ABSTRACT
What is critical to shooting and editing action is to create a continuous flow of direction and staging. A turning head or a laugh can be effective cutting points. Something as simple as rising from a table is almost always used to disguise an edit and change the emphasis of a scene. A great way to practice planning, shooting, directing, and cutting action is to stage a chase scene. The chase offers a variety of technical and production problems that are important to learn to deal with. For the editor of the type of action scene, in addition to tightly maintaining action continuity, he or she will want to enhance the scene by having it build toward a climax, when either the prey is caught or escapes. While the director can fake the direction in which actors are moving as long as they are moving in the same direction relative to the camera, it is more difficult for the lighting.
