Screen Direction Can be Sneaky
Screen Direction is another one of those gotcha's that can fool even the most seasoned reporters and home videographers. Believe me, I have seen it happen... a lot.
Screen Direction is a term of cinematic grammar which involves the direction the subjects are moving looking or facing. Utilizing the terms “screen left” where we are looking at the left side of the frame or “screen right” where we look at the right side of the frame.
If a subject is looking off screen right in the first shot as a medium shot then walks towards the right side of the screen. Then we cut to a much wider shot of the actor but now he seems to walking away from the right side of the screen towards screen left. The audience will be confused thinking “when did he start walking back the other way”.
To keep this from happening filmmakers developed a RULE called the 180 degree rule or “axis of action”. You, as the camera operator/director must be aware of this rule.
Think of a pizza and standing in this pizza are a couple teeny tiny actors talking to each other. Now draw a line between the actors from one face to the other. Now continue that line beyond and strait back from each actor. Can you see where you just cut the pizza in half with the cut going right thru the two tiny actors. Well that’s your Line of axis or axis of action. So here’s where the 180 degree rule comes in. Before you start shooting pick a side of the pizza to start shoot on. Now shoot as many shots as you need to get the actors dialog for the screen. Just make sure you never cross the camera to the other side of the pizza.
Now lets say the actor on the left of the screen walks towards then behind the actor on the right to lets say point at something. Now the actor that was on camera right is now on camera left. That’s OK though because you captured the movement with your camera and the audience did with their eyes. Now you can move around on the same axis but the actors are in opposite sides.
So the screen direction can change but your audience must be clear that it changed.
It is the responsibility of the director, cameraman and script supervisor to maintain a consistent screen direction so the editor can maintain a constant natural flow from scene to scene.
I have a special clip right out of the Mastering Videography DVD that demonstrates the rule.
Screen Direction is another one of those gotcha's that can fool even the most seasoned reporters and home videographers. Believe me, I have seen it happen... a lot.
Screen Direction is a term of cinematic grammar which involves the direction the subjects are moving looking or facing. Utilizing the terms “screen left” where we are looking at the left side of the frame or “screen right” where we look at the right side of the frame.
If a subject is looking off screen right in the first shot as a medium shot then walks towards the right side of the screen. Then we cut to a much wider shot of the actor but now he seems to walking away from the right side of the screen towards screen left. The audience will be confused thinking “when did he start walking back the other way”.
To keep this from happening filmmakers developed a RULE called the 180 degree rule or “axis of action”. You, as the camera operator/director must be aware of this rule.
Think of a pizza and standing in this pizza are a couple teeny tiny actors talking to each other. Now draw a line between the actors from one face to the other. Now continue that line beyond and strait back from each actor. Can you see where you just cut the pizza in half with the cut going right thru the two tiny actors. Well that’s your Line of axis or axis of action. So here’s where the 180 degree rule comes in. Before you start shooting pick a side of the pizza to start shoot on. Now shoot as many shots as you need to get the actors dialog for the screen. Just make sure you never cross the camera to the other side of the pizza.
Now lets say the actor on the left of the screen walks towards then behind the actor on the right to lets say point at something. Now the actor that was on camera right is now on camera left. That’s OK though because you captured the movement with your camera and the audience did with their eyes. Now you can move around on the same axis but the actors are in opposite sides.
So the screen direction can change but your audience must be clear that it changed.
It is the responsibility of the director, cameraman and script supervisor to maintain a consistent screen direction so the editor can maintain a constant natural flow from scene to scene.
I have a special clip right out of the Mastering Videography DVD that demonstrates the rule.
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