Saturday, April 26, 2008

Good Camera placement.

The 180° rule is a basic film editing guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. learn more If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle. Some filmmakers state that the fictional axis created by this rule can be used to plan the emotional strength of a scene. They believe the closer you place the camera to the axis, the more emotionally involved the audience will be.
Here is an image you might like to apply to a billboard. Use the billboard in your scene to line up your cameras if you wish. Just set the billboard to be half as high as it is wide, and set the texture blend property to ADDITIVE and turn DISABLE LIGHTING on.

3 comments:

Joe Piazzo said...

Nice post Tony. Thought everybody just forgot about the old rules. BTW, I never heard of the Axis theory - do you mean on the 0-180
or the 90?

previz said...

The classic technique is to setup a wide shot to reveal the location. This is usually from a position where the actors can be seen clearly. (60 - 120). Each camera is moved toward the (0-180)axis whilst keeping the actor in frame. The cam would also frame the actor tighter as we move around. Initially a 2 shot, then a ws, mcu & cu (bcu) on the face. The theory is explained by the camera getting closer and closer to reaching the position of one of the actor's, whilst framing the other. In this way we move from an observer role to becoming a participant. In Antics we have the ability to place lots of cameras along this arc.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the pic Tony, I intend to use it in my films in Antics; it should come in really handy and hopefully it will help anyone who uses Antics to produce better films.