WEEK 3: BREAKING THE RULES.

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LATE POST WHICH I APOLOGISE FOR. I HAD QUITE A FEW ERRORS TRYING TO BLOG THIS WEEK'S ON MY LAPTOP

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After being taught several RULES and THEORIES in which DIRECTORS can apply to scripts, there are some DIRECTORS that have BROKEN the RULES and have got away with it! To achieve this, you need a SOLID UNDERSTANDING of them before you can even attempt to break them as you need to understand WHY you can break them. Is it NECESSARY for you to break them? Will the AUDIENCE be left DISORIENTATED?

To SET-UP a very basic conversation, TWO CAMERAS will be placed OVER-THE-SHOULDER of CHARACTER A and CHARACTER B. Therefore, CHARACTER A will be in the LEFT-SIDE of FRAME and CHARACTER B will be in the RIGHT-SIDE of FRAME. The AUDIENCE will then recognise this as the NORM and to then change this half way through can cause the AUDIENCE to be CONFUSED.

The classic known as “THE GODFATHER” a 1972 film by Francis Ford Coppola is a prime example where this basic rule of FRAMING a CONVERSATION is broken. The scene involves Johnny meeting his wife at dinner. The scene starts with the norm, having his wife on the LEFT SIDE of FRAME and Johnny on the RIGHT SIDE of FRAME however half way through, they BOTH appear on the LEFT SIDE of FRAME. This was something in which you SPOT STRAIGHT AWAY and was quite CONFUSING.

But there was a PURPORSE for this madness.

The BALANCE of their relationship had shifted and this was VISUALLY told via the SHIFT in FRAMING and how it became UNBALANCE. The CHARACTERS don’t know what will happen and were CONFUSED. This SHIFT in FRAMING therefore makes the AUDIENCE CONFUSED.

The PURPOSE of this decision has been justified.

LINES OF ACTION AND THE 180 DEGREE ARC.

A DIRECTOR has to be AWARE of the LINE OF ACTION during a SCENE and they can be seen EASILY – they FOLLOW the ACTION.

For example, if we had two people sitting down on opposite ends of a table, their LINE OF ACTION would be their EYE LINE, an INVISIBLE LINE that DIVIDES the scene in HALF.

(NOTE: LINES OF ACTION MIGHT NOT NECCESARILY DIVIDE THE SCENES IN HALF. IN THIS EXAMPLE HOWEVER, IT DOES.)

Once a DIRECTOR has DRAWN this INVISIBLE LINE then they can use the 180 DEGREE ARC RULE. The PURPOSE of this ARC is for CONTINUITY reasons and will mean for the EDITIOR that if all the SHOTS were shot in the same 180 DEGREE ARC then they can ALL be EDITED together. If ONE SHOT was shot on the opposite side of that ARC, it will FLIP the SHOT and again may result in the AUDIENCE to be CONFUSED. 

However, if we were to go back to the example above about TWO CHARACTERS sitting at a table and a THIRD CHARACTER enters the room and CHARACTER A needs to talk to them, the DIRECTOR needs to GENRATE a NEW LINE OF ACTION.  To do this, we first need to INTRODUCE this new CHARACTER and we can do this in TWO WAYS:

1.       CUT AWAY to the FRONT DOOR and see CHARACTER C ENTER.

2.       MOVE the CAMERA in a front position to keep CHARACTER A on the LEFT SIDE of FRAME    however we can SEE CHARACTER C enter the building and more importantly, they are on the RIGHT SIDE of FRAME.

Option 2 is more PLAUSABLE as in that re-positioning of the CAMERA; it MAINTAINS the LEFT and RIGHT SIDE of FRAMING and that CHARACTER A REMAINS on the LEFT SIDE – which is ESSENTIAL. CHARACTER A can then LOOK at CHARACTER C and there we have it: A NEW LINE OF ACTION and in turn, an OPORTUNITY to RE-POSITION the CAMERA in NEW locations as we now have a SECOND 180 DEGREE ARC.

Or, as DIRECTOR you can COMPLETELY break this rule – however your name has to be STANLEY KUBRICK of course.

“THE SHINING” the 1980 MASTERPIECE has one SCENE in which this 180 DEGREE ARC RULE is SHATTERED, but for a REASON.

 The BATHROOM SCENE involving Jack Nicholson and the “Caretaker” where Jack is told by the “Caretaker” that in fact HE is the “Caretaker” is where this happens.

However, there is a REVERSAL in the story and this is VISUALLY told in breaking the 180 DEGREE ARC RULE as they have too REVERSED, almost like a MIRROR’S IMAGE.  Again, this JUSTIFIES why the RULE is BROKEN.

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SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT.

I have been re-drafting my script, something that you ALWAYS do. The manin reason in why I decided to do this was because can I really bring in a and change knife to the University and not get caught?

It will be sensible to DELETE that part out and change a few things as it will be filmed this SUNDAY.