By Mark Morris
Good filmmaking is no accident. Everyone involved in the making of a good film, in front of and behind the camera, needs to follow certain basic steps in order to be sure the story being told is captured properly. One important step to understand and to avoid is crossing the 180 degree or stage line, which is the main purpose of this visual how-to. Here the producer uses a film-within-a-film style, the setting of a U.S. Civil War surrender with a battalion of re-enactment actors, a quality ante-bellum location, a steadicam, a flash pot, an authentic soundtrack, animation, graphics, some magical effects, and a tongue-in-cheek editing "angel" to stop a fight between the writer and the director of the film to deliver a fun lesson in camera placement, camera movement, actor blocking, cutaways, and 4 tricks to avoiding jump cuts.
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