180-degree rule

Hi there! Today, we are going to learn about a filmmaking rule called the 180-degree rule. Imagine you are playing with your toy cars or dolls. You have one car and one doll, and you want to make them talk to each other. You place the car on the floor facing towards you, and the doll facing away from you. Now, you want to make it look like they are having a conversation. You move the car to the left of the doll and make them talk. But, when you watch it back, something seems weird. The car seems to have switched places with the doll, and it's confusing to watch.

In movies, filmmakers use a similar idea to make sure that the audience doesn't get confused about where things are happening. The 180-degree rule is a way to keep the camera on one side of the action so that it's easier to understand what is happening.

Picture a line running through the scene from left to right. The filmmakers place the camera on one side of the line, and all the actors and objects in the scene are on the other side. The camera can move back and forth, but it never crosses the line. This way, the audience always knows who is on which side of the screen, and everything seems to make sense.

If the camera were to cross the line, it would be like the toy car magically changing places with the doll. The audience would be confused about where things are happening, and it would be hard to follow the action.

So, to sum it up, the 180-degree rule is a filmmaking technique that ensures the camera always stays on one side of the action, so the audience knows who is who and where everything is happening.