180 degree rule

To help the audience understand where characters are positioned in the scene – especially if they are talking to each other – try these shot types:

Over The Shoulder Shot                                        Over The Shoulder Reverse

Two scenes from the Marvel movie 'Black Panther.' The first scene shows Black Panther in his suit talking to a man. The second scene shows the man with a serious expression talking to Black Panther in his suit.

As well as any wide or long shots that might position the characters in the location, use an Over The Shoulder Shot (OS) shot and an Over The Shoulder Reverse (OSR) to show two people talking together with closer shots.  

To make this work, you MUST follow the 180 degree rule:  All your shots must be from in front of the characters within a 180 degree radius. If you ‘cross the line’ by shooting from behind your characters’ imaginary 180 degree line, viewers will get confused and won’t be able to make sense of the space and where your characters are in relation to each other.

180 Degree Rule / Not Crossing ‘The Line’

Two people sitting in chairs in a room with wooden floors and a fireplace, with white sketch annotations overlaying the image showing a triangle and arrows indicating 180-degree movement.

Show your students this video which explains how the 180 Degree Rule works:

180 Degree Rule:  https://youtu.be/ALguEHV9VvA

Exercise:

Practice shooting characters in conversation using the Over The Shoulder / Over The Shoulder Reverse types of shots with the camera team.

You can also try shooting an example of what it looks like when you DO ‘cross the line’ to show the class why it’s important not to do this, and how weird it looks.

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