180˚rule in music video
The 180˚ rule is often
followed in filmmaking and entails that the camera should remain on an 180˚
axis in order for characters and objects in the shot to remain on the left or
right. If the camera ‘crosses the line’ it can cause confusion to the audience
as it appears that the characters or objects have ‘switched places’ on the
screen.
In the example below, the man in blue should always be
facing left and the man in orange should always be facing right. If this rule
is broken, then the men in orange appear to have swapped places, which would
ruin the flow of the scene.
It is said that the closer
the camera is to the axis, the more involved the audience is with the goings on
in the scene as they will see it from a different
perspective (for example, looking at the man in blue from over the man in
orange’s right shoulder.)
Some filmmakers choose not to
obey this rule in order to purposely create a sense of jerkiness and
disorientation for the audience.
In music video, this rule is
often broken especially in videos with aspects of performance such as if the
band if performing the song onstage. This is because, by breaking the 180˚ rule, the audience can feel like they are closer to the performance.
For example; having a close-up of the lead singer then jumping to looking over
the drummer’s shoulder would make the audience feel as if they are walking
around the stage with the band.
Music
videos with a narrative tend to stick to the 180˚ rule
because they tell more of a story and are more closely related to films and TV
dramas and breaking this rule would have the same effect on the audience as it
would in a TV drama/film. Disorientation.
- Jess Hitch
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