WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW…

Coursework

Introduction to camera angles

There are many angles and shots that are seen in all forms of media.

When you construct your preliminary task and your opening sequence the shots that you use will be key.

In the preliminary task, you need to include:180 degree ruleMatch on actionShot reverse shot

180 degree rule

Match on action

Shot reverse shot

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

THE RULE SHOULD NEVER BE BROKEN

• The only exceptions for violating the rule is for ‘effect’ – (e.g. A chase scene)

• Violating the rule will leave the audience puzzled

Exceptions

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

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

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

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.

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

Match on action: In SummaryMatch 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.

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

Shot Reverse ShotShot 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

Filming task: Continuity

You will have the of the lesson in groups 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.