Shots by Shots
This week’s reading of Steven Katz’s Shots to Shots gave me an insight on some of the rules in filming. It is the infamous ‘180 rule’ that most newcomers to film industry are told not to break. Well, after the reading, I understood now how some Holywood movies are able to break it but the shots still makes sense. Katz provided the readers very clear diagram and they are easy to understand. If breaking the 180 is planned intelligently and done in purpose, it can bring out an amazing narration as well.
I have very little to no experience on filming, and I find it quite interesting how Katz stated that closeup shots are used very often by cost-minded producers to lower the budget and it just works. Apart from saving the trouble of lighting, smart cost-minded producers use them as smooth transition between shots effectively.
The significance of extreme closeup shots is one thing that I assume every audiences notice when watching films, with only the eyes, you can tell more dozens of stories. On page 124, I see a diagram that explains the errors of most new film producers make. It is fascinating how slight shift in composition can affect the flow and the clarifty of shots. Similar to the 180 rule, Katz showed us that if two people in a conversation are both positioned at the very center of the frame, the audience will get confused by this ‘jump’. It is a mistake that I made when I was first introduced into filming classes without realizing this obvious mistake. By moving the first person slightly to the right and the other slightly to the left, you get the flow of conversation, and the audience does not get confused about the positioning.
