#camera tricks

A large part of many movies is dialogue between two characters. It can be very intense, it can be playful, it can be romantic...it can be many things that help the plot progress forward. One thing that cinematographers (and even playwrights) have discovered is that the audience prefers to be on one side of the interaction space wise. It feels like you are standing or sitting in front of the conversation while the scene plays out. It helps the viewer to feel secure in how each character is oriented. If you were sitting at a table, then focusing only on the character on the left means they should be looking towards the right of the camera, while looking at the person on the right means they should be looking to at the left side of camera. It makes logical sense to the eye spatially. To keep this phenomenon of visual orientation in balance, there is a basic rule that filming should be done from one side of a straight line made up by the eyeline of the characters who are interacting. Below is a very basic example from a google image search:

The arrows represent different camera angles and exemplify that the camera can be almost behind the subject and the orientation won't change as long as the shot is taken over the correct shoulder. Changing to the other side of the subjects will suddenly flip the orientation and it seems very weird. It would be like sitting at a play and watching a dinner scene, when suddenly the stage is rotated 180 degrees and you are now seeing the actors from the other direction. It would be very strange. This comforting orientation concept can be seen in films as simple as Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), where Bill is almost always on the left and Ted is on the right.

Orientation consistency is pleasing to the eye and the 180 Degree Rule retains this during a scene, so the audience knows (quite literally) where each character stands.

Using Positional Orientation to Help Tell the Story

One of my favorite movies is The Princess Bride (1987), and part of the fun is that battles to the death are treated like very intense conversations. The hero is involved in fencing duals, games of wits, and even wrestling with a giant. These are very extended fight scenes, and the conversation goes on throughout. For this reason, orientation is used along with the 180 Degree Rule. The hero is the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is trying to steal back a princess that has been kidnapped (there is more to it, but I don't want to spoil anything). Roberts takes on a Spanish swordsman named Indigo Montoya and the two switch sides throughout. The continuity works, however, because the fighter with the upper hand tends to be on the left. There is a reveal that each fighter has been using their non-dominant hand to extend the battle, and each time the handicap is made known, then the two switch sides. At the very end, the victor is on the right and he purposeful walks around to the other side before delivering the final blow.

Breaking the 180 Degree Rule to Tell a Story

Another one of my very favorite films is a black and white comedy drama called Paper Moon (1973), and it stars real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neil. The film is about a man (a grifter) who promises to take a little girl to her aunt's house. There is some question about her being the grifter's actual daughter, but he seems to want to use the girl to swindle some people out of guilt money. The grifter convinces a man to give him $200 to take the girl and the little girl believes it should be hers. The movie is set in the late 1930's, so that amount of money would be around $4000 today. She wants that money, she just lost her mother, and this no-good drifter is taking her across country and will likely swindle her if she doesn't do something. They stop at a restaurant and get some food. The grifter is acting like a father figure and telling the girl what to do. The camera angle originates from inside the restaurant and has the two actors at the table as the focus of the shot.

The man grabs some ketchup for the little girl, and she suddenly starts to complain loudly about her $200. The camera is turned 180 degrees and smashes the line to show the actors had switched positions and we are now more aware of all the other people in the scene. The depth of field extends back so the audience can tell that, despite the man wishing for privacy, the whole restaurant is listening to the conversation.

This is a power play by the little girl and this change in the balance of power is displayed by switching the sides of the characters. The tighter shot of the two at the table reflects the man's desire not to have others overhear the conversation, but the long depth of field implies that the other people in the bar can hear everything just fine. It is a brilliant sequence by director Peter Bogdanovich. Even more so, this whole film is extra special as he was advised throughout the production by his close friend and mentor, Orson Welles.

Breaking the 180 Degree Rule in a Bad Movie

I think that this is fast becoming my favorite aspect of these posts. I was watching the movie Catwoman (2004), starring Halle Berry, and the poor filming technique is disorienting throughout the run time. The film has a 9% Rotten Tomato score and took home many Razzies for being basically the worst movie of the year. The acting is just silly, the story doesn't really make sense, and the directing is laughable. I think the cinematography might be the worst aspect of the film (it is so hard to choose), mainly because director Pitof couldn't decide on a shot and just cut everything together in a massive jumble. There are constant circling shots, weird quick cuts, and sudden jumps with no explanation. One thing that actually gives me a headache is that the constantly circling camera crosses the 180-degree line often, so the viewer has no idea of what the spatial orientation is. There is a fight in a jewelry shop in which it makes some sense, but then it is done during a discussion in a boardroom, at the lead characters cubicle, at a little library, during a pickup basketball game, and even just walking down the street. It makes us constantly have to guess who each character is talking to, how the sets are laid out, and where characters are moving. Again, this might make sense in a fight since Catwoman is very quick and agile, which makes it confusing for her opponents. But there are quick cuts and circling shots that cross the eyeline that basically cause motion sickness. It feels like you are on a boat and the prop furniture is constantly shifting and re-orientating itself. Below is a gif of the inappropriate basketball game that has me looking for my Dramamine. This is not skipping around; this is how the movie was apparently intended to look.

I see some dribbling of a basketball, so I am thinking it is a one-on-one match with these kids watching. Where are they on the court? Got me. Are the kids surrounding the area of play? I'm pretty sure, yes. I also am pretty sure it is half court with a wall on the side (although the camera might be located in the wall at some point?). From watching the whole scene, I believe that the woman (Halle Berry) has cat powers and is trying to attract the man (Benjamin Bratt) with her new skills and confidence. I think the circling is implying that man is changing his opinion about her or that he is confused...maybe? I shouldn't have to guess or make up my own story, the visual telling is the job of the director and cinematographer. This is a mess and an extreme example of crossing over the 180-degree line and destroying any semblance of spatial orientation.

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Our celebration of all things that go bump in the night continues in this lead up to Halloween. This photograph of a phantom bride was likely created using either a double exposure or pinhole camera technique.

It was possibly created at some point in the 1890s, and may be of Lillian Durban (1875-1952), shortly before or shortly after she became Lillian Maxim in 1896. It was definitely disinterred from the Hagley Library’s Hudson Maxim collection of graphic materials (Accession 1996.312), a collection of photographs and images documenting the life of Hudson Maxim (1853-1927). Maxim was an inventor and chemist best known for his work in the development of smokeless gunpowder and military explosives.