Cinematography: The Subtle Art of Camera Placement

1. Welcome: To me, cinematography is mostly about camera placement in the scene. Now is a very bold statements since there's so much being thought about composition. And the light, which is, don't get me wrong. It's important, but not as important as choosing the right point of view. Hi, my name is builds author of which I'm a director and screenwriter. I'm also an academic teacher here at Polish National Film School. My recent feature F8 Breaker, has been produced by Canal Plus, which is nice. Now, when I was starting out as a filmmaker, I was like everybody else is just a hobbyist. And I remember that back then I thought, but when I'm shooting my movie, I want to be as spontaneous as possible. And I was also spontaneous regarding the camera angles. I would just kind of see what the actors are doing and then decide which angle I want a film it. But after I went to film school and started making movies more regularly, I learned more and more about Subtle Art of camera placement. I learned that there are very specific rules about where to put the camera to maximize the impact of the scene. Now, you don't always have to follow these rules, but just by knowing them, you will accelerate your growth as a filmmaker. So in this course, I want to teach you the most important rules that will guide you whenever you decide to shoot your film or become a more conscious audience member. First, we're going to talk about focusing on the main character, how to make the camera or mimic the perception of a certain character. Then I'm going to show you how to film the actors using 180 degree rule, which is going to help you create a sense of space in the C, I'll be explaining everything by drawing charts, which are a great tool when you're preparing to shoot a scene. That way, you're not only going to learn where to put the camera, but you're also going to learn how to prepare yourself before you're going to shoot the scene. Hopefully, see you in the class. 2. Basic Setup - Subtle Art of Camera Placement: Thank you for taking my class. Today we are going to take a look at the way you're going to film the characters in your movie. Before we begin, just let me mention briefly that at any point during the lectures, you can change the tempo of the recording. If my way of speaking is too slow for you, you can go ahead and speed it up to 1.5 speed. Or if you feel like there are sections that you will prefer to watch slower, you can turn the temperature down to 0.5. It's totally up to you. I usually watch lectures with 1.5 speed, but whenever there is something technical that I want to make sure I understand, I turned down the tempo to 0.5. Now, in this course, we are going to analyze scenes in two ways. First, we are going to identify the main character. The idea is that your camera should be showing the action from the perspective of the main character. It is very important to identify the character that shares a point of view with the camera. It doesn't always have to be the main character of the movie. It may be your conscious decision as a director or a cinematographer to distance yourself from the main character and show his actions from another character's point of view. So when we will identify who is the most important character for the camera in this particular scene. We will then analyze the movement of the camera regarding the actors. For this, we are going to use 180 degree rule, which is the most popular guideline for where to put the camera in relation to your actors. If you haven't heard about 180 degree rule. And don't worry, I'll cover everything in this course. So without further ado, let's begin with the first scene from the classical Polish movie from the '60s titled How to be loved by one of the most renowned Polish director's voice, Jeff, Yeah, jerry has. The film tells the story of an actress named Felicia, who is hiding a man in her apartment during the Nazi occupation of Poland. She is in love with him. The problem is that Victor doesn't love her back. So even though she is risking her life to save him, he's too depressed to appreciate it. So this film is portraying a kind of a quiet heroism. Felicia is not a soldier who is dying in combat. Her bravery is trying to save a life of a man that doesn't love her. In a moment, we're going to watch a scene from the middle of the movie. Our heroine Felicia had her apartment searched by the Germans and they didn't found victor. After this risky situation, Victor leaves his hideout and sits on the couch. Now, in this scene, you are going to hear some dialogue between the characters and an internal monologue of Philadelphia. I'm deliberately not including the subtitles because I want you to focus on what is the camera doing in the scene. All you need to know is that they are talking about their life after the war and that there has to be an award for all this suffering. Let's watch the scene while watching, tried to think about which character is more important to the camera and which character's POV the camera is trying to mimic. He has stackable gay marriage doesn't have it, but also because GitHub ego cleanse Kenya with fash. Handling another thing either converted female prevalence, teach them the uglier didn't disinterested pinch that will appear. Neat scenarios from Yalom. Substituent is fleecing yesterday. Shadow zone music w1 unique cogen yellow scattered at Los Amigos, the name Lawson. Here's a typo in your window will show synonymy COVID, Tammy the javelin with any steady arms, a little t, little t downstairs evincing these COVID times a day. You see how it's going to have a curriculum. That motion. Thank you. Exact integral tight shot. Now, let's begin by figuring out who is the most important character in the scene. Unfortunately, there is no clear rules about this, is always a rule of thumb. However, there are two questions that you can ask yourself that can help you discover who the main character is. The first question is, with whom do we begin the scene and with whom do we end the scene? The second question that you can ask yourself is, which character the camera is more responsive. Now let's analyse the scene. Okay, so we begin the scene with Victor. It might be a clue to who the main character of the scene is. What we will see about that. So we begin with Victor, and he is looking at Felicia, who is coming into the room. Okay, So now the axes have been created. Victor is looking right to left. She's entering the room and we see it just by looking at Victor. It's a very good practice not to show obvious things. And this is what they are doing here. You don't have to see Felicia who is entering into the room. We know from the context of the scene, they are together in this apartment. They are alone. So you don't really have to see her entering the door. We just see him noticing her. And we kind of see that here's a broken man. He is tired. And it's much more interesting to see his state of emotions. Then the C, Felicia entering the room, which is obvious from the sound that we hear from his gaze, right? Okay. Now we see her and we have seen for a moment that she was looking at him from left to right. Right. So everything checks out. When we will go to our chart, we will see that we begin on the couch with Victor, and then we transition to a shot of predator. So at first, the axis was here. We are on this side of the axis. And then the axis transitioned when Felicia went to this position, we haven't seen her going from the door to the cupboard. But we know it happened because we saw it in the gaze of Victor. And now the axis is here, but it's actually the same axis. We're on the same side of the axis with the camera. Because before we were looking at Victor perspective and then we are seeing this situation from this perspective. Therefore, we haven't changed the side of the axis. If the camera would be put here, then the axis would have been broken. If we would see Felicia from this perspective. But we're not. So everything is according to 180 degree rule. For those of you who don't know what 180 degree rule is. And I haven't seen my class. That's titled Fundamentals of cinematography. Choose the best camera angle with 180 degree rule. I'm going to explain the basics of it. So if you'll look at your characters from above, you can draw an invisible line between them. And this is your access. In a scene, you're supposed to pick one of the sides of this axis and put the camera there. The idea is that whenever you want to cut to another camera ankle, you're supposed to stay on the same side of the axis. This way, you are going to maintain the same direction of the gaze of each character. So the character that is on the right side of the camera, we'll be looking right to left. And the character that is on the left side of the camera is going to be looking left to right. Therefore, whenever you are going to cut to another camera angle, the gazes of the characters are going to be maintained. And this is how your audience is never going to be lost in the space. If you would put the camera on the other side of the axis, then these directions of the gazes would be interrupted. Meaning that these characters, even though they are looking at each other in your camera, they would both look left to right or right to left. And the audience is used to seeing two characters looking at each other in two opposite directions. Anyway, if you'll mix up the directions of the gazes of your characters, your audience might not be sure if your characters are looking at each other and this is not good. Anyway, let's get back to the example because it's much easier to explain on the example. So let's see what's going on. When she approaches him. So she's pouring the alcohol. She is still looking at him from left to right. It doesn't change. Then she approaches him and we see it in a two shot. Now, nothing has changed here in the chart. You can see it here. She moves and the camera is panning to see them both in a two shot. But effectively from our perspective, nothing changed. A little hint in who the main character is in this scene is that the camera was painting with Felicia. This is a little hint that she is also important. So let's see what's going on. Later on in the scene, we see this little situation where she gives him the alcohol and then she gives him the smokes and he's smoking. I'm going to fast forward a little bit to the next very important movement of the camera that is happening now. Now look at this. The camera is galling. So moving towards Felicia. Notice that the first one to initiate this movement was the actress because she bowed to touch his hand and then the camera moved. So let's see it on the chart. Here, see absolutely nothing has changed regarding the axis. But there is another hint that the camera is more interested in what Felicia is doing. Victor, let's see what's going on in the scene. Now. He's going to give her the cigarette and he's going out of the frame. Now. She is looking at him, right, the left. So our characters switched, but the camera is still on the same side of the axis. You're going to see it more clearly on the chart. So let's go to the chart. So I'm reminding you, axis is over here, right? This is Victor, this is Felicia. Victor is leaving and he's going to the door. And now the axis is here. But we are still on the same side of the axis. So whenever we are going to cut two vector, then since Felicia is looking at him left to right, then Victor will be looking at Felicia. Right to left. Let's see it in the scene. See, she's looking at him right to left. Then we got to Victor and he's looking at her over here. Turn back. Okay. Yeah. So he's looking at her left to right and we're still on the same side of the axis. Let's see it on the chart. Yeah. So still, this is the axis, and this is the camera. This is week three. We're looking at Felicia and he's looking left to right as you can see here. Now we're going to cut back to Felicia in the moment that he decides to come back. So we see the camera moving back. Let's see it on a chart. And now we see the camera moving back when Felicia is lying down on the couch. Another indicator that xi is the most important one in the scene. And now the cursor is coming back. Now Victor is looking at her right to left. They've switched sides again. But the axis haven't been broken. Because we're still seeing this situation from the perspective of the camera and it happened on the camera. He just came back where he came from. It's a two shot. And then we see this situation from this camera angle till the end of the scene. Now, when you will look at this setup, now I'm going to remove all the marks that I did look at this setup on the chart. So you see that we see the situation from one position of the camera, right? We've begun with Victor at the beginning. It was this shot and it was looking directly at him. But then as soon as Felicia came into the room, then she has become the main interests of the camera. Camera is panning with her in the beginning, right? This movement. And then the camera is moving forward whenever she leans into caress his hand. And then when she lies down on the couch, the camera moves backward. And in this time, victor is leaving the frame for a moment and going towards the door. So he is the less important one for the camera. And I would say that in this scene, Felicia, the main character of the movie, is the more important one for the camera. And the camera is mimicking her perception. Now, remember when I told you about the two questions that you can ask yourself when you want to determine who the main character in the scene is. The first question was, which character do we begin the scene width and end the scene width. So it begins with Victor, but then we end with them both, right? So it ends pretty neutral. However, we begin with victims. So from the beginning of the scene, we guess that he might be the main character. However, in the first moment that Felicia appears on the screen, the camera shifts and follows Felicia till the end of the scene, reacts to her every movement. We even have the moment where Victor is leaving the frame and the camera is staying with Philadelphia Mural the couch. Another side note regarding the 180 degree rule is that in this camera setup, we see the situation from one perspective. It's as if we would sit with these characters on this couch. This minimalistic approach is something that has or is famous for. As you can see, he's trying to make the camera invisible so you focus all your attention on the actor. It is a very conscious decision. He doesn't confuse you with switching the axis or doing any of the advanced things with the cameras. You have to remember that this film was shot in the '60s. It was times when the cameras were much larger and they were actually kind of hard to move during the scene. So all these old school directors would set up all the camera work in the way that they don't have to move it too much. However, there is a kind of nobility in this way of shooting scenes because it's so minimalistic that it lets you enjoy the performances of the actors. As a gloves in remark, I would add that in this setup, even though the actors are walking in, walking out and all this stuff is happening, is actually the most simple setup that you can use because you're filming the whole situation from one side of the axis. And you watch the whole situation as if you would watch it in the theater. See you in the next lesson. 3. Multiple Actors in a Scene: After watching the first example seen, you now know the basics of how to set up a scene with two actors. It was a very simple setup done according to 180 degree rule. In this lesson, we are going to take it up a notch. In this example, we are going to have more actors that are going to be revealed one after the other. This time we're going to talk about a more modern film. It's, there will be blood by PT Anderson is going to be a little bit more complicated, but still the same rules apply. Now in this scene, the characters meet for the first time, so I don't really have to make any introductions regarding the context of the scene. I think you're going to understand the context just by watching the scene. So let's see you and remember to watch it. Thinking about whose perception is following the camera. Mr. plain view? Yes. You, Daniel Plainview? Yes. I do. For you? He looked for oil. I try when he pay for a place that has it depends. What does it depend on? A lot of things. If I told you I knew a place that had oil where land could be bought cheaply. What do you think that would be worse? Well, I think that you should let me know what you know and we'll try and work something out. Can I sit down, please? One church to belong to? I I enjoy all things. I don t belong to one church in particular. I like the more like everything. Where are you from? I wouldn't be telling you. That's what I wanted to tell you. What are you doing in Signal Hill? We have oil and it seeps through the ground. You want to pay me to know what your screws or something on the ground doesn't mean that there's anything beneath it. Why did Standard Oil buy up land? In California? Maybe much land. They might like it better if you didn't think I was stupid. Why did you come to me? Can you just brought the swelling? That's right. Yes. So just give me $500 in cash right now and I'll tell you where it is. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you $100 now. And if it proves to be a promising lease and give you $1,000, $600. Just told me one thing to help me decide. What else have you got up there? What do you grow? We have a big ranch, but it's mostly rocks, plant things, nothing no grow but weeds. What makes you think it's up herself for around or alkali deposit. Alkali nearby. I don't know. Sulphur. Say your son. Yes. How are you? I'm Fletcher Hamilton. Wants to meet you so much your name, what you do. I work with Mr. Plainview years five-hundred dollar. Told me something worth hearing. Money's yours. I come from a town called little Boston and Isabella County. Wow. It's an amazing scene in an amazing fail. Now, regarding whose perception the camera is trying to mimic. I think it's Paul Bain owes character, even though the main character of the film is Daniel, who is played brilliantly by Daniel Day Lewis. This scene follows the perception of the character we just met. So let's analyze the scene shot by shot. So we begin with Paul character appearing. As you may remember, the fact that Paul is the first one. That appears in the scene is an indication that he is the most important character and that the camera will be mimicking his experience. So now you can see that he's entering the room. And the shot transitions from the silhouette of pore space into an establishing shot where we can see. Then you'll plan view as well. So I'm going to stop it right here and let's see what's going on on the chart. So we begin the scene not knowing who's in the room. We guessed that Daniel Plainview is going to be there because he's the main hero of the movie. However, at this point, we don't know this character and he enters the room. We begin with the character of Paul de novo. So I'm instantly suspicious that he will be leading the scene and the camera will be mimicking his point of view. But it may change in the previous example of how to be loved, seeing from how to beloved. Remember that we've begun with Victor and then the cameras switched and followed Felicia. But I don't think this is the case in this situation. In this situation, we kind of stick with Paul. Anyway. We begin by seeing him cross the axis because here the axis is established here we see him looking clearly in this direction only. So here's looking from this to this. So from the perspective of the camera, he's looking left to right, right. And what he's doing in this shot is crossing the axis and the camera is following that. And then you'll play new view is revealed in this pan. So let me just put emphasis on this panorama. Because during this panorama, the axis has been changed or the side of the axis has changed. We've begun with Paul looking left to right, and we've ended the panorama with Paul looking right to left. And it all happened during this one continuous shot. Now, another axis is introduced. So this is how you change the side of the axis. First, we begin here, right on this side of the axis. And then when he transitioned, we went on to this side of the axis. So we have Paul looking at Daniel from right to left, and we have Daniel looking at Paul from left to right. And this is what the camera will be seen from this perspective. So we've begun on this side of the axis, and now we're going to stick to this side of the axis. So this is a example of what to do to switch the axis of action. You may want to do it from different reasons. You want to try to switch the axis of action because of the camera position, it would be super hard to follow the same axis of action in this scene, because you would have to put the camera on the other side of the table. And it would be extremely inconvenient to do during the realization of the scene. In the upcoming lesson, we are going to expand on how to switch the side of axes of action with many more examples. So stick around. So let's get back to the scene. As you can see while they are talking, Daniel is looking left to right and Paul is looking right to left. This configuration is not going to change till the end of the scene. We're going to stick to one side of the axis. He's introducing him to sit in front of them. Now, The Fletcher character is revealed. And I would say that it's another, another clue that the main character of this scene, or that the filmmakers are mimicking the POV of Paul because of how the Fletcher character was revealed by showing this character. In this particular manner, the camera is showing us how Paul is perceiving the situation because he also doesn't mu who's going to be there in the room. So Paul is walking and then the Fletcher character is revealed. And then the camera is traveling to dislocation to show us an establishing shot of this situation. So nothing has changed regarding the axis of action. So this is the axis after the transition. And when the camera moved forward, this the proper axis. So we're still on the same side. Nothing has changed. Daniel is looking at for left to right, and Paul is looking at Daniel right to left. Let's look at the scene. So they are talking and the camera keeps traveling towards poll. I'm going to speed it up a little bit. It's a very slow movement until we are focused on Paul completely. So we went from a full shot to a close up of Paul in one camera setup. Okay. Now, we've transitioned to see the close-up of Daniel. And since Paul was looking at him right to left, then Danielle is obviously looking at him from left to right and everything works as a trial. So whenever we transitioned back to Paul, we see that Paul is looking at Daniel right to left. And this doesn't change. We are still at the same side of the axis. We're just switching through this to close-ups. And in the background. The second character is revealed and it's H W. Then we also have an insert on Fletcher, but it's also done from the proper side of the axis. So as you can see, they are very precise in respecting the 180 degree rule. Every camera angle is from this side of the table. Main axis of action is the axis of action between Daniel plain view, a poll, and also Paul and Fletcher Hamilton. Because you have seen the insert on Fletcher Hamilton is also from this side of the axis. But this is also another very interesting clue that the main character in the scene is Paul, because he is the character on which the axis of action are crossing on. Which essentially means that everybody in the scene are looking at him. He is the center of attention of every other character in the scene. And now, while I was explaining it, we arrived in the next scene, which is a master shot. So as you can see, it's very clean setup. We follow the main character in the beginning when he enters the room. And we also end the scene seeing him accepting the offer from the side. So this is a huge indication that he's the main character, but also the camera is mimicking his perception because the camera is revealing the characters. Whenever Paul is seeing that, right? He wasn't aware that flatter Hamilton is in the room when he walked into it. And then when he sat down, he wasn't aware that h w is in the back and that he's going to reveal himself later on. And we discover this character's width, the main character of the scene. Another thing that I want to add is that whenever you determine who is the main character and whose is the perception that you are trying to mimic? If the scene has more characters in it, like maybe four or five. This character, your main character, should be the one where all the axis are crossing. Just as you have seen here with the Fletcher or Hamilton. If we would add another character, let's say here, it would be another character. Then if you would want to shoot another different angle at this character, then you would have to draw an axis here and put the camera here. Because you always want, in this particular situation for your character, for your main character to look right to left. So when he will look back at this character, he will be looking right to left. When he will be looking at this character. You're going to use this camera. He's also going to look right to left. And whenever he's looking to Daniel Plainview, he's also looking right to left. And this is how you organize a scene with multiple characters. 4. How to Properly Cross the Axes: The previous examples, you will learn the proper use of axis of action. But what if you want to change the side of the axis within a scene? There is a way of doing it properly without breaking the axis. In this lesson, we're going to analyze a scene where the filmmaker consciously switch this side of the axis of the camera. But first, let's talk about why would you want to switch the axis of action in the first place? The first possible reason for changing the axis of action is that it instantly creates a little bit of tension in the subconscious mind of the viewer. That's why it's a great way of emphasizing that something has changed in the scene. Another possible reason is a necessity that comes from the location that you're filming at. Let's say e.g. that it's important for you to show some part of the scene where you have a beautiful landscape in the background. In those two examples, you might be forced to switch the side of the axis of action with your camera within the scene. So let's move on to the examples in because it's much easier to explain practically, we are going to analyze another Polish classic titled interrogation. It's a historical film that depicts the communist era in Poland right after the Second World War. The film tells the story of Tanya, who was wrongfully accused by communist authorities and put to prison. The interrogators tried to force her to give false statements incriminating one of her colleagues, and she never agrees to do that. She has the strong character and strong sense of self that impresses one of the interrogators who falls in love with her. And his belief in communist ideals starts to deteriorate. So we're going to watch a scene when on Christmas Eve this interrogator visits Tanya, let's watch the scene thinking about which character is more important to the camera, which character's point of view is camera mimicking? Again, I'm not including subtitles because in this case of the scene, the dialogue is irrelevant. The whole story is conveyed by the movement of the actors and the camera is a great example of using 180 degree rule in favor of hidden meaning of the scene. Let's watch. Just keep it there. But I know. Okay, This film, by no means is no melodrama. The part where the interrogator falls in love with Tania, is a small element of this anti-communist, anti Stalinist manifesto. By watching the scene in the context of the entire movie, I would never say that Tonya fell in love with the interrogator. I think that in this scene, the actress who was playing Tanya tried to show how the character, Mrs. normality, I think that this piece of a Christmas tree that was given to her by the interrogator is symbolizing just that normal life outside of the prison. Anyway, let's get back to our main question, which is, who is the main character of this particular scene? In my opinion, it's Danielle. And now I'm going to show you a few Moments in the scene which indicate that. Before we will begin, let's look at the chart for a moment. So this is the whole thing. I know that it might look intimidating, but it's really not. It's a simple set of rules. You should realize that you have to treat every camera angle one by one. And whenever you're looking at, at it that way, then it becomes very simple. So we're going to begin the scene when Tanya is entering the room. Again, I disabled the sound. So as you can see, she is looking directly into the camera. So the axis of action hasn't been created by the way. We begin the scene with Tania. So this is a great indication that she is the main character of the scene and that we will be mimicking her point of view with the camera. So okay. Let's take a look at the interrogator. And even though he is central in the frame, we see that he's looking at her from left to right. It's a little slight tilt in the eyes, but I think you can feel it, you can see it. So let's look at the chart. Tanya enters the room and now we cut away to the interrogator. So now the axis has been created. I'm going to mark it here. So this is the axis and we're here on this side of the axis. The interrogator is looking at Tanya left to right. And Tanya, in the next shot, we'll be looking at the interrogator right to left. Let's go ahead and see this. Okay. Right to left. I was correct. Right to left. It's an over the shoulder of the interrogator on Tonya. He approaches her and he is looking at her, as you can see, left to right. So it hasn't changed. We're still at the same side of the axis. So even when we move back a little bit here to see the branch of a Christmas tree that he brought her. We're not really changing the side of the axis. We're operating on the same axis is this camera angle. But it's still here on this side of the room, on this side of the axis. So it's okay. The axis haven't been broken. And they're not going to be broken in this scene. Because all of the switching of the axis will happen according to the rules. So she takes the Christmas tree and she is very surprised with him giving her the respect by touching and kissing her hand. And we're still on the same axis. However, the interrogator went to the door, but he decided to come back and he wanted to tell her something, but he resigned and then he's leaving on this side of the frame. So before he was here and she was looking at him right to left. But now he is leaving on this side of the frame. And he's effectively switching the axis of action because now she will be looking at him left to right. Okay. So whenever we will see the next shot on the interrogator, she will be looking at him left to right. This is how it transitioned and he will be looking at her right to left. Let's see the transition. Yes. He's looking at her. Right to left, and we are on the other side of the axis. Since the transition of where Tanya is looking, meaning from right to left to looking from left to right has been made during the same shot, during one continuous shot, and we have seen her changing her gaze. It means that everything has been done according to the rules. And the now we are on the other side of the axis of action. Let's have a look at how it looks like in the chart. So we are still on this side of the axis, right? Every camera angle will be on this side of the axis. Now the interrogator is walking towards the door. And we are observing this situation from the same camera angle. And this is this camera angle. So we're still on this side of the axis, right? But then he decides to leave the frame on this side of the axis. And a new axis is created that way. So this is the new axis that has been created. And now the camera is on the other side of the axis, as you can see here, right? So this axis is no longer relevant. Now this axis is the one that is important. So whenever I want to show the interrogator again, I have to put the camera here. Because we are on this side of the axis. It's important because you have to plan these transitions beforehand. Because if you don't want to break the rules, the transition have to happen on camera. You'll have to have a shot where your character is looking. Well, first, she's looking in this direction, which is from the side of the camera, is right to left. And then after the transition, she is looking left to right. And it has to happen in one shot. And this is how you transition from one side of the axis to another. So let's move to another shot because spoiler alert, we're going to transition one more time here. She was looking left to right. And now she is looking right to left. Now for your convenience, I'm going to rewind this shot so you can see it again in a more detailed manner. We come back to this camera angle on tinier. And she was looking at him from left to right. But then she switched to sit on the chair. And now she crosses the axis and now she's looking at him right to left. So you clearly see that. So now let's see it on the chart. So she's looking at him from left to right. Now on camera, she decides to move and the camera is pending. So beforehand, we were on this side of the axis right? Now in the moment where she looked at the interrogator. And new axis has been created. And we're on the other side of the axis. And we transitioned during this shot. So let's have a little quiz right now. You can now test your ability to understand this. And whenever we will transition to see the interrogator, I want you to guess where he will be looking. So I'm just going to switch back to the movie. So you see her looking right to left. Now, try to imagine, how are we going to see our interrogator? Are you ready? Obviously? Left. To write, this is the side of the axis that we are working on. Now. I know it can be intimidating, but just believe me that after shooting couple of scenes regarding these rules, you're going to understand it quite intuitively. So let's watch the rest of the scene and analyze the rest of the scene. They are still looking at each other. There is no change here. She's still looking at him from right to left, and he's looking at her from left to right. Now, she's going to approach him. But take a look that she is still going to look at him from right to left and he is still going to look at her from left to right. So nothing essentially changed. We are still on the same side of the axis, and now they just switch places. And since they only switched places, it's not going to affect our camera. Or where are we going to place the camera? They are still on the same side of the axis. Now we are also on the same side of the axis. We see her on the left and him on the right. This is how the scene ends. So let's see it on the chart so you have a better understanding of what's going on. So this is the current axis, the alkane. Now let me delete this. So the axis moved with the character, right? This was the access, and now this is the axis. And whenever the camera was moving backwards, the x's was moving with the actress. So what happened was this kind of transition. But if you look at it from the perspective of the camera, nothing happened is just like the access was here before and now. It's here. It's just move 90 degree. But since the camera was going back, the axis of action hasn't been changed. So to sum up, the camera was backing up to preserve the same side of x is of action. So now he is moving in relation to her. But still, the camera doesn't really change the size of the action, but because it's the same side of the action, the character is changed their places, but we are still on the same side with the camera. Now let's move further. The camera is still operating on this side of the characters. And whenever that will kiss, you see it from this angle. So it's still this side of the axis of action. During this analysis, I was very much focused on the axis of action, since it's a more complicated example. But I also want to emphasize that there were a few moments that gave away that Tonya is the main character. First of all, we begin this scene with Tanya. And second of all, whenever we were changing the side of axes of action, it was done by showing us her gaze that is changing from left to right, right to left and stuff like that. Look at this. The camera is stationary on her. The camera doesn't move. The camera doesn't react to the interrogators movement towards the door, right. We are left with Tanya here. And she is also the one who is initiating the change in the axis since she was looking at the beginning of this shot. Right to left, and now she's looking left to right. Again in this shot, she is also the one who is changing the axis of action. She is the one who initiates the change in axis of action. So the summer up, I would just say that the camera is much more reactive to Tanya. So this was this lesson. And hopefully I'm going to see you in the next one where I'm going to explain what is the class project and I'm also going to complete the class project. 5. Class Project: Your class project or your homework is to find any dialogue scene on YouTube and analyze it regarding who the main character is. And if the scene follows the 180 degree rule, I would like you to approach this in a similar fashion like I did earlier on in this course. I want you to draw the movement of actors and the camera. And to do that, you don't have to use the fancy software that I have. You can just draw it on paper or on your computer or tablet. Just remember to post what you have drawn and answer the questions. Who is the main character and if 180 degree rule was honored or not. To show you what I mean, I'm going to do the project right before your eyes here right now. Okay. So I recently watched the film titled Glass Onion with Daniel Craig. So I thought it would be cool to analyze one of the scenes. By the way, when I'm watching a film, I never think about axis of action or stuff like that. So I wouldn't even be able to tell you if they obeyed axis of action or anything like that. I'm thinking about axis of action when I'm analyzing things, when I see something very interesting, then I tried to rip it apart, see what's under the hood. And this is the moment where I start to think about those kinds of things. Anyway, on YouTube search box, I wrote Glass Onion dialogue scene. And this is what you do. Showed me. This scene kind of looks interesting because there are people, many people in it. So let's see that. Again, I'm not playing it with sound. I think since we are analyzing how the camera is set up, it will be better to watch the scene without the sound and without knowing what's going on and focusing only on what the camera is showing us. Anyway, we begin with a shot of Daniel Craig, who is the main hero of the movie. We will see if this situation is being portrayed by the camera through his point of view. So we have the first shot of the main character. Let's see the second shot. Okay, this is a kind of establishing shots, so we see that he has been alone. Now, one person comes along. So, so far, we have seen our main character. This is how I'm going to draw him. This is Daniel Craig's character. And then another person came up, right? So this black men came and the axis of action has been created. So let's draw it like that, right? We have this axis of action and our camera is seeing this situation from this side. Let's say that we've been looking at Daniel Craig this side, and we've been looking on Daniel Craig from this side. It was the establishing shot, right? We are filming this man from this direction where he is clean with no Daniel Craig and we see the city in the background. So we are in this short moment of time, we are here on this side of the action. Let's see if it's going to change in any way. Okay, another person comes along and then another person comes along. Now, what I'm what I've just noticed is that everybody who arrives is filmed with the camera tilted a little bit up. I see that this shot is filmed with the camera that is a little bit lower and is looking up at the characters. And my idea is that they've done it consciously to intimidate our main character. This is our first clue that they've set up this situation to intimidate our character. Because in those kind of shots, you see these incoming characters here as monuments a little bit today are a little bit monumental and intimidating. And our main character, played by Daniel Craig, his name is Ben. I suppose he is filmed neutrally, which means that the camera is at the height of his eyes. So this is our first clue of who the main character is. Another clue is that, as you can see here, there are so many people in this shot. And so far our character Ben, has been shown in clean shots like this, right? He's alone in the shot. This is another clue that maybe he is the main character in this shot. We see him also in this kind of monumental tilted up shot. As far as I remember, it's the moment where they recognize him, that he's this famous detective. Maybe this is how the filmmakers felt that it's a good moment to put him on the pedestal as well. Again, noticed that they are looking at him. They are looking at him either to the center or they're looking at him right to left. And he is still looking at them left to right. So there is no disruption in the axis. We are seeing this situation from one side only. Let's see if it will change. I'm going to speed up the recording and if something will change, I'm going to stop it and talk about it. So this is another person incoming. Oh, this was interesting. This insert is interesting. You see this shot because we have this shot. And then in-between this shot, this shot, we have him putting his motorcycle. Understand. Now, is it very important that he's putting this motorcycle on the sand? Not really, but it would be a big problem for the editor to edit. This shot. This shot, it wouldn't look good. It would jump. It's like a jump through the axis and we're jumping back in those situations. That's why they've shot this little insert two to be able to cut back at this shot. Now to be exact, nothing really changes here because they are all looking from right to left. And then we have our character who is looking from left to right. So this is a very clean set up. Even though we have all these characters. I would say that these people are treated a little bit like one character and the opposition to them is our main character, vanilla. Let's watch the rest of the scene on fast forward. I don't think the size of the axis of action now going to change. So the summit up, vanilla is looking at the other characters from left to right. And the other characters are looking at Banpurwa from right to left and it doesn't change through the entire scene. So okay. So we've watched situation from one perspective on it. As you can see, this is the, this is the scene. We have our main character, who is Ben? Now, how do I know that our main character is Ben? You remember our two questions that we need to ask ourselves. So the first question is, who do we start and end the scene width? Well, we didn't end the scene with bands since there were so many people in the shot, but we've begun the scene with Ben. So this is our first clue. Our second clue is that whenever Ben was intimidated, other characters were portrayed like statues. The third and the most suggestive clue was that our main character battle was filmed separately in clean shots. All the other characters were shot in groups. So naturally in your imagination, you can figure out that this scene is being told as if there would be two characters, only our main character and every other character is unified by the camera. This is the most important clue in figuring out who the main character in the scene as. Okay, so now I'm going to fill out the rest of the crucial information here on the image. I'm going to write who the main hero is, which is band. Then I'm going to paste the link to the video. I'm also going to write if 180 degree rule was respected. And I'm also going to mark ban on the diagram. So we know which character he is. To sum that up, I'm just going to add that there is a multitude of different camera angles, but you can see that they are all very deliberately planned to be showing the situation from one side of the axis. And even though we have all these many shots, we never get lost in the space in this particular scene. Now, I'm going to shamelessly upload this beds drawing as my project. And I'm going to do this to show you guys that it doesn't matter how well are you going to draw this? It's important to do the exercise and remember that I'm going to give you feedback on your exercises. Actually, if you're going to find an interesting scene, I'm very open to make a lesson out of this scene and analyze it for everybody to see. Just like I did with this scene from Glass Onion. If you want more examples of the concepts I just talked about, you can check out my other classes. The first one that is worth mentioning is the subjectivity of the camera. How to make your camera more subjective. And the other one is the basics of 180 degree rule and the camera placement. Now, I'd like to thank the sponsor of this course is me, because I was the one who took the time from my screen writing and directing to write and record this. And then I like to thank my other sponsor. Who is you seeing you guys watching this class gives me the motivation to create more classes about more abstract and difficult parts of film-making. Now, I designed this course as a part of a series that teaches you practical filmmaking. If you're interested in learning how this course fits into the whole curriculum, the best way is to check it out at my website, cinema explain two.com, be sure to review this class. I treat your feedback very seriously. Your evaluations have really changed the style of my courses for the better. You can also follow me that way. You're always going to know when I'm releasing a new course. Thanks again. Bye bye.