180 Degree Rule - Cinematography Basics

In order for the audience watching a film to have an understanding of the connection of characters and important points inside a scene the film requires to be filmed from a constant point of view. The 180 rule aids the director sustain that consistency in the minds of the audience. If you had been to draw an imaginary line by means of the movie set then all filming need to be completed from a single side of that line, or axis. That, in a nutshell, is the 180 degree rule.

When the audience is seeing a scene of a guy on the left speaking to a woman on the proper they may well be confused if the scene is filmed so the close-ups of each the man and lady appear to be seeking in the identical path. If at any time the camera is moved to the reverse side of the axis for 1 or a lot more shots in a scene the audience will almost certainly be confused and picture the characters all of a sudden turned about or jumped to a distinct location in the scene.

Action and especially chase sequence scenes especially should have the 180 degrees rule followed. Moving from a single side of the axis to the other creates an illusion in the minds of the audience that the chase has suddenly changed path.

When the camera moves across the axis it is referred to as jumping the line or crossing the line. In reality such a change in viewpoint at some point in a chase sequence would only be fitting in a comedy.

When a scene is becoming filmed it is usual to do distinct shots of the characters performing the scene all the way from a wide version that contains every little thing down to close-ups of single actors. This process is recognized as coverage. Retaining the 180 degree rule is very significant when shooting coverage so the editor can place the components with each other in a way that tends to make sense.

Creatively Breaking the 180 degrees rule

Some directors may well deliberately break the 180 degree rule for a special cause such as to generate disorientation in the audience's mind. You may well see this in the course of battle sequences or a dance quantity. If the action requires the participants round a turn right after that it can appear logical to the audience that action is moving in a yet another path.

If actors are moving around in the course of the action of a scene significantly focus requirements to be used to sustain the apparent physical correlation of the actors to both other and to the set components. If the scene is completed as all close-ups it will be really confusing as to what is going on. An occasional wide, establishing shot can get rid of the misunderstanding.

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