Practising the 180° Degree Rule and Shot Reverse Shot

In the task below, I demonstrated the 180 degree rule, and Shot reverse shot.

The 180 Degree Rule is an editing technique which requires the camera used to be placed on a imaginary 'line' between the characters being filmed. This helps create continuity for the film/scene being created. When filming this allows audience to have a clear idea who is talking without confusion as it leaves the characters or actors in the scene in the same place throughout the scene/film; however, you must stay on one side of the imaginary line, in order to keep the characters to stay on the same side as before, also creating a perfect eye line match in the scenes, if they are conversating and looking towards each other.

Here is an visual example... (taken from Flickr) 

This diagram clearly states the rule of the 180 degree rule. Filming from the 'imaginary' line (highlighted light blue), allows the continuity of the placement of characters/actors remain in the same place, no matter what angle, also allowing a eye line match. However, if filmed from the clear/empty side of the line, the character's place will not be shown at the same places, which could be distracting for audience.

Shot reverse shot is an editing technique which allows characters to express their paralinguistic features which they want to portray for the audience to see. The camera itself does not move, but the fast pace shots the change from face to face between a conversation between two people, also allows audience to see clearly what is being spoken about as emotions, reactions and facial expressions are clear.This technique is a edit to take away transitioning to create fast pace shots of faces between two characters/people.

My Practices  : In small groups in class, we created some videos, showing our practicing of 180 degree rule and Shot reverse shot.  

I edited this footage, for continuity as the shots were not all recorded at the same time.This allowed me to practice editing skills. Also, the editing helped show the techniques, leaving characters on the same side allowed audience not to get confused as to what is happening in the scene.

The footage was recorded with a tripod to help keep the camera steady whilst recording, as this also helped to keep the eyeline match between the characters/actors. Also, the editing i did (due to the shots being filmed differently) allowed me to create a continuous scene with the conversation seem smooth and uninterrupted.  Additionally, for experimental purposes, I included a POV shot of a character texting on her iPhone, which I think is a unique shot which helped the narrative of scene seem interesting and entertaining, also giving the audience more information of what is happening from a character's view.

In the future,  I would make the camera angle is wider and also include both characters full body in one scene, and make the lighting and sound clearer.