Music and sound are often utilized to provide a sense of continuity to a scene or sequences that may contain a variety of unmatched shots taken in different locations.

Lapses in the flow of action can be avoided by transition and cutaway devices (see below). To maintain continuity within sequences, the editor will often cut on character action so that the scene flows together without noticeable jump-cuts (see below). This process is referred to as 'continuity editing'. In a more specific meaning, 'continuity' refers to the matching of individual scenic elements from shot to shot so that details and actions, filmed at different times, will edit together without error. The continuity is the development and structuring of film segments and ideas so that the intended meaning is clear, and the transitions employed to connect the film parts. Several intense action sequences in Master and Commander (2003), including a raging sea storm and fight scenes, are followed by caesuras – quiet, scenic interludes that are often accompanied by melodic cello music. The three Burt Bacharach musical sequences in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) provide contrasting caesuras that separate the major actions of the film. The intense, frenetic action of the mutiny, for example, is followed by the lyrical journey of a dinghy to the shore. The acts of The Battleship Potemkin (1925) are separated by caesuras that provide a rhythmical contrast to the preceding action. In applying his concept of montage as the 'collision of shots', Eisenstein often included caesuras – rhythmical breaks – in his films.

The term first gained significance in motion-picture art through the editing experiments of Sergei Eisenstein. In poetry, the caesura is used to diversify rhythmical progress and thereby enrich accentual verse. Principally a literary term denoting a rhythmical pause and break in a line of verse. The shot transition is the way in which two of these individual shots are joined together. Every film today, whether it be live-action, computer generated, or traditional hand-drawn animation is made up of hundreds of individual shots that are all placed together during editing to form the single film that is viewed by the audience.

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