Little Film School

Most beginning and low-budget directors ignore lighting when making their films. Professional lighting sets are expensive and are usually one of the first things to be left out when the budget gets tight. However, good lighting can help the filmmaker create or improve the artistic impression of the scene.

The last in the series of articles about “crossing the line” jumps in with some clarifications and examples of our improved version of this rule.

Saying that the camera should not cross the line for the whole scene would be like saying that people should not cross the road for the whole day because the traffic light was red in the morning.

This is a basic film making guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other.

A “shot” is a continuous series of motion picture frames that runs an uninterrupted period of time. Shot types are the basis of film grammar, essential to all stages of the filmmaking process.