Types of Film Editing_Cutting_continuity cutting

Continuity cutting consists of matched cuts, in which continuous action flows from one shot to another; and cut-aways, in which the action shown is not a portion of the previous shot. A continuous sequence, or series of matched cuts, may consist of various typs of shots filmed from different angles. The event depicted, however, should appear as a continuous series of moving images. Whenever action continues, the players' movements, positions and looks should match through spliced together. A mis-match, caused by change in bodyposition or a switch in directional look, will result in a jump-cut. This occurs because the player will appear to jerk or jump across the splice between shots.

Whenever the camera is moved straight in from a long or medium shot to a closer set-up, a mis-match becomes most discernible. A minor mis-match, such as a slight difference in had position, may go unnoticed if the camera is shifted to a slightly different angle, as it is moved in for closer shots. It is always wiser, therefore, to move the cameracloser and to one side of the subject, rather than straight in. Whenever a shot includes a portion of the previous scene- such as when cutting from a long shot to a medium shot- players' positions, body movements and looks should be duplicated as closely as possible. An arm should not be shown raised in the long shot, and then apear lowered in the following medium shot. A head should not be depicted turned in a different direction, so that the player's look does not match the previous shot. Such discernible differences in screen images will jar the audience. When the camera is moved back, or cut back, from a closer shot to a longer view, it is necessary only to match the action shown in the previous close-up, because everything else was outside the frame. Cutting from a long shot to a close-up and then cutting back to the long shot again permits considerable cheating. The audience, beingmomentarily distracted, will accept any change in the last long shot as having occurred while the close-up was on screen.

Reference:

Mascelli, J. V. (1965). The Five C's of  Cinematography. The United States: radstone publications.