Spatial editing

Definition: 

By the juxtaposition of one location shot with another, editing can be used to construct film space in any imaginable way.  This is known as spatial co-existence.

Uses: 

Virtually any space can be created on film by logically linking one shot with another.  Interior sets can be constructed in any convenient place and the audience will assume the interior is situated in or near the related exterior shot if it is placed next to it in editing.

The viewer will understand that a shot of a board meeting in an office is taking place in a Sydney skyscraper if it is preceded by a shot of a Sydney skyscraper, even if in reality the interiors were shot on the Gold Coast. 

People will assume that a shot of an astronaut sitting in a spacecraft is actually taking place in outer space if it is preceded by a shot of a spacecraft hurtling through the cosmos. This will happen even though the exterior shot is created on a computer.

Film clip

In this clip you see David walking towards a stone cottage and entering a doorway. This first sequence is shot on location. The next shot is inside the cottage… or rather inside a sound stage made to look like the cottage interior.

Editing these two shots together leads the viewer to assume that the room is actually inside the cottage. Spatial continuity would be broken if the room did not appear to be consistent with the expected interior.