Blog #5: Storyboard Imitation

For this assignment I've storyboarded the scene that I posted in Blog #3. (click to see full size)

Now here are drawings of where I think the cameras were placed in the scene:

In this scene from 500 Days of Summer, the director followed the 180 degree rule closely. This rule states that after a line of action is established, the camera cannot cross over that line (on a 180 degree arc) except under certain circumstances. The line of action is established between Tom and Summer in this scene, and the camera stays in front of them for the entire scene; this makes for a very simple scene with little camera movement. We observe them from a position with only slight variations.

The director obeyed the rule of thirds a bit loosely, but he still used the general concept of placing the main focus of the scene in the left or right third of the shot; Tom (who is the main focus in the scene, whereas Summer is only meant to be partially focused on) is always at least slightly off center. In the shots where they are inside the elevator, the rule of thirds is used more intensely.

The rule of 30 was not followed as closely by the director of this scene. The rule states that you should change the size of your image by 30 percent—or two size levels—when switching views. The scene begins with medium shots of Tom and Summer (waist-up, or there about), and then moves directly to a close up shot of them inside the elevator. However, because the elevator doors close in between these two shots, I would argue that the director avoided a jump cut. Although perhaps technically he did not follow the rule of 30 exactly, he did not (in my opinion) make a mistake by doing so. The viewer was not disoriented by the transition nor was the artistic value of the image decreased.

I’m personally a big fan of the way this scene was directed—it is minimalist, yet quirky and creative nonetheless. One detail I noticed and liked was that the director placed Tom in between two lines that were running down the back wall of the elevator, boxing him in and drawing the viewer’s eye to him. However, the same is not done to Summer—instead, she obscures the line that could have otherwise framed her in.