reverses direction. **5. B** — Crossing the line. (A jump cut is a *different* error — too-similar shots, not a flipped direction.) **6. A** — Matching action is re-performing the same action across sizes with overlap so the editor can cut on the move. **7. B** — Motion draws the eye, which is briefly blind to the shot change; the movement carries across the seam. **8. B** — Move the camera ≥~30° around the subject (and change size) so the framings read as distinct viewpoints. **9. B** — A jump cut is a too-similar same-subject cut; it's an error only when accidental, and a legitimate device when intended and consistent. **10. C** — A reference photo before each reset is the cheapest, most universal continuity tool; you don't need a clapper, a crew, or a second body. **11. B** — A neutral head-on shot belongs to neither side, so it's a clean bridge across the line. (Also valid: a moving shot that visibly crosses, or the subject turning.) **12. C** — A wardrobe mismatch present throughout can't be hidden; slightly-dark, slightly-long, or reposition-a-title problems are all fixable in post. **13. B** — Consumables change fast and can't be reversed, so their level rarely matches across takes shot far apart. **14. B** — Opposing screen directions (A screen-right, B screen-left) read as "looking at each other"; matching directions read as both looking at a third off-screen person. **15. B** — Moving around the subject and changing size for each setup guarantees genuinely different views; zooming from one spot risks a jump. **16. False** — A crossed line is baked into the footage; the edit can reorder and trim but can't reverse a walk or un-mirror a shot. (Best it can do is *hide* it behind a cutaway, at a cost.) **17. False** — Jump cuts are the native, deliberate grammar of vlogs and talking-heads and a valid stylistic rupture in narrative; they're only "amateur" when accidental in a scene pretending to be continuous. **18. False** — Opposing screen directions break the cut no matter how well the details match; direction is spatial continuity and it overrides detail agreement. **19. False** — Overlap is insurance: it lets the editor choose the *exact* best cut frame and adjust, and you can never add overlap later. Extra footage is free on set and priceless in the edit. **20. False** — The 180° rule is about which *side* of the line you stay on (screen direction/geography); the 30° rule is about moving *enough* between shots on that side (avoiding jumps). Different jobs, different numbers. **21.** Because "promise to the editor" tells you *why* and *for whom* you're doing it: it reframes fussy rules as a service to the assembly, makes you ask "can this be cut with what I have?", and reminds you the cost of breaking it lands on a real person (often future-you) who can't fix it. A "rule" is something to obey; a "promise" is something you understand the purpose of. **22.** Spatial (geography/left-right), temporal (action/time-forward), detail (cup/jacket/hair), performance (energy/emotion), audio (room tone/background). One-word examples vary; any reasonable one counts. **23.** Intent and consistency: a jump cut works when it's deliberate and part of a consistent grammar the viewer reads as style; it fails when it accidentally ruptures an illusion of continuous reality the scene was otherwise maintaining. **24.** Detail: cup drained (full → half-empty), phone flipped (face-down → face-up) and moved (right → left). Spatial/eyeline: they look screen-left at the phone in Shot 1 but screen-right in Shot 2, and the phone has moved to the opposite side, so the eyeline no longer connects to it. That's three detail errors and one eyeline/spatial error — the scene would feel deeply "off." **25.** An accidental **jump cut**, caused by trimming time out of a single static framing with no second angle to cut to, so the same shot joins itself with a gap. On-set prevention: shoot the interview with a **second camera ~30° off** (or a second size), so the trim cuts to a genuinely different view; failing that, shoot **cutaways/B-roll** to lay over the join.

Topics to review by question

  • Q1–2, 21: §9.1 — what continuity is; the promise to the editor.
  • Q3–5, 11, 16, 18, 20: §9.2 — screen direction, the line, crossing it.
  • Q6–7, 19, 25: §9.3 — matching action and the overlap.
  • Q8–9, 15, 17, 20, 23, 25: §9.4 — the 30-degree rule and jump cuts.
  • Q10, 12–14, 24: §9.5 — eyelines, props, continuity of detail.
  • Q22: §9.1/§9.6 — the five kinds of continuity and the checklist.

If you missed anything in §9.2 or §9.4, reshoot Exercise 14 (the crossed-line demonstration) and Exercise 13 (the 30-degree pass) — those two shoots teach the two most-missed ideas faster than any re-reading.