180 Degree Rule Workshop

 

Practicing With The 180 Degree Rule:

The 180-degree rule is described as ‘the imaginary straight line you draw between two characters in a scene, and you keep your camera on the same side of that line. Following this rule establishes orientation and screen direction’ (s.d). In this workshop we ended up practicing keeping on that imaginary line whilst two people have a conversation.

In my experimental video below, there are two different shots, one establishing the conversation via a long shot and then proceeded to do over the shoulder shots, still following the line, with the camera aiming towards the person speaking. I didn’t want to over complicate this short sequence as I wanted to get a solidified understanding of the rule first. The shot types used, and the visuals were quite minimalistic, so therefore next time I can start to incorporate more interesting aspects, making it more visually appealing.

With the inclusion of audio, this was also another factor that had to be thought about. The mic is shown in some of the clips, so next time that is something I will double check before recording so it does not interfere with any of the visuals. Moreover, I think I could do more practice on the usage of audio, as the sound is quite quiet so that is something to improve and learn about for my next short sequence. However, the conversation was picked up and we were able to listen to it.

Whilst editing this short sequence together, I found it difficult to match cut the conversation audio whilst making it appear smooth, so there are no obvious cuts. I think what will help in the future, is to have a more structured conversation so it is easier to plan when to edit another shot in whilst they speak. Furthermore, as the clips in premiere pro were small after splitting them, it was quite fiddly to combine, yet I still managed to produce something as a baseline.

Bibliography

Following & breaking the 180 degree rule in film - Films On A Shoestring (20/10/21)

SHORT SEQUENCE : Practicing The 180 Degree Rule



 

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