AMLAN BASU FILM RESOURCES

SCRIPT SUPERVISOR A lack of continuity in a film or  TV  episode can be incredibly distracting to the audience. If you have a keen eye, you may notice certain inconsistencies. For example, in  Dark Knight  the banner on the building that is the scene of Batman and Joker’s final standoff first reads “ DAVIS ,” then in a later shot has changed to “ BOVIS .” Some mistakes are more obvious, like when an actor is wearing glasses in one shot and then the glasses mysteriously disappear in the next. These flubs happen because separate takes of a scene may be shot and re-shot days or weeks apart. If copious notes are not taken to ensure each take matches perfectly, you end up with a character wearing a digital watch in  Spartacus . It is the job of a script supervisor to monitor everything the camera sees to keep those distracting continuity problems to a minimum.  Duties The script supervisor is part of the camera department and works closely with the...

Understanding (and Occasionally Ignoring) the 180-Degree Rule BY  LOGAN BAKER JANUARY 10, 2017 Cinematography Filmmaking Video Editing Video Production Before shooting a conversation for your next film, consider the 180-Degree Rule. It’s one of the most universally known rules of filmmaking — and you might want to completely disregard it. Above image via  Fox Searchlight Pictures One of the first  rules of filmmaking  that you’re taught in film school is the  180-degree rule . The rule is simple — while shooting a conversation or interaction between two to three characters, there’s  an invisible line between them that the camera shouldn’t cross . If you cross the line, mismanaging shot composition and clouding the left/right spatial relationship of the characters, you risk  confusing the audience.  By keeping the camera on the same axis, you avoid a jarring cut and prevent the characters from appearing “revers...

Techniques That Will Keep You From Breaking the 180-Degree Rule 5.4k Shares 5.2k 214 17 Unintentionally breaking the  180-Degree Rule  could mean disaster for your project.  Imagine shooting one of the best scenes you've ever shot. It's gorgeous, the lighting is perfect, and performances are brilliant—you think, "I actually might be the best filmmaker in the entire friggin' world," until—until you go in to edit your masterpiece and realize that you broke the 180-Degree Rule. Choking back buckets of rage tears, you flag the problematic clips, heave a heavy sigh, and call your cast and crew to beg them for a re-shoot. Even the best of us have had this horrible experience at least once in our careers, and that's because, in the chaos of shooting coverage, it's easy for filmmakers to lose their bearings and unintentionally jump the line. What results is footage that is more often than not unusable and a very frustrated team that is p...

The 180 Degree Rule, Looking Space and Eyeline Match Follow these rules so that your shots will make sense together Keep all your camera positions on one side of an imaginary line Frame your shots carefully to show where people are looking When you film a scene using separate shots, it’s important that people understand where everything in the scene is. You can use the  180 degree  rule, together with  looking space  and  eyeline match ,   to help them. The 180 degree rule Shot 1: Long shot Imagine you’re looking at a scene from the side. You can see the whole scene. If you look at one character, they are on the left hand side of the scene facing right. The other character is on the right side of the scene facing left. You could just show your scene in long shot, but that would mean we couldn’t see facial expressions, or details of what characters are doing, very well. It would also be quite boring because the came...