The Line - When its important and when it’s not

One of the first rules you will need to master as an operator is the line, that magical imaginary line that connects two people in a scene that you cannot cross with the camera or all life as we know it will cease to exist, the universe will implode and time itself will end. I kid of course, but I know directors, DPs, script supervisors and beyond who cannot fathom crossing the line for any reason, and feel it should never be done. I know one director who actually has to maintain the line when shooting people in separate rooms on phone calls (at least as far as which way they are looking) and I always ask him “Do you really think if she looks the other way people aren’t going to know she is still talking to the guy on the other end of the phone?”.

Now, before I get hauled off to movie jail, let me state that I am not saying knowing and understanding the line is not important. It's actually incredibly important and it will determine how you start to cover a scene once the master has been shot. In addition, DPs tend to use the line to decide where to light from, lighting from the opposite side of the line that camera is on, and crossing it without discussing it ahead of time may really cause them an issue and cost you your next job..

For anyone coming late to the game, here’s the quick down and dirty explanation. When two people are seated at a table, talking, and you shoot the master from the left side of the table, you've created an imaginary line between the two actors. As you move forward, in order to have them continue looking to the correct side of the camera and, therefore, feel as if they are talking to each other, the camera should not be placed on the right side of that line. As a result, both people will always look right to eachother in each shot in the scene, or if the master is on the other side, they will always look left to eachother. This establishes geography for the viewer. If the camera is on the right side of the table, all coverage should be on the right side. If the camera is on the left, coverage is on the left.  

It's also important to note that the tighter the shot, the more important the line becomes. In a wide shot, you can get away with a lot and the geography you see really helps ground the characters, But once you are in a tight closeup, the only information you have regarding the characters connection to anyone in the room is really the eye line, which side of the line they are looking. If you suddenly switch that up it can be very confusing, especially if there are more than two characters in a room and if that isn’t your intent then it can be problematic.

But here’s the dirty little secret: it’s important to know and understand, but you can get away with breaking it all the time and the scene will cut just fine, in fact, you can use it to tell a better story. Yes, you will likely always obey this rule and as a result, it's part of your job to understand it and make sure you are putting your camera in the right place, but the reality is, with two actors in a scene, you can jump the line in almost any shot except a clean closeup and it will work. Why? Because you started with a master with two people talking, you’ve established who is talking to whom, and if you jump the line, are people really going to wonder who that person is now talking to, especially when it is an over and the audience knows there’s only one other person in the scene?

As an operator, I will always default to the correct side of the line, but I will keep my mind open to pitching jumping the line if that shot is a better way to tell the story. Why? Because everything should be about the story. Sometimes a moment will line up where jumping the line makes sense and, assuming I have run it by the DP first and explained why I think it makes sense, I will pitch it to the director. Don't even get me started on an actor leaning in a doorway. Yes, you’ve jumped the line, but geography demands it and they know who is talking to who.

The rule of thumb for deciding if it is a problem to jump the line and for explaining why it isn’t is one simple question: Will this confuse the audience and will they no longer understand who is talking to whom? It's that simple. If there are two people in a room, the answer is almost always no. Three people? You may get away with it depending on the cut. Four people and beyond? Forget it, you’re not going to win that battle and it's a big chance. The more people who are in the room, the more important maintaining the line is.

Another reason to jump the line is to create tension in a scene. Audiences are now sophisticated enough to follow a scene where the line is jumped, but at the same time, because we are so trained, without knowing it, to see an entire scene from the same side of the room, there is something uneasy about a single cut that jumps the line and the next that resets. So, jumping the line in and of itself can be a great way to tell a story. (Check out Michael Mann’s The Insider to see a great example of this in practice.)

Finally, keep in mind that depending on blocking, depending on the number of characters, the line can shift in a scene as people move around the room and while you might jump the line as people cross each other, in reality, you are really establishing a new line that will be considered for the second part of the scene.

This can all be really daunting to a new operator, and drawing little diagrams during rehearsal, especially with multiple characters, can be extremely helpful. Some people get this instinctively, and some take time, so as you advance in your career, long before you ever get to be an A Camera op, spend time on set figuring out the line, see if you are right, and always check with scripty to make sure.

I remember on the TV show West Wing, the first time we shot in the Roosevelt room around a big table with about ten actors. Because it depended on who was talking to whom, there were sometimes two sides of the line that we would have to shoot, so the editing would have to be considered ahead of time. We drew a map of the room on a big sheet of paper and drew lines between each of the characters, who they spoke to, and what side of the line we needed to be on. Mind-numbing, but with everyone's help, we got it correctly, and the cut worked perfectly.

One final note. In the end, the real issue with following the line is about making sure that the scene cuts well, so you are really working to protect the editor long before they get the footage. This is key and if there is a decision to jump the line, make sure the director is clear on how it will cut and ask the script supervisor to make a note for the editor that the director has specifically asked for the line to be jumped. This will let them know that it wasn’t an oversight and they will likely appreciate the heads up.