"Intensified Continuity" Response.

"Casablanca" (1942)

Over the past 40 years, the stylistic aspects of Continuity, the fluidity of a film, has changed significantly. There have been a couple factors in the intensifying of continuity through the camerawork and editing. One way this has changed is through the cutting in the edit. As opposed to the average shot length (ASL) in the 1930s to 1960s being around 20 seconds containing 300-700 shots in a film. The ASL changed as film makers began experimenting with shot length. In this time, "Many studio-released films of the period contain ASLs between six and eight seconds, and some have significantly shorter averages". This intensified continuity because "no film is one long action sequence". This change in editing style created a faster paced films, containing a substantial increase in shots within a film and the decrease in ASL. Another aspect that changed to enhance continuity is the use of different lenses. Wide angles, for example, were used for establish shots, but in the 1970's, "many anamorphic processes allowed filmmakers to use wide angle lenses, and the lens's characteristic distorting effects were flaunted". Lenses were used to change the desired effects in a film. Long lenses "encouraged the self-conscious rack-focusing that came to prominence in the 1960s". Consequently, this created an enhanced depth of field, which stylized the effects of a film. This increased continuity because of the wide arrangements of the lens; longs lenses were used for close-ups, mediums shots, dialogue, and even establishing shots.