Patton

            The movie Patton (1970) is a World War 2 movie from the perspective of General Patton. The scene chosen does get more action later on, but we will cover the first 5 shots where the men are discussing air supremacy. The 3 rules of filmmaking were followed. These rules are the 180 degree rule, Rule of Thirds, and 30 Rule.

            This scene follows the 180 degree rule closely by establishing a very obvious line between Patton and the further gentleman. The camera proceeds, never crossing that line in the scene while in the room. The camera does move around quite a bit, but it never crosses the line established at the beginning of the scene.

            The rule of thirds was broken somewhat. In the first 3 shots, one can easily see that the points of interest, on the man talking about air support and on Patton, are indeed on the intersections of the 1/3 dividing lines, which is what the rule of thirds is all about. But the last 2 shots are not exactly on the intersections. Rather, the points of interest are closer to the center of the screen than what the rule of thirds would tell us. But the points are still off center and make sense. Putting the actors too far over would seem odd, since they are the only things on screen that are interesting and dynamic. Therefore, the actors are placed closer to the center (but not exactly) to keep this odd shot from occurring.

            The 30 rule means that to avoid a jump cut, the camera must cut at least 30 degrees or 30%. This was strictly followed in this scene. The 30 degree variant was used more, cutting from establishing shot to close to the 180 degree line, then to the opposite side, not crossing the 180 line, then cut to face away from 180 line, then cut back to Patton. The zoom variant was not needed, since the angle of the camera covered the 30 rule already.