Mondo Knows Facts
Conversation scenes are built from opposing camera angles
Shot and reverse shot are filmed separately and edited to look continuous A conversation is usually covered with two cameras or two passes, one favouring each actor, framed as mirror images across the line. The editor alternates the shots so the audience reads a single continuous exchange. Matching eyelines and consistent props are what hold the illusion together. It sits in Mondo's movies & tv collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
The 180 degree rule keeps screen space consistentCameras stay on one side of an imaginary line between two peopleThe script supervisor tracks continuityThey note what each actor wore, held and said so matching shots agreeMelies found the substitution splice by accidentA jammed camera turned a passing bus into a hearse, and he used itThe negative cutter assembles the original filmThey match the edit list to the camera negative and cement each shot in orderPsycho's shower scene took 78 camera setupsThe sequence runs about 45 seconds and has roughly 52 cutsThe Kuleshov effect shows how editing makes meaningThe same face was cut against different images and read differently
🎬 Movies & TVfact 56 of 200
← → to keep reading, or swipe
Tags: editing, continuity, technique
Conversation scenes are built from opposing camera angles: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Shot and reverse shot are filmed separately and edited to look continuous. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a movies & tv fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.