Shot-Reverse-Shot, 180 Degree Rule and Match-On-Action

Shot-Reverse-Shot

Shot-Reverse-Shot is a certain film technique which is often used in scenes with alot of dialogue and is part of the continuity editing which makes scenes more realistic to the viewer. It usually starts with an establishing shot with both characters on screen and then cuts to a shot of character one looking at the other, this character could be off screen or the shot could be looking over their shoulder, so that it's clear who they are looking at. The next shot is usually the same type of shot but reversed so that it shows character two looking back at the other one, and because they're shown facing opposite directions the audience assumes they are looking at each other. Throughout the scene the shots will often get closer into the characters faces especially when the dialogue gets more intense, because it pulls the audience into the characters emotions more.




We will be using this type of shot in our preliminary task because we will be having two characters sat opposite each other exchanging dialogue and we don't want the editing to be very noticable. So we will use quite a few shot-reverse-shots to make the conversation seems more realistic.




The 180 Degree Rule

The 180 degree rule is an invisible line in filming when shooting a scene with two people talking opposite each other, which you can not cross. It would also start with an establishing shot so that the audience can see which sides the characters are on. For example character one on the left and character two is sat opposite them on the right. All shots after this one must show the characters on the same sides they were on otherwise it will confuse the audience if character one is suddenly on the right instead of left. The only way you can cross this line is if you actually show the audience the camera movement of it moving round and crossing the line in the scene, and if you do this you must carry on showing the characters on their new sides i.e Character one now being on the right and character two on the left, until you move the camera round again.





We will be using the 180 degree rule throughout our task because we have two people having a conversation across a table and we will be showing each character on different sides of the screen. This means that we won't be able to cross the 180 degree line otherwise our characters will end up on the opposite sides and our audience will get confused.

Match-On-Action

Match on action is a technique in film where you would cut from one shot to another that matches the first shots action and energy, so that the actions look more real to the audience and again makes the editing more invisible. The shots can often be filmed hours apart from each other but the cutting on the action gives the impression of continuous time and when watching the edited footage back. Because the action is begun in the first shot and then carried through to completion in the next shot, it creates a visual bridge which distracts the audience from noticing the cut, therefore making everything that bit more realistic to them.





This video is helpful because we will be using a couple of match-on-action shots in our scene. For example when one character comes through the door and at some point a photo is handed across, so that is another opportunity to use it. We decided to use it in these places because we thought that it would flow from the different shots nicely and be quite un-noticeable.