This presentation will make a case for 'transformative continuity' in audiovisual scenes with camera movement without (overt) editing, examples of which I will discuss.
I will focus on cognitive-embodied and in particular attentional and immersive aspects and effects of transformative continuity, linked to the notion of absorption. I will argue that, instead of retaining attention by means of (classical or post-classical/ intensified) continuity editing, the effect created through transformative continuity is one akin to hypnosis: the over-anchoring of attention to one object- of superimposed, or unfolding images. By focusing attention on the same plane which however opens up to multiple planes and unfolds through layering, the function of transformative continuity is not primarily one of disambiguation and space-time coordination in a naturalistic (diegetic) environment, but one of increased ambiguity that qualitatively alters the engagement of the viewer with the image.
