Blog 5- Storyboard

**The overhead scenes are before the storyboard just because of the silly way Blogger uploads images.


The 180 degree rule was pretty strictly followed in this scene. If you draw an invisible line down the center of the ship, the camera always stays on the left side, or directly on the line. There is one slight exception to this, and that is in the second shot, where the camera pans over to reveal Rose walking up to Jack in the background. The camera goes just slightly over the 180 line, but since it used camera movement, that is okay. Then, it cuts away to Rose and the line is established back where it was.

The rule of thirds is also quite strictly followed in this scene. In close-up shots, both Jack and Rose's eyelines are perfectly placed on a left or right intersection, or if there is camera movement, their eyelines at least stay on a horizontal 1/3d line (the top line). In wide shots, like the shot where Rose moves in closer to Jack, the camera follows her so that her body stays perfectly on the left vertical 1/3d line. Sometimes there are neutral shots, like the close-up of their hands holding or when the camera cranes over them, but for the most part this scene is fairly textbook when it comes to the rule of thirds.

The 30 rule is also followed strictly, as every shot pretty religiously cuts to two "shot sizes" away. For example, when there is a wide shot of Rose walking up to Jack (from head-on), it cuts into a close-up of her face. Cutting into a medium shot would have caused a jump cut, which they avoided by following the 30 rule.
In terms of camera movement, there is certainly 30 degrees worth of movement, as the camera typically totally changes places or drastically pans or cranes.


I think that James Cameron chose to stick to the textbook with this scene is so as not to divert attention from the action. The entire movie is pretty textbook, likely due to the fact that when James Cameron was studying film early on, he learned all the textbook rules, so he is putting them into action (hence the practice meets opportunity lecture.) The only time the camera broke any of the rules (180) was during camera movement for a brief second, and it showed a new character entering, which is an exception to the rule.