Match On Action is where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot’s action. So let’s say a character is opening a door, if the scene uses a match on action cut it would cut to another character opening a door, although it must be smooth to maintain the verisimilitude and not break the observers attention. This technique would be used as a swift and quick way to cut to another scene. Furthermore, to fully utilise the impact of this technique the 2 scenes should have a correlation or a link.

A Graphic Match is where the first and the second shot share the same shapes, colours or composition. This can be full on, with the shots resembling one another completely, or it can be more subtle. You might choose to match just one element up between the two. So applying this to a hypothetical scene, the camera could be focused on a clock and the next shot would have an object a similar shape to the clock in the same space on screen as the clock was. A graphic match may be used to to convey metaphors/hidden meanings or just a way to smoothly change to a different scene.

An Eyeline Match is based on the premise that an audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. An eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, followed by a cut of another object or person: for example, a shot showing a man looking off-screen is followed by a shot of a television. Given the audience’s initial interest in the man’s gaze, it is generally inferred on the basis of the second shot that the man in the first was looking at the television, even though the man is never seen looking at the television within the same shot. Keeping two characters on the same level may be used to show the viewer that the two characters are equal, it can also be used because the director/cinematographer doesn’t want to use high angle/low angle shots (which a difference in height would naturally create) because it wouldn’t construct the meaning which is intended