Which 2 of these 3 shots cut?

[Mei Lewis]

Shooting a short film today and myself and the director disagreed about which shoulder we should come over when looking at the phone to match the wider shot. So we shot both.

 

I think the matching shots are 1 and 3. The 'line of action' is between the girl and her phone, and by coming over her right shoulder to look down at the phone we don't cross that line.

 

Who was right? I'm still nowhere near as good about this stuff as I should be. Any links to resources would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Samuel Berger]

In Western societies, people read from left to right. Shot number 3 is right. Shot number 2 crosses the axis.

[Max Field]

Yeah it's 3, think of it as a dialogue. Two entities will be assigned their own sides (left and right) so the audience can more easily understand the physical layout of communication. In this case the two entities are the girl and her phone.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

3 is the "by the book" one; however, I don't see an issue using #2 depending on what the NEXT shot after it is. Would be nice to then do a mid of the girl on that same side as 2 looking up from phone and over camera, almost as if checking to be watched.

[Tyler Purcell]

Yep 3 for sure. When I shoot scenes like that, I generally get those inserts right there on the spot so as to not mess it up. Gotta be careful with those line crosses!

[David Mullen ASC]

#3... She's left-to-right in the wide shot, she should be on camera left in the insert, so over her right shoulder. But it's not the end of the world if they use #2, it's almost close enough in angle to be her POV of the phone, which would be screen-direction neutral.

[Phil Soheili]

If I actually was there in person, by the look of the girl - slightly towards her left - I'd feel invited to put myself next to her left sholder.

Even more so because there's actually no place on her right to stand. I feel the pic 2 corresponds to my physical perception of the scene.

And I prefer the frame with the sewer in the background - but that was not the question... ;D

Greetings to all.

Edited October 23, 2017 by Phil Soheili

[Mei Lewis]

Thanks everyone. I like Adrian's idea about an extra shot.

[Giacomo Girolamo]

To me, the 180º rule is just to not get your audience confuse. In this case, each shot is usable, because nobody in the audience is going to say "whooa, who's that phone!" if you use the number 2. In fact I kinda like more the second shot.

 

 

Bye!

[Vital Butinar]

#3... She's left-to-right in the wide shot, she should be on camera left in the insert, so over her right shoulder. But it's not the end of the world if they use #2, it's almost close enough in angle to be her POV of the phone, which would be screen-direction neutral.

That's exactly what I was thinking. If you think of it as a dialog yes it's #3 but her POV is the phone so #2 work for me to.