What is it?The 180° rule is continuity technique used to film two characters (or objects) in the same scene. There is an imaginary semicircle joining the two people, the camera must film in between the two axis, if it goes past it, it is called, crossing the line. If the line is crossed and is filmed in two or more shots the image becomes ‘flipped’ meaning that the person that was on the right is now on the left. This can cause the viewer to become confused. There is an exception to this rule, this is where the camera can cross the line, but this must be shot in one take so that the people are not on the opposite side of the screen.
How is it used?
This technique is done by filming in any point in the imaginary semicircle, in one take or more, the camera can take as many shots as it wants providing it’s in the semicircle, because if it goes outside the semicircle, the shot will have changed, meaning the people would have in effect changed sides. If this is shot with two people at a table, this can cause confusion to the viewer, as they will not know what is going on. But if this is filmed in a busy area with more people, filming the two people and breaking the rule will cause the viewer to become confused as to who is who, this may be done on purpose, so that they don’t know which person is which.
This technique is done by filming in any point in the imaginary semicircle, in one take or more, the camera can take as many shots as it wants providing it’s in the semicircle, because if it goes outside the semicircle, the shot will have changed, meaning the people would have in effect changed sides. If this is shot with two people at a table, this can cause confusion to the viewer, as they will not know what is going on. But if this is filmed in a busy area with more people, filming the two people and breaking the rule will cause the viewer to become confused as to who is who, this may be done on purpose, so that they don’t know which person is which.
Why is it used?
It may be used by the director to cause confusion to the viewer. So that the viewer is not confused, when filming you should stay within the 180° imaginary semicircle, because if the image flips it will cause the viewer to take themselves out of the scene to try to work out why they have flipped sides. If the shot is flipped, in editing you can mirror the image so that the viewer doesn’t get too confused, but if the viewer can tell something is wrong the illusion is not real anymore.
It may be used by the director to cause confusion to the viewer. So that the viewer is not confused, when filming you should stay within the 180° imaginary semicircle, because if the image flips it will cause the viewer to take themselves out of the scene to try to work out why they have flipped sides. If the shot is flipped, in editing you can mirror the image so that the viewer doesn’t get too confused, but if the viewer can tell something is wrong the illusion is not real anymore.
Above is a small video clip to show the 180° rule.
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