5. Skill 1: 180 degree rule
The rule:
• The camera(s) used should
stay on the same side of the
imaginary line at all times
• The line is drawn at a 90
degree angle to the cameras
viewpoint in the establishing
shot of the screen
• The rule implements stability
in the film
7. • The only exceptions for violating
the rule is for ‘effect’ – (e.g. A
chase scene)
• Violating the rule will leave the
audience puzzled
Exceptions
8. Eye line
• Crossing the eye line when filming
over the shoulder shots would lead to
a shift in the persons eye line. This
means that the person in the screens
eye line do not match
• The two people present in the scene
should always be on the same side of
the frame in each shot
9. Results of breaking the rule
• Would leave the audience confused
• The audience would lose focus
• Losing focus may lead to the viewers
missing vital parts of the film
10. Ways around the rule
• The only way to cross the line without losing
the focus of the audience is to show the
camera movement
• You cannot cross the line or the viewer will
not be focused
• If the camera happens to cross then line and
shows the movement than it should stay in
that part of the line, unless the movement is
shown back over it
11. The 180 rule: In Summary
• The 180° rule is a filming guideline that participants in a scene
should have the same left-right relationship to each
other, with filming only taking place within the 180° angle in
which this is maintained in a conversation, for example.
• For example in King Vidor’s The Big Parade (1925), the
audience’s viewpoint is constantly southward of the action –
the American soldiers walk from left to right to the
frontlines, and right to left when they return home, creating a
continuous sense of direction .
• This allows the audience to have a greater sense of location in
the scene in terms of what may be off-screen in some
shots, for example in shot reverse shots.
12. Skill 2: Match on action
• Match on action is an editing
technique for stability editing in
which one shot cuts to
another shot revealing the action
of the issue in the first shot
•This creates the feeling of a
sense of continuity – the action
present on the screen creates a
‘visual bridge’, which draws the
viewers attention away from
slight Cutting or continuity issues
13. Match on action: In Summary
• Match on action (or cutting on action) is an editing technique
for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot
portraying the action of the subject in the first shot.
• This creates the impression of a sense of continuity – the
action carrying through creates a “visual bridge” which draws
the viewer’s attention away from slight cutting or continuity
issues.
• This is not a graphic match or match cut, it portrays a
continuous sense of the same action rather than matching
two separate things.
14. Skill 3: Shot reverse shot
• Shot reverse shot is a
continuity editing technique
and can be used in
conversations
• A shot reverse shot would
start off showing what the
character is evidently looking
at (either a point of view or
over the shoulder) and is then
followed by a reverse angle
shot of the character
themselves looking at it
15. Shot Reverse Shot
• Shot reverse shot is a continuity editing technique used in
conversations or simply characters looking at each other or
objects.
• A shot showing what the character is supposedly looking at
(either a point of view or over the shoulder shot) is followed by
a reverse angle shot of the character themselves looking at
it, or of the other character looking back at them, for example.
• Shot reverse shot often ties in with the 180° rule to retain
continuity by not distorting the audience’s sense of location of
the characters in the shots. Shot reverse shot in 28 Days Later
16. Filming task: Continuity
• You will have the second half of the lesson in
groups of 4 to complete the following task
• Continuity task involving filming and editing a
character opening a door, crossing a room and
sitting down in a chair opposite another
character, with whom she/he then exchanges
a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should
demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse
shot and the 180-degree rule.
