Mathew Collins Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 Hi, I have seen vehicles/characters entry into the shot from the Left/ Right/ Lower/ Upper side of the frame. Any specific meaning/metaphor for the sides of frame? -Mathew Collins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 (edited) In western culture right is supposed to be the dominate side. Robert McKee (the script guru) discussed this in his lecture on story with Ingrid Bergman tending to be on the right, while Humphrey Bogart is on the left at key moments in "Casablanca". Edited November 17, 2018 by Brian Drysdale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Field Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 Did McKee have concrete points in his lecture on the "right side"? Or was it mostly examples of scenes? Like okay western culture can have a dominant side, but if cinematography is an art within itself hasn't that cultural notion been destroyed by now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted November 17, 2018 Premium Member Share Posted November 17, 2018 IF there is any symbolic meaning to which side of the frame something enters on, it is usually developed within the context of the movie. But more often the side of the frame where people enter from is more driven by screen direction established or geography / architecture. There are also simply practical considerations, like that in the U.S., we drive on the right side of the road, so in a two-lane street, if you shoot a building frontally, a car will pull up to it to park from right to left. Yes, in a landscape, Western filmmakers tend to have people travel left to right to establish that they are going somewhere new and right to left later to suggest they are returning. But they will drop that convention easily when it works better to reverse that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathew Collins Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 Thank you David, Macks and Brian, I was trying to find out the meaning. While watching films, characters/vehicles enter into the frame through, -right side-lower part -left side-lower part -lower side -upper side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 Did McKee have concrete points in his lecture on the "right side"? Or was it mostly examples of scenes? It was about who held the power at a particular point in the story and its impact of their renewed relationship. This was part of a breakdown of the film/script as a whole in story terms (he's a script guru after all), so perhaps this was more of an aside, which he threw in. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathew Collins Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 In western culture right is supposed to be the dominate side. Robert McKee (the script guru) discussed this in his lecture on story with Ingrid Bergman tending to be on the right, while Humphrey Bogart is on the left at key moments in "Casablanca". Is the lecture available in video or pdf? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 This was at a weekend workshop, but you can buy his book called Story, which covers the same ground. https://www.waterstones.com/book/story/robert-mckee/9780413715609 I understand there's a CD There are other scriptwriting books that are easier reads.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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