Film Editing Guidelines

180 degree rule

The 180° rule is where the charecters in every shot should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. However, If the camera passes over the imaginary axis, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.

Match on Action

Match on action is where an action is started in the first shot followed by the second shot where the action is completed. For example, an arrow is fired and the next shot is the arrow on the target.


Shot/Reverse Shot

Usually in a conversation situation, the shots are changed in alternate views of the different characters.
In This type of editing, characters in the frame usually looks left, in the other framing looks right. For example looking over the shoulder are common in shot/reverse-shot editing.