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Sunday 6 February 2011

The original 'match cut'

Have a look at this magnificent continuity edit from David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), it is one of the most celebrated cuts of all time and deservedly so.




When you're creating your own storyboards you will need to focus closely, not just on the individual shots, but also on how the shots will fit together and the meanings their juxtapositions* will create (have a look at the post below to get some ideas).


It is impossible to mention Lawrence of Arabia without also referring to the soaring music, which begins at the end of this sequence. It beautifully describes the majesty of the desert and the epic scale of the protagonist's plight. Maurice Jarre's triumphant composition runs even The Third Man close, in the greatest-film-score-of-all-time stakes. 

* Here's the most useful definition I could find for juxtaposition:  An image-development strategy used to place, side by side, two or more images or elements in a way that changes the meaning or effect of each.
www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/fak7/apf3.htm