Cinematography-Theory-And-Practice

Figures 6.23 (left) and 6.24 (right).Maintaining the same directionwhile going through a door is usuallydesirable, but not always necessary.There is a continuity error in thisscene. Can you spot it? See the textfor the answer.easy to get yourself backed into a corner or up against an obstructionthat makes it difficult or impossible to position the camera for aproper answering shot.An answering shot should be the same focal length, focus distance,and angle as the shot it is paired with. In a pinch, if you can’t getquite far back enough (or close enough), you can cheat a bit witha different focal length to end up with the same image size, whichis by far the most important issue. As with all issues of continuity,anything that the audience won’t notice is OK.CuttabilitySo that’s the 180° rule and we can shoot anywhere in the 180° circle,right? Well, not quite. First let’s define what makes shots cuttable.When we put a sequence together, it is important that when oneshot follows another, it does so smoothly, not jarringly.An example: our two people are on the sofa. We are doing a shotfrom the side that includes both of them and the arms of the sofa.Then we move in just a bit and get a similar shot of the two of thembut without the sofa arms. How would it look if we cut these twotogether? Suddenly the image size changes just slightly, as if maybethe film broke and some frames are missing — sometimes called ajump cut. For two shots to be cuttable, there needs to be a more substantialchange. If instead of moving in just slightly, for example, wemoved in a lot so that the shot is just a close-up shot of one of thecharacters. Then the two shots would be cuttable.The 20% and 30 Degree RulesHow do we know how much we have to change to make two similarshots cuttable? It’s called the 20% rule. In general, a shot mustchange by at least 20% to be cuttable (Figure 6.25). That can be a 20%change in angle, in lens size, or camera position. It’s a very roughguideline, of course. Many people find that 20% just isn’t enough ofa change for a smooth cut. At best, it is an absolute minimum — it iswise to make more of a change to ensure a good edit.Another rough guideline is the 30° rule. This is just a variation ofthe 20% rule (Figure 6.25). Let’s go back to our 180° circle. Withoutchanging the lens, or moving closer or farther away, and as long aswe move 30° to the left or right along that circle, we're OK (sort of ).With lens changes, it is more subjective. Depending on other factorsin the shot, moving up or down one prime lens size — say from a50mm to a 35mm, may or may not be enough. Frequently, it is necessaryto change two lens sizes: say, from a 50mm to a 25mm. In theend it comes down to a judgment call.cinematography88