Blog Assignment 6

The director broke a lot of rules when making this scene. The rule of 180 degrees was broken multiple times. It was broken when he was approaching the bathroom as well as multiple other times in the scene. I think it was broken because he was the only character in the frame at the time. Another reason for breaking the rule is that the director wanted to get reactions from the character, so we know how he felt about what was going on without directly telling us. The look of suspicion on his face after the camera zoomed in on the door handle directly show us what he was thinking. There were some times when the rule was followed. One instance where it was followed is that the rule can be broken when another character enters the scene. When the zombie comes out of the bath room the camera passes the 180 degree mark, so that was following the rule. The rule of thirds often comes into play here. The director often uses the ground, the actor, and the building to appeal to the rule of thirds. In the opening scene dark ground in the first third of the frame, the gas station, with the actor, is the second, and the dark background is the third part of the scene. Many scenes are also set up so that the building is the back third, and the ground is the first third. The director often follows the rule of thirds. The director also likes to break the 30 degree rule. Oftentimes, the camera shifts are seemingly random and often go over 30 degrees. I think this is because the director uses the placement of the gas station itself to let people know the positions of the actors, and doesn't believe the shifts will be too jarring. I think the director broke these rules for two main reasons. The first reason is that for part of the scene there is only one actor, so the director is allowed to break the 180 degree rule. The second reason to break these rules is that we are shown the position of the gas station early on which gives us a reference for where things are in the scene, allowing him to break the 30 degree rule.