Continuity is essential in filmmaking. Continuity carries the audience through the story without disrupting their focus. It ensures cuts go unnoticed by the audience, thus engaging them in the story.
Imagine if a director replaced the main character with another actor half way through the film. The audience’s brain would instantly have to assess the change, why it happened, and how it affects the story. The audience is confused!
Discontinuity in a film sends a message to the brain that must be processed and distracts from the story. The goal is to minimize discontinuities and take control of the path the audience follows. As the video creator, you are the steward of the story. It’s your job to make the film as easy to watch and understand as possible.
That’s why it’s so important for directors not to break the 180-Degree Rule. When directors break the 180-Degree Rule, people and objects appear on the opposite side of the screen than what viewers expect.
Most causes of discontinuity are very subtle, but the brain reacts if it catches them. Some examples of discontinuity are intentional – but that’s another article.
For now, let’s talk about the camera placement that breaks the 180-Degree Rule and causes the audience to lose focus on the story.
What is the 180-Degree Rule?
The 180-DEGREE RULE is a guideline in filmmaking that dictates camera placement when filming a scene. The goal is to keep the audience from getting confused about the geographical relationship between the characters. The rule states that characters should always have the same left to right relationship in every camera angle.
If Actor A is on the left of the screen and Actor B is on the right of the screen, the subsequent camera shots need to maintain that relationship. Throughout the sequence Actor A must stay on the left to preserve continuity. The camera can move left or right, but the actors must maintain their relative position to one another.
To establish the 180-Degree line, draw an imaginary line from one character’s nose to the other that runs straight through the two characters (not between them). This imaginary line is called the LINE OF ACTION. If the camera shot jumps the line, breaking continuity, the audience gets confusion. Regardless of whether or not they figure out what happened, you have lost their complete focus for several seconds – and may not get it back. This reverse angle is problematic to the continuation of the film.
What is Screen Direction
Screen direction refers to the direction that a character or object appears to be moving on the screen. To maintain continuity, the character or object must move in the same direction in each shot to avoid confusing the audience.
Have you ever watched a children’s soccer team play? There’s always one hopeful athlete that gets confused and kicks the ball to the opposing team’s goal. Now imagine if a camera person is recording the soccer game filmed the Blue Team passing the ball to the right of the screen, trying to score a goal. If the player passes the ball and the director cuts to a camera angle that breaks the 180-Degree rule, suddenly the teams are switched – on screen only – and the audience is confused and thinks the player is passing the ball towards their own goal. The audience thinks the Red Team won! The film loses its continuity.
How to Reset the 180-Degree Line
Oops! The director made a mistake and broke the 180-Degree Rule.
Good thing editors can fix the 180-Degree Rule in post with a few techniques. There are three ways to reset the line of action to not break the 180-Degree rule.
- Movement – If the audience sees a character physically moving across the line of action during an uninterrupted shot, it will reset the line. The movement of the camera established a new line of action and reset the 180-Degree for the remainder of the scene.
- Cutaway Shot – If a director cuts to a shot away from the main characters, they have reset the line of action. Editors use cutaway shots as an opportunity to reset the line. The new line of action is not jarring for the audience to see and when the film cuts to a new camera angle. The cutaway used to reset the line is typically a close up shot or an insert shot. Just by showing the audience a completely different view, the brain resets the visual expectation and alleviates the discontinuity.
- Neutral Shot – If a shot happens directly on top of the line of action, it is possible to reset your line as you continue to edit. This type of shot reorients the audience to the spatial relation of the characters.
Continuity Errors Take the Viewer out of the Movie
A film should be an immersive experience. Audiences should not have confusion because of production details. They should instead get lost in the film story. Continuity errors include any detail that breaks the illusion the film is real life. These distractions cause that momentary blip for the viewer and break their total concentration on the storyline.
At EditMentor, we teach filmmakers to follow the 180-Degree Rule to ensure that there is adherence to this essential component of film continuity. Keeping continuity delivers the best viewing experience for the audience.
