← Glossary · Directing & Camera
The 180° Rule
aka The axis · Crossing the line
A cinematography rule that keeps the camera on one side of an imaginary line between two subjects, so screen direction and eyelines stay consistent shot to shot.
The 180-degree rule is the foundational grammar of screen direction. Draw an imaginary line through the two people in a scene and keep every camera setup on one side of it. Cross the line and the actors appear to swap sides, eyelines break, and the audience loses spatial orientation. Directors and DPs plan coverage around the axis; deliberately crossing it is a conscious reverse, not an accident. StoryboardCanvas Shotlist and the Storyboard Editor let you board each setup so the axis is visible before you roll, and DollyAi flags a continuity risk when a planned angle would cross the line.
In StoryboardCanvas
See The 180° Rule live in /shotlist
Every the 180° rule we generate stays linked to the rest of the project — change a scene heading and the the 180° rule updates automatically. No re-import. No copy-paste. One project file from script to wrap.
Join the waitlistRelated terms
Coverage
The full set of camera angles shot for a scene — wide, mediums, close-ups and inserts — that give the editor everything needed to cut it together.
Blocking
The staging of actors and camera within a scene — where performers stand, sit and move, and how the camera follows them.
Shot List
The director's per-scene list of every shot to be captured — shot number, type, angle, movement, lens, and any special notes.
Storyboard
A sequence of drawn or AI-generated frames that visualise the film shot-by-shot before principal photography.