Introduction To 180 Degree Rule
Hello friends, 180 degree rule is one of the fundamental and basic rule to be followed when u shoot film. Don't know what is 180 degree rule? well i am here to explain..film is nothing but a combination of moving images placed rhythmically shot by shot...any visual distraction may create a kind of confusion in the mind of audience. The work of a director is to narrate a story in a smoothly without creating any complications in the mind of the viewer. So, to maintain this smoothness in narrating..there are some rules to be followed and the basic rule is 180 degree rule. Before going in to details, let me give me an example..we all have a habit of reading any kind of taxt from left to right..that is a normal phenomenon..if somebody ask you to read from right to left what will be your mind status..? will it get stressed? will it be a complicated task? the answer would be yes..because we are all got habituated to somethings in life and they are fixed..if something go's wrong then we will surely get confused like wise..while shooting a film it is the work of script assistant,director and cinematographer to follow the screen direction..screen direction means nothing but being constant like keeping subject's which on left to left and subject's which are right to right through out the scene with out confusing the viewer..to maintain that screen direction a rule will be useful that is nothing but 180 degree rule.Explanation
Imagine two character's conversing to each other, let the characters names be Jessi and Abhi..both Abhi and Jessi are conversing sitting opposite to each other ...Imagine Abhi on your left and Jessi on your right hand side. The first thing you would be doing as a film maker is to establish that Abhi is on right and Jessi on left and after that you have to follow the same through out the scene with out creating any disorientation to the viewer.
How to Follow This 180 Degree Rule:
Imagine the same concept that i have narrated in the last step, just draw a imaginary line between two characters eye contact...now place all the camera's( Multiple camera set up) only on one side of the line..to make is more easy..just draw a imaginary circle between the two characters...we all know that circle is nothing but 360 degree's...now just draw a imaginary line making that circle into two equal half's that is 180 degrees...now place the camera's only one side of the characters..so that it will not create a jump cut and disorientation in the mind of the audience.
Problems Caused Because Of Breaking 180 Degree Rule:
Film making is just based on creativity..but at the same time one should know that there are some basics things to be followed in doing any work..These fundamental things are must for any kind of job..so don't ever think that there is no need to know anything related to technical details about anything u do...so coming to the concept, u can break the rule when u use reverse angle. I will explain in detail about reverse angle in my next post. U can break this rule in some cases, but u have to follow this rule if are shooting a car chase or a action sequence, if a film maker violate this rule there should be some solid reason to do so. If not it will distract, confuse the viewer and result in a jump cut.For example, just think of a car chase, in one shot a car comes from left side of the screen..in the next shot it should enter from the right side of the screen so that one can relate what's going on in the movie, else one cant find out what's going on in the chase. Here in such kind of action sequences 180 degree rule comes handy.
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We will discuss some more things related to 180 degree rule in my next post..until then have fun, Please leave your comments.