Action Axis!!!!!!!!

[TRex]

While shooting in news how many of you guys follow the Action Axis, otherwise known as the 180 degree rule? I've been news shooting for about a year, and have recently been studying Hollywood-style cinematogrpahy to improve my shots. In that world the Action Axis the Golden Rule, only to be broken under very specific circumstances.

In news we have no or little control of the action. Lately I've been trying to incorporate the 180 degree rule on feature stories, but even then I'm limited by where the sun is, or where the crowd is gathered, etc. Is there any shooters out there who has come to a conclusion about this, or who have worked in both Hollywood and news and has reached a happy medium? On a similar tip, so many dramas try to mimic "reality" by shooting the way we are forced to shoot in breaking news situations; no tripod hence shaky camera views, etc. So obviously Hollywood is taking direction from us in a sense, but what about the 180 degree rule?

[phojorisin]

The 180-degree rule is something I always follow. However, that doesn't mean that when you're shooting, you can't cross that imaginary line. Go all over the place and get as much shot variety and different angles as possible. In the edit bay, a simple tight shot or cutaway will allow you to go wherever you want with the next shot. In other words...during a sequence, the 180 rule is in effect, but as soon as you use a cutaway or even a super-tight shot (that sort of negates that sense of screen direction), you can establish a whole new imaginary line after that.

[Canonman]

A good example of the 180 rule is in watching sports broadcasts. All the action is shot from one side of the field of play so that the viewer can become directionally oriented. When a shot from the opposite side is used(usually a slo-mo replay), it's typically tagged and/or announced as being reverse angle so the viewers aren't confused.

I don't think you can use it in certain news situations cause you have to get the story from several angles. And, it's usually not continuous action like in my sports example.

cm

[Freddie Mercury]

The axis should never be crossed in a formal interview situation, unless you have a plan for transitioning to the new direction.

It makes sense to keep the line in shooting b-roll to reduce viewer confusion, but it's not imperitive and can be worked around with cutaways as mentioned before.

The best way to learn this stuff is by editing. If you have a question and answer both facing the same direction or your reaction shot appears to be looking away from the action, you'll start getting the picture.

[Darrell Barton 1]

Let's look at this another way. I've heard the "axis" or "imaginary line" system argued with the fervor of a Duncan Oklahoma tent revival. For those who get it....the "imaginary line" must be a wornderful thing.....but....a lot of folks don't get it. I was one of them....and maybe I still am. When I was a young cameraman I went to the NPPA workshop as a student. Members of the faculty explained the "line" to me. I didn't get it. I tried. Back home, I did everything but take a piece of chalk with me to try to get on the right side of the "line". It didn't work. The next year I ran into Ernie Crisp. I told him I didn't get the "line". Ernie....in his best Okie drawl said...."Son...there ain't no line. There's only noses. All God's children got noses." It took a minute or two but then I got it. If you want to show two people talking to each other in two shots.....point their noses at each other. If two cars are racing....their noses are going in the same direction. If the cowboys are fighting the Indians.....noses.
Now....after teaching 35 years at the workshop I tell folks the same thing. I've seen a few hundred or so students agonise over where the "imaginary line" runs and just how many degrees the "axis" has. I've had students swear to me that they have a perfect understanding of the theory, only to show me a sequence that makes no sense. When that happens, in my own gentle way, I suggest that they repeat a hundred times.......Ernie Crisp's words...."There ain't no line.....there's only noses...all God's children got noses."

[Eaglewolf]

Amen!!,db1

[Dink]

While shooting in news how many of you guys follow the Action Axis, otherwise known as the 180 degree rule?

I do. I can't imagine how I would edit without it.

When I was in college I had a written exam that included an axis problem. The instructor drew a little diagram of four people sitting around a table. The people were labelled A through D.

Below the diagram was dialogue from a scripted scene. Sometimes a character was addressing the other three. Sometimes the conversation would be between only two of them. Then it would shift to include someone else, then drop one of those so that it was between a different pair from before. The axis jumped all around that damned table.

Our task was to pencil in camera positions to cover the entire scene without breaking continuity. It was freakin' hard! Many of us thought we had everything covered, only to have the instructor point out later that we had restricted the editor's options too much. "What if you wanted to cut out this section?" he asked. "Now you're crossing the axis and have no way to get from the beginning of the scene to the end."

It was difficult, but doing that helped us learn to imagine continuity in the abstract. To this day I can usually see an entire scene from all angles at once, simply because my mind's eye flies over it all. It's a skill that is extremely helpful in learning to edit quickly, because you see in three dimensions how your shots should all fit together as you're shooting them. Later, it's just a matter of matching up edits you've already made in your head.

Having been through the confusion of marking up diagrams, I can appreciate the simplicity of Darrel's use of noses. Even so, I'm glad for the exercise in analyzing complex coverage, just for those times when I have six noses pointing in various directions. After a while the abstract part of it just becomes instinct, like any other technical aspect of this craft. I like the confidence of knowing without really having to think about it that I'm maintaining continuity.