180 degree question

HenryDee

HenryDee

Active member
If you have a person walking down a road say.....just alone and walking.....would you have to use the 180 degree rule if the person is not interacting with anything just walking. Would you have full use of 360 degrees ? Or is it still necessary to initiate the 180 degree rule....
 
use the 180 rule! it's not set in stone or anything you can do as you please and most of the time get away with it (Thank MTV for that haha) However if you are shooting a person moving right to left on screen and you are on the actors left side <<<<<<< it would look like that, now if you cross over the 180 line now shooting on the actors right hand side they are moving from screen left to right >>>>>>. This apparently this will confuse anyone watching and they will run out of your offices screaming, jk. Point is you go from this direcion and orientation on screen <<<<<<< to this >>>>>> on a back to back cut it looks weird. hope that helps
 
thanks yah i did use it just to be safe.. once i established the person walking i stayed on the axis with many cuts like close ups etc...i thought the 180 degree rule was only used for ppl interacting thats why i asked but i guess not..thanks for responding.
 
yeah, the main purpose of the rule is to protect screen direction. if a character is looking to the left or walking to the left or anything towards the left, when you cut to the other side of the line they're suddenly going to the right. and this can be jarring (that might be what you want), but it doesn't have to be. You can use an action to make it smooth. for example:

the character is walking right to left. if he reaches his hand up to pick his nose and you cut to the other side of the line on this action, it will be more smooth.
 
It's also determined by where the character is looking too. That implies a second person or subject of interest that can create the action line.
 
I'll tell you what exactly im doing.. im just trying to do some scene paving I think its called...Im tryin to recreate the opening sequence of christina ricci in black snake moan walking down the country road. But at the end the character swings around and realizes the camera is watching her. So Im changing it a bit. I mean I don't want the jarring effect i want it to look like shes walking in the same direction the whole time.
 
You can stick to the 180 degree rule. If you want to move onto the other side then TAKE THE AUDIENCE WITH YOU, by moving across the line in a shot. or using a shot inbetween where the camera straddles the line.
 
Perhaps you'd want to break the rule in your situation, since nothing hints at the mechanics of film than something like a directional break. It would make the audience privy to the filmmaking process rather than their involvement in the story, which would help hint at your eventual look in the camera payoff.

You never need to follow the rules, you just need to know them well enough to break them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top