In this week’s Tuesday class, I decided to attempt to recreate a scene from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which featured a 180 degree line cross. I felt that this scene was probably the simplest to try and copy in terms for playing with crossing the line, as the original’s rule break is quite obvious, and deliberately unsettling. From the examples I have found online, the ability to cross the line subtly is rare, so I felt that this scene would be a good starting off point for the practical aspects of my project.

During filming, I attempted to replicate the same shot sizes and order as closely as possible, however, when playing back the footage in the editing suites, I found that we had neglected to film some of the dialogue from the scene in a close up, as had been done in the film. This meant that I had to resort to only using footage from two different positions, rather than three, as  I had initially intended. Although I don’t think that this mistake affected the scene too drastically, it did prove to me how useful a continuity person could have been during production. Due to the purpose of our filming being to break an established continuity rule, an extra person who could have ensured we had done so smoothly would have been helpful.

Another possible reason behind this mistake was probably the fact that we had to shoot the scene out of order. It seemed logical that we would film the two shots that focus on Jack Torrence’s face (a close up and a mid shot), and then crossing to the other side of the hallway to get the long shot, which is the second shot in the scene. Whilst this was the easiest way to shoot the scene in terms of maneuvering equipment, it did cause confusion as to what dialogue was required in each shot.

Despite the technical difficulties that occurred, this exercise did result in me realizing that I probably need to more extensively plan the shots I will be filming and possibly outline a storyboard prior to the day of principal photography. It also proved to me just how logistically difficult it can be to move all of the equipment to the opposite side of the set for a single shot. I can certainly see why filmmakers would avoid having to cross the line, simply for time saving purposes, let alone continuity concerns.

Please see completed exercise below.