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The sequence from Day of Wrath contains one of the most dramatic breaches of the 180 degree rule possible. During the kiss there is a cut on action, and the characters completely reverse their screen position. However, most people do not particularly notice this, and no audience ever appears to be then confused or unable to understand what they are seeing, or the narrative. Much the same applies to the jump cut in Godard's Pierrot le fou.
Indeed, for the full import of this 'rule breaking' to be interpreted successfully one must first of all teach that there are in fact rules, otherwise it remains largely unnoticed and uncommented upon. This, I'd suggest, is strong evidence that not only is classical continuity editing only a style, but that also breaching it does not significantly compromise intelligibility.
Adrian Miles: Hypertext syntagmas: cinematic narration with links
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