Camera Lesson 2

During our second Camera Lesson we learned about the 180 degree rule and how it is essential in film. This rule theoretically means that there is a imaginary line classed as the axis which is a basic guideline of keeping the Camera on only one side as an essential necessary element in continuity editing. 

To prevent any confusion every shot should be shot simply on that one side of the line as if you do cross the line your actors will look as if they are moving between each shot depending on what angles you use when editing.

But occasionally the rule isn't always attained intentionally, for example when doing some research into the 180 degree rule I discovered that Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' shot from both directions. This is called shooting in the round as sometimes filmmakers purposely cross the line to create a feeling of confusion, hallucination, dizziness and disorientation.

For this lesson we filmed a very short clip of our Actor performing the same short sequence for each shot we took, as it is extremely important to film the entire scene to make the material much easier to edit. Starting with a wide shot, we then shot other numerous different camera angles ranging from extreme close ups to very low shots to the ground, for example one shot we took of his feet.


Above is a Photo of me filming very close to the ground to get the shot of our actors shoes:

When shooting it is essential not to playback the footage that you have shot on that day still on set and instead do numerous takes of the same shot to be on the safe side, because otherwise you will be wasting valuable time and money when all footage is viewed in the Editing stages of Production.