Week 3

In the third week of learning, we focused on the position of the camera. According to analyze the importance of the camera’s location to the movie by watching several different movie clips. This is the essential information that I ignored in my previous studies. First of all, I learned different camera positions could help the movie express a complete display of the plot’s development. Second, if the subject remains the same, changing the camera angle and position might make the audience intuitively feel the story’s development. Moreover, when it comes to the camera’s position, the 180-degree rule in the film must be mentioned, which is a basic criterion for film production. Setting the camera position within 180°, most of the time, could ensure the correct handling of the direction of the person or object on the screen. Specifically, the 180-degree rule stipulates that the dialogue between two people in the same scene must always maintain the same left/right relationship. If the camera passes through an imaginary axis connecting two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new lens from the other side is called the reverse angle. For example, in Monday’s class, we saw a clip of Gossip Girl. Serena is on the left, and Blair is on the right. And then Serena should always face the right. Even at the end, Blair leaves the screen; Serena should always face the right. If the two actors’ positions are not moving, the camera positions are swapped with the previous ones, which may cause the audience to puzzle most of the time and may disrupt the scene’s fluidity. Generally speaking, as a beginner, I should abide by the 180-degree rule.

In the class on Thursday, I chose 2a as my script, and I will use the knowledge I learned before to practice shooting.