Angle of Axis (newb question)

B

bentramer81

Well-known member
I've been told that in my films I sometimes break the angle of axis. Does anyone know a good rule of thumb to prevent this from happening? :thumbup:
 
The 180* rule is simple to follow and complex to break. Successfully breaking the 180* rule is a masterful skill.

Be aware that the line can change mid scene, or even move. This is due to factors such as moving players or multiple players.

Example of simple way to follow 180 rule.
With that being said, the most common example would be a conversation. Man is talking to woman. We have the master two shot of the man on the left, looking right at woman. We have the woman on the right looking left at the man. There has been a definitive 'line' of eye sight between the two people and we are on one side of it. Crossing that line is where the trouble could start. To stay on our original side of the line, the mans close up must have him looking screen right, while the close up of the woman is looking screen left. You can have the image composed anyway you want (for the most part) but they should be looking the same direction.

Consult a cinematography or directing book, and they should most surely have a more in depth analysis.


Hope that helped.

-rpo
 
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Another way to look at it is that the person on the right side of the frame always stays on the right and the person on the left always stays on the left...unless they move or you cross the line with the camera during the shot and show the audience this whole crossing of the line. If you want to cross the line there are other ways of doing this besides moving the camera during a shot or moving the actors. You can cut to a head-on shot of one of the characters and this will allow you to switch the camera position on the opposite side of the line of action. Car chases will do this often. Let's say the car is heading left to right...then they will shoot a head-on or tail-away shot of the car and then they can switch car directions. Characters can look in another direction and this establishes another line of action in the direction they are looking. For simplicity watch any football (soccer) or basketball game and you notice the cameras are always on one side of the field/court. The teams are always going in the same direction until they switch ends.
 
Kess said:
Another way to look at it is that the person on the right side of the frame always stays on the right and the person on the left always stays on the left.
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Kess, that is a good way of putting it, but I would change one way you worded that definition. Only because that is correct when you see both characters, but NOT true for medium or close up shots. When dealing with the 180 rule, it is the eye line which makes or breaks the scene's coherency, not composition of frame. Yes, composition is a very important element of filmmaking, but what you said isn't quite correct. The actor on the left of the two shot does not have to be on the left of the close up, and vice versa. In the same regards, the person on the left must be looking to the right if they are to be addressing the other actor, and vice versa. As you will see the composition of the frame is not nearly as important as eye line.

Examples: WARNING, FIGHT CLUB SPOILER,

Example 1:
Edward Norton's character is interacting with his boss. The 180 rule is established between he and his boss. In the wide shot Norton is on the left and his boss on the right. The close up's compositions match the wide shot's. Norton is still on the left in his close ups, and his boss is still on the right. The eye line is good... Norton is looking screen left to right at his boss and his boss is looking back screen right to left. This scene is composed to have Norton on the left of frame with the boss on the right. This is pretty much the type of scene the quote above by Kess would be referring to.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BCmo-wpMaBM

Example 2:
Later in the film Norton's character finds out he is Tyler Durden. Tyler suddenly appears and confronts Norton. Since Tyler Durden is inside Norton's head, I believe it was an obvious choice why David Fincher and Jeff Cronenweth would put them BOTH on screen left. Please wait for when Tyler appears in the hotel room. Until then see how they use example one type composition for the bartender and Norton dialog, and then see the composition between Tyler and Norton.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VJnmfe6XRXw

The two shot establishes Tyler on the left and Norton on the right. What is kept the same is their eyeline. Tyler always looks left to right at Norton, while Norton always looks right to left at Tyler. Because Tyler is an inner conflict with Norton, putting him on the right side of the frame looking right creates an odd feeling of tension and unstableness. This scene is flawless and we are never confused. But imagine it with the eye lines lopsided. Wouldn't work at all. Hundreds of films have purposely arranged characters to be composed and looking off the same side of the frame. This is used to show tension, distance, disconnection, or mystery. It never breaks the story, as long as eye line is kept.

Example Three:
Here is an example which also has the actors composed to look off of the frame side they are on... but in this case for not the previous stated purposes of mood:
Wait for both clips to reach the car conversations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOT5-Rpiy3U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJsr7HSytw&feature=related

As you see in the wide/two shots, the driver is established right and the passenger left. But when we cut in, the driver is on screen left, and the passenger on screen right. Both are opposite! What does stay the same is the fact both sets of actors have correct screen direction. The passenger looks left to right at driver. Driver looks right to left at passenger.

So as you see, the 180 rule is really only dependent on the camera staying within the boundaries, and proper eye line. The Composition of close ups are at mercy of the creative process to better the story.

Note: This post is about how to NOT break the 180 rule. Read the Below post to learn HOW to break it.

whew!:beer:

-rpo
 
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The rules for breaking the 180 are simple:

1. One actor can simply move in front of the camera, say left screen to right screen and thereby creating a new line while the other stays relatively put.

2. The camera itself can cross over the line, but it must be shown crossing the line.

3. Use a cutaway/insert and then the next shot can be on the other side of the line. It will reestablish the new camera position.

The best way to deal with this is to draw out overhead diagrams [like football plays.] You can also sketch out a rough storyboard. Between the two it should make sense. Once you get the hang of it, it'll be easy, like riding a bicycle.

When I've taught my cinematography students this I use at least two dolls and a small camera hooked up to a monitor. We simply move them around and look at the shots. My dolls are sketching wood dolls so they tend to look alike. I solve this with giving each a different color hair piece made out of spike tape. On camera we can move the dolls and camera to devise shots. Works like a charm!

Do yourself a favor and buy the book, Shot by Shot, by Steven Katz. It's the bible of this stuff.
 
10s said:
...
2. The camera itself can cross over the line, but it must be shown crossing the line.

....
Click to expand...

When the camera is in motion such as a dolly, its not crossing the line because its taking the line with the move. The line is now in a new orientation.

Its the same thing even if you have shots set up from fixed tripod locations for a three way dialogue and you use one of the positions as a hinge camera. The line is fixed so you can't cut to the other side but if you activate the hinge, the line is moved by the hinge action.
 
craigbowman said:
When the camera is in motion such as a dolly, its not crossing the line because its taking the line with the move. The line is now in a new orientation.

Its the same thing even if you have shots set up from fixed tripod locations for a three way dialogue and you use one of the positions as a hinge camera. The line is fixed so you can't cut to the other side but if you activate the hinge, the line is moved by the hinge action.
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Wrong: The line of Axis is between the subject and the subjects attention, and when actors move about, so does the line. Watch a few movies/TV shows with this in mind and you'll see for yourself. A camera can move across the line if the audience sees it happening. The trick is, THE AUDIENCE MUST SEE IT. This isn't any big mystery, these rules simply help the audience maintain placement continutity so they're not confused. If the audience becomes confused then it pulls them out of the story; and that's a No No.
 
All good points being made here. It can really get confusing when you have a table with 4-8 people sitting and all talking or any group for that matter. Best to stay on one side if possible. The lines of action/attention between all the different players can get confusing and it's better to use CU's for those shots...and shoot plenty of reaction shots in case you need them. I like the overhead layouts to set up the shots. It'll drive you crazy if you try and figure it out on the set while shooting. Scratch your head 'til it bleeds!
 
10s said:
Wrong: The line of Axis is between the subject and the subjects attention, and when actors move about, so does the line. Watch a few movies/TV shows with this in mind and you'll see for yourself. A camera can move across the line if the audience sees it happening. The trick is, THE AUDIENCE MUST SEE IT. This isn't any big mystery, these rules simply help the audience maintain placement continutity so they're not confused. If the audience becomes confused then it pulls them out of the story; and that's a No No.
Click to expand...

Sorry, brain fart. I was starting to talk about actors but started to type out cameras. There's some kind of dyslexia going on there because I usually don't have to write about this at all, just visualize and do it.
 
I'll second the fact that this rule can get increasingly complex with multiple actors. I shot a scene in which two characters created a line spanning the width of the room, while the two other characters they paced around created a line spanning the length of the room.

In order to adhere to the rule, I was essentially limited to 90 degrees, rather than 180. Add to that the blocking the director wanted to have and the limited space in the location, and it got very difficult very quickly. Not to mention it was a whopping 30 shot mostly non-action scene.

However! I decided from the beginning that being restricted to the 90 degrees the rule dictated would limit the scene's potential, so I intentionally broke the rule and got away with it by using a few sparse dolly shots to move the camera in and out of the 90 degree area under the guise of following the actors' pacing around the two others, who were tied to a post.

There were some slip ups that could have been fixed, but all in all bending the rules turned out to work very well versus the alternative of being stuck in a corner.

As pirates of the carribean would have you believe... "They're more like guidelines, anyway"
 
The rules don't restrict freedom, they give freedom. No one is stuck unless they don't have it down. Plan your shots using overhead diagrams like football coaches use. Draw out the positions where & when characters move about and when/where lines are delivered. You'll have a blast. Shoot full scenes for some angles and partials for others. Many beginners don't pre-plan because, 1. They don't know better, and 2. They're lazy. You now know better, that leaves only one excuse... and that's not an excuse.

I've listed the three main rules, and you can add another. A direct head on axis shot allows you to go either way and reestablish what side of the line you're on.

Plan motivated shots such as: one character is talking to the group about someone in the room, the character turns and looks at this person accusing him of some deed. Get an on axis reaction shot of the accused. Now you're free to reestablish your angle to the other side of the line...

The bottom line: Ask yourself this, Is the audience confused as to where the characters are in the scene? if they are, then you have a problem, if not then you're fine. This is simply all about not confusing the audience.

To save your skin shoot some cutaways, i.e., things around the room, a shot looking out the window, a clock, the stove, etc... these can save an otherwise poorly executed shoot.

Old time silent film editors had a term, "cut to the stove." They asked directors to get a shot of the stove so they could use it to save the scene. Why?, because everyone always looks to the stove to see what's cooking. All people are motivated by food. If the editor was trapped by poor 180 shooting she could have a shot of someone looking and then put the shot of the stove in, [it has nothing to do with the story line but the audience will accept this cheap but motivated shot] and then the line could be reestablished and the scene would be saved.

Moral of the Story: Always get lots of extra cutaway / insert shots, including silent reaction shots of all actors [get a variety of them, especially neutral emotional expression shots]....unfortunately most directors don't do it and only find out later they don't have the material they need to cut together a coherent scene. Get the material while you're there. We're talking a few seconds of a glass on the table, 4 seconds of the clock ticking, a few seconds of a vase, anything in the room that might have some significance with the drama unfolding is helpful. Chances are you won't need it, but when you do need it, it's there and you don't need to go back and recreate the lighting, the setting etc.... that's the difficult way!....and it cost $.
 
Thanks, after teaching film making at a private college for a few years, though it's rare, once in a while I can actually communicate an idea or two. ;)
 
I'd like to add another example that explains the axis principle pretty well.
Look at a football game on tv (I'm thinking about soccer, but I'm 100% sure it's the same for broadcasts of american football). All the cameras are on one side of the field, because the axis is a straight line from one goal to the other goal. If you intercut a camera from the other side then suddenly the players are moving in the "wrong direction" which would be very confusing. I have sometimes seen reverse angle cameras being intercut in football games, but they were either marked as "reverse angle", or they were only used in slow motion and analysis.

So, you see, there are 22 people interacting in a football (soccer) game, but the axis never changes... it always depends.
 
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Great discussion. I just wanted to plug Hollywood Camera Work (www.hollywoodcamerawork.us). It's a 6 dvd set that shows camera movements visually. (it can be hard to explain some concepts in text) There is a lot in it about the axis in complex situations. I'm just watching them over and over to let these visual concepts soak in.
 
I also very highly recommend Hollywood Camerawork.

It's been mentioned before but I think it's important to say again: "The Line" only exists when the camera stops rolling, or on an edit. You can cross the line as many times as you like while the camera is rolling (as long as the editor doesn't cut at the wrong place during the move.) Your editor will hate you if you don't get coverage though.

Many times I've seen directors freaking out about "crossing the line" during a shot, and needlessly reducing their options to a few boring positions.

Also, audiences are much more sophisticated these days, and a director can get away with much more than they would, say, 20 years ago. The main point, after all, is not to confuse the audience.
 
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