Continuity Homework

To explain the aspects of continuity, I have chosen the example of TV drama Place of Execution on ITV. The episode can be found here.

Continuity is the flow and connection of on-screen action from shot to shot. It makes a media text coherent and understandable to an audience.


During the above episode, there is a scene where the exterior of a car is shot from the front with two characters visible through the windshield. In this scene, there is a moving background. To ensure continuity, the speed of the car - and therefore the speed of the moving background - needs to be the same in close-ups of the driver, close-ups of the passenger and in wide shots because both characters are in the same car. The audience would be left confused if there was a shot of the driver with the car going at five miles per hour, then after a cut to a shot of the passenger the car was going at fifty miles per hour.

Because acting requires concentration, the actress would not be driving the car. The car would be attached to another vehicle in front that has a camera fixed to it. The cameras would roll once the driver of the frontal car has reached the required speed so that there is a constant speed through out the scene.