When making a film, one of the basic guidelines that should be followed is the 180 degree rule. The rule is used as it states that two characters (or other elements) in a shared scene always have the same right/left relationship to each other. Essentially, the guideline creates an imaginary axis which generally the camera should not cross, as for the viewer, the right/left relationship would become confusing and distorting as if the line were to be crossed, then it would appear as if the characters have swithced sides.
Some filmmakers have however broken the 180 degree rule. George Lucas did it in one of the final battle scenes in Star Wars Episode II The Attack Of The Clones, while Peter Jackson deliberately broke the guidelines for The Tow Towers in which a character has a conversation with himself. This effect was used in The Lord Of The Rings as it gave the viewer the impression that the character of Gollum was having a seperate conversation with the character of Smeagol, when in actual fact it is shortly after revealed that they are one and the same.
Our film will not break the 180 degree rule as we have no intention of confusing viewers in the introduction, instead, our production will firmly maintain use of the 180 degree rule at all times.
To practice the 180 degree rule, and use of the cameras that we will later use to film our production, we made a preliminary task in which a person enters a room, speaks to another and passes a prop using match on action. The several shots piece together to make a flowing sequence that does not break the 180 degree rule and is therefore straightforward for the watching viewer.
The task enhanced my knowledge of the rule and also showed me how a camera person can move the camera without crossing the 180 degree rule line.
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