Operation Manual
Appendix B: Videography
329
Avoid visual disjunctions
Stringing together similar shots in succession may result in visual
disjunctions. A person may be in the left half of the frame one
moment and in the right half of the frame the next, or may appear
first with and then without eyeglasses.
Do not string together pan shots
Pan shots should not be strung together unless they have the same
direction and tempo.
Rules of thumb for video editing
Here are some guidelines that may be helpful when you come to edit
your movie. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules, especially if
your work is humorous or experimental.
•
Do not string together scenes in which the camera is moving.
Pans, zooms, and other moving shots should always be separated
by static shots.
•
Shots that follow one another should be from different camera
positions. The camera angle should vary by at least 45 degrees.
•
Sequences of faces should always be shot alternately from
varying angles of view.
•
Change perspectives when shooting buildings. When you have
similar shots of the same type and size, the picture diagonal
should alternate between front left to rear right and vice versa.
•
Make cuts when persons are in motion. The viewer will be
distracted by the ongoing motion and the cut will go almost
without notice. In particular, you can cut to a long shot from the
middle of the motion.
•
Make harmonious cuts; avoid visual disjunction.
•
The less motion there is in a shot, the shorter it should be. Shots
with fast movements can be longer.
•
Long shots have more content, so they should also be shown
longer.