The 180 degree rule refers to keeping the camera on one side of an imaginary line between subjects in a scene to avoid confusing the audience by making characters appear to swap sides between shots. Match on action means cutting between shots when an action is continuous to maintain flow. The rule of thirds involves dividing the frame into thirds to place important elements of the scene at the lines' intersections for better composition.

1. 180 Degree Rule
• The 180 degree rule refers to the camera, whilst filming, to stay on and around one side of the 180
degree line. In the diagram below it shows two people facing each other and the 180 degree line going
through them. The three cameras one side of them are all correct but the one camera on the other side
is wrong. This is because as soon as the camera cross the line it makes the characters swap places.
• If you look at person A they’re on the left when the camera is on one side of the line and person B is on
the right but when the camera goes onto the other side person A will be on the right and person B will
be on the left. This is confusing for the audience as they haven’t seen the characters swap sides from
shot to another.
• This rule is very important when filming but some films do cross the line e.g. The Shining.
A B

2. Match on action
• Match on action is when one shot should flow into another. An
example of this is when someone is opening a door.
• E.g. one shot should be of them opening the door and if the shot
flicks to the camera inside the room they’re entering then it should
be edited so that the character is in the same position as he was
when the camera was outside of the room.

3. Rule of thirds
• The rule of thirds is when a visual image is spilt into thirds,
making 9 sections. This is shown in the diagram below. Important
parts of the image are placed where the lines intersect.