Cutting on action

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Cutting on action or matching on action refers to a film editing technique where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action and energy. Although the two shots may have actually been shot hours apart from each other, cutting on action gives the impression of continuous time when watching the edited film. By having a subject begin an action in one shot and carry it through to completion in the next, the editor creates a visual bridge which distracts the viewer from noticing the cut or noticing any slight continuity error between the two shots.

A variant of cutting on action is a cut in which the subject exits the frame in the first shot and then enters the frame in the subsequent shot. The entrance in the second shot must match the screen direction and motive rhythm of the exit in the first shot.

Some films, like Alain Resnais's Last Year at Marienbad play with this technique to connect scenes playing in different places together. For example, there is a shot of a large hall in which somebody turns her head, then the film cuts to the same person finishing the head turn, but standing in a completely different room. In this case, the edit creates an atmosphere where the spatial and temporal relationship between scenes become blurred.

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[edit] Sources

Ascher, Steven and Edward Pincus (1999). The Filmmaker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age. New York: Plume.
Bordwell, David (1985). Narration in the Fiction Film. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Dancyger, Ken (2002). The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice, Third, New York: Focal Press.