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DIRECTIONAL CONTINUITY
IMPORTANCE OF ESTABLISHING DIRECTION
The direction in which a subject moves, or the direction in which a person looks, cause the most
vexing problems in motion picture continuity.
If a complete production could be photographed in a single shot there would be no directional
problems!
A motion picture is made up of a series of shots, filmed from different camera angles and when put
together in a sequence, forms a chapter in the story
A series of chapters are combined to make up the complete narrative.
IMPORTANCE OF ESTABLISHING DIRECTION
If an established move in a particular direction is unaccountably changed in consecutive shots, the
picture's continuity gets disrupted, that distracts or even confuses the audience
An unexplained change in screen direction can result in a serious mismatch
Directors working from a shooting script often rely on the director of photography for screen
direction, so that subjects look and move in the correct direction.
On failing to pay particular attention the cameraperson may get into serious directional trouble.
Directional continuity can be easily mastered if given attention
IMPORTANCE OF ESTABLISHING DIRECTION
No better way for a cameraman to win the respect of a film editor than by delivering footage that "cut
together"
Mistakes call for optical flop over, or other reversing editing tricks - necessary for salvaging
carelessly-filmed footage
A motion picture lives in a world of its own.
There is only a single viewpoint: the lens of the camera.
How the camera sees the subject is important - not how it appears in actuality.
Action is judged only by its screen appearance; by the way it should look - and not the way it actually
appears while being filmed.
SCREEN DIRECTION
There are two types of screen directions:
DYNAMIC (Bodies in motion)
STATIC (Bodies at rest)
To provide visual variety - A constant left-to-right or right-to-left series of shots may be broken up
with neutral subject movement.
Head on or tail away are a welcome change from usual three quarter angle
High or low angle furnish contrast to eye level shots
Head-on shot is used to open a sequence and bring subject from a distant point toward the audience
Tail-away shot is used to close a sequence by having the subject recede from the camera
Such shots present moving images which increase or decrease in size as they advance or retreat from
the viewer, and thus effect a great depth than cross screen shots.
USE NEUTRAL SHOTS
To provide greater audience impact Head on shots place the viewer dead center, with the action
advancing toward him.
USE NEUTRAL SHOTS
To distract the audience A sequence depicting subject travel in a constant direction, is often filmed
with one or more shots moving in the opposite direction by inserting a neutral shot that allow the
editor to reverse movement completely without the abruptness of a direct cut from a directional shot
ACTION AXIS
Once the left-to-right or right-to-left directional movement is established, it must be maintained
throughout a series of shots, by remaining on the same side of the action axis.
A new location will require drawing a new axis but requires to remain on the same side as the original
axis to preserve established travel direction.
If the camera is always positioned on the same side of the axis, the directional continuity will be
filmed and maintained automatically.
ACTION AXIS
Once the left-to-right or right-to-left directional movement is established, it must be maintained
throughout a series of shots, by remaining on the same side of the action axis.
A new location will require drawing a new axis but requires to remain on the same side as the original
axis to preserve established travel direction.
If the camera is always positioned on the same side of the axis, the directional continuity will be
filmed and maintained automatically.