Edwin Porter- Birth Of Continuity

Edwin Porter

Edwin Porter created a film called the Life of an American Fireman in 1903. The film shows a fireman rescuing a woman from her burning house from the outside, then replays the same thing but with a view from inside the house. Porter then realised there was no point seeing the woman being rescued twice, so he decided to put the cut in before the fireman had rescued her and changed the shot into the bedroom scene. This meant that we saw the fireman climb up the ladder to get inside, but when he was inside, the audience had the view from inside the room. This was the first time continuous action was represented by using two shots. This film had created the first use of continuity editing. 

Since Porter, continuity editing has dominated the film and TV industry and is constantly used. Continuity editing is used in most film and is meant to make the cut invisible.