How to Break the 180 Degree Rule to Create Confusion

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Welcome to our camera dynamic series.

[00:00:02]This is all about camera movement and why we move the camera. We're going to move on to the next scene and we're going to try to take a breath.

[00:00:13]He's just run four blocks full tilt trying to save his son. Now, what should the camera feel like?

[00:00:23]Exhaustion is the first thing that comes to mind.

[00:00:28]Loneliness.

[00:00:30]Confusion. So, let's see how we convey that. I wanted the camera to start not moving at all. You're hearing in the sound design, you're hearing his heartbeat.

[00:00:44]Now, the camera slowly starts to move.

[00:00:47]Now, I did the steady cam move on two different lenses, a real tight one and a medium one. So, we could constantly accelerate. We're tight, tight, tight.

[00:00:57]His world is swirling, the wheels are coming off. The whole idea of this camera motion, the swirling, the swirling, the swirling is taking the confusion, taking the exhaustion to a whole other level and going internal.

[00:01:13]So, his point of view is blurred and and not totally in focus and then all of a sudden he hears a familiar voice and bang, he locks on right to Megan again.

[00:01:28]And now, we're going to take the camera motion a whole other direction. So, peaks and valleys are huge in creating great drama and great action so the audience can rest for a moment and then fire back up again.

[00:01:50]>> [groaning] >> Welcome to our camera dynamic series.

[00:01:53]This is all about camera movement and why we move the camera. This sequence we're going to talk about is like a roller coaster of camera emotion.

[00:02:13]>> [music] [music] >> Look at the intensity that this goes from. So, we just had this lull spinning around, out of control, familiar voice, lock in and now we're off to the races again. Now, this we shot mostly with the 235 running. So, very small lightweight camera so we could run like hell and I wanted the camera to feel not like perfectly handheld on a shoulder, but much more erratic. So, we had the X, Y and Z axis and you get this roll. Cut to the overhead, handheld up there. Tighter lens overhead. Now, we're with him. Where is she going? Now, we're running, running, running. Look at the intensity of this. Now, this >> [music] >> is again completing by design the confusion factor.

[00:03:20]Confusion is helped by two different types of camera work. A to B to C, he says something, then he says something.

[00:03:28]That creates confusion. The other style of confusion that happens is by jumping the line. O2 and her go around this fence, go all the way down here >> [music] >> and then end up underneath this overhang and then they end up exiting this way.

[00:03:45]He's going to be in [music] red and we'll put her in green. The correct way to do this would [music] be to stay on this side of the line, which is them moving left to right, but they end up moving right to left. But, this is by design. We want you confused. So, we're constantly flipping back and forth and back and forth because if we stayed on this line where the camera shooting this way, then shooting this way, coming into that scene, we would then go over her left shoulder and then over his right shoulder as well as a 50/50 all from this side. We draw the line of coverage [music] 180 rule to be this. Vondie wanted you confused and an as an audience member. He wanted you to constantly get [music] into Tyrese's emotion of being absolutely confused.

[00:04:42]What the hell is going on? So, our 180 degree rule is a 360 degree rule where we're shooting like this and the camera is hopping over this shoulder, it's [music] hopping over that shoulder, it's all of a sudden over here and we are covering it in a 360 degree confuse the out of you as an audience member >> [music] >> by design.

[00:05:11]So, watch.

[00:05:16]Get the [ __ ] off me.

[00:05:17]YOU SET ME >> OF ME.

[00:05:19]YOU MARKED ME. YOU GOT ME, JACK.

[00:05:21]>> I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.

[00:05:22]Get the Where did they take that car?

[00:05:25]MY SON WAS IN THE CAR. WHERE DID THEY TAKE THE CAR?

[00:05:28]>> I DON'T [screaming] KNOW. RICHIE, IF YOU DON'T START TALKING, I'll shoot YOU IN YOUR [ __ ] MOUTH.

[00:05:33]>> I DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO with it.

[00:05:34]>> You know something. Get out of my face.

[00:05:36]>> I want my son back.

[00:05:38]I WANT MY SON.

[00:05:40]ONE.

[00:05:41]TWO.

[00:05:43]>> Constantly confusing the audience with the style of shooting. And I thought this Vondie was brilliant with this way.

[00:05:53]He's he, you know, in pre-production, [music] he set this up. This whole beginning sequence here, I want the audience absolutely confused. So, as a cinematographer, I'm saying to myself, okay, how do we do that? How do [music] we confuse an audience? All right, well, we can use tighter lenses so you don't see, you [music] know, him running from A to B, you're following through it. So, tighter lenses cause confusion and constriction. [music] But, how else can I confuse an audience? By jumping the line a lot and that's [music] what we did. So, I went to Vondie and I go, what if we just jump the line all over the place?

[00:06:32]>> [music] >> We shoot double coverage. We shoot over his left shoulder and his right shoulder. We shoot a 50/50 from [music] one side and the other. We get over her shoulder and jump the line as well. And he goes, oh my god, I love that idea.

[00:06:44]>> [music] >> So, we're breaking the rules of this 180 degree rule of always staying on the right shoulder so people are always looking the correct direction so they feel like they're looking at each other [music] and completely blowing that apart so you feel exactly [music] like Tyrese. So, you feel confused, constricted, exhausted >> [music] >> and then alone.

[00:07:16]>> [music] [music] [music]