Theories (Bordwell & Thompson)

Bordwell and Thompson are a couple that studied way's of continuity editing and identified there are 4 ways of putting two clips together to create meaning, these are:

• Spatial
• Temporal
• Graphic
• Rythmic

Spatial
This form of editing is used to create a sense of spacial difference between the points of interest like people or significant objects. Normally an establishing shot is placed before another shot like a close up of a character, this is done to show the spacial distance between the characters and in which part of the environment they are in.
I have found an example of this in a music video of 'The Pretender' by 'The Foo Fighters', The first shot that is shown is of the space with the music instruments placed out with the vocalist walking out, after this we are shown a shot from behind him, without the shot before we would know who this is or the environmental he is located in, the third shot is a close up of his hand being wrapped in bandages, again without the previous clip we would not know who or what is happening.
Another effect that can be used is cross cutting as it can  help emphasis action taking place in completly separate places.




                                                      Temporal

Temporal is where two clips are put together to create a plot of a story, an example of this is with flashbacks or fast forwards to create a more in depth storyline or an enigma. Another way temporal is used is with  an ellipsis to cut out time that has no relation or significance to the story plot, this is done to help keep the audience engaged because if every time was shown like the character eating a whole meal or driving from one place to another it would waste the time of the audience as they don't want to watch all of that. An example of this in a music video is in 'Drive By' by 'Train' as in this first shot in the screen capture you can see the man driving his car in the country whereas in the shot before he was in the city, then in the second shot we are shown some gate like entrance which suggests to the audience that he is about to arrive at hi destination, in the third shot we are shown the girl standing on the balcony side, these three shots tell us that he has travelled to see her without the need of him narrating it to the camera.
Both temporal and spatial are not often used on music videos as they are more visual for making stories and meaning with a narrative.




Graphic

 Graphic is where two shots are related by visual aspects, an example of this is graphic match where there is a cut from one object to another which both look visual the same in either shape or colour, this was used in the famous scene of psycho where the woman's eye is in centre frame then it cuts to the plug hole which both are round and dark in colour. Graphic continuity is where the centre of interest is constant through out cuts while maintaining lighting level or avoiding strong colour clashes. I found a music video where this is used in 'Gangnam style' by 'PSY' where the man is walking toward the camera then it cuts to th same shot but with the man in different clothing.




 Rythmic
This is where the cuts between shots are cut to a specific beat to create an atmosphere, an example of where this is done is often found in music videos to help keep the video to the tempo of the song, this is also done in trailers for films especially is horror trailers as they began off slow then get fast toward the end. I have found a horror trailer of 'Devil' which starts off slow then gets faster as the tension is built up.