Director's Chair: Screen Direction

Robert G. Nulph, Ph.D
February 2007

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We are often tempted to place our cameras so that we get the cool background behind our talent as they move through the landscape. However, sometimes when we move the camera, we inadvertently change the direction the talent is looking. In this column, we will take a look at the 180-degree rule, continuity, cutting on action, camera and talent movement and basic blocking. Never again will you have to resort to the age-old trick of reversing the image because the talent is looking in the wrong direction.

Some call it the "Motion Vector Line," some call it the "Sagittal Plane Rule," and still others call it the "line of action." But most in the film world know it as the 180 Rule. What is it? The rule that will always serve you well to make sure your talent is always looking or moving in the right direction on the screen. It works like this: If you have two people talking or an object moving in a specific direction, draw an imaginary line through them in the direction they are looking (see Figure 1). By making sure your camera never leaves the 180 degrees of space on the one side of the line, you can be sure your subject will always be looking or moving in the same screen direction. If you are taping a conversation between two people, make sure the camera never crosses the imaginary line that runs through them. If you stay on the same side, your talent will always be looking towards each other. If, however, you cross the 180 line, they will both be looking in the same direction (see Figure 2).

When shooting a parade, a race, a chase or any other movement that has a specific direction, always make sure your cameras stay on the same side of the action. If you decide to shoot the basketball game from the home side of the court, all of your cameras have to be on that side so that you don't have the players making baskets in their opponent's goals. The only way around this is to make sure you put a graphic on the screen that says "reverse angle." If you are taping a car chase, decide if you want to shoot the chase from the passenger or driver's side of the cars and do not deviate from that plan, no matter how cool the background looks at various locations. The instant you decide to switch sides, the cars will no longer be chasing each other; they will be crashing into each other or running away from each other! Not a good outcome to the chase! If you are taping an actor chasing another, decide if you want to tape from the left or right side and again, stick to it. Just imagine how hard it would have been for the cowboys to catch the cows if you shot the cowboys from their left side and the cows on the right. They would eventually meet in China!

The 180 can be very confusing sometimes because, when we tape actors and other talent, they are often in motion. Just keep in mind that the camera has to stay on the same side when focusing on two people, and you will be OK. To move the 180 line, you have to physically move the camera during the shot so that the audience recognizes the change in position. You can also shoot a direction-neutral shot where the talent looks directly into the camera or, in the case of a car chase, the car comes right at the camera (see Figure 3).

One of the reasons the 180 Rule is so important is that it gives you a sense of continuity. Your audience must always feel like they are watching a moment in time that unfolds in a continuous direction. Thus the idea of continuity: maintaining a sense that time, distance and objects continue through time in a logical way. If the car was moving from the left to right side of the screen and was rushing away from a following police car, you wouldn't suddenly show it moving from the right to left unless it was planning on ramming the police car! You must be consistent to maintain this idea of a continuous time.

Cutting on action is one of the best ways to maintain the feeling of movement through time and maintaining screen direction and continuity. When editing, it is always best to cut as the talent does something - not as they are getting ready to do something or have already finished the action. If they are sitting, make the cut as they are on their way down, not while they are still standing. Cutting on the action will also hide the cut because the movement of your talent will distract the viewer from the hard cut. Cutting on action also lets you do a very interesting thing called a parallel cut. This is a cut between two similar actions yet involves two different subjects in two different places. For instance, say your subject is a boyfriend going to meet his girlfriend. He walks through a door; she gets into an elevator. You shoot him from the left and her from the right to give the feeling that they are moving towards each other. Cutting as he opens his door and her elevator door closes gives you two similar actions and speeds the action along. The 180 Rule, screen direction and cutting on action work together to bring these two together!

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