If there's only one tenet of filmmaking you learn today, let it be that everything, everything in your film matters -- including the direction your characters are moving on-screen.
That's right. It matters whether your actors are moving right or left across the screen. Or whether your character appears on the right or left side of the screen. Or whether they are right-handed or left-handed. Why? Because -- science -- and psychology.
In the very educational video below, you'll get to learn about how different directions of character movements affect audiences the way they do, as well as why it happens.
I love this video because it touches on some very important concepts in aesthetics (basically the dictionary of mise en scène), namely spacial properties of objects, size, and movement. How does the size, movement, and placement of an object communicate to a viewer? What do they communicate?
These aesthetic theories are explored (finally, a film theory actually put through an official test) in a study conducted at Cleveland State University, in which participants were asked to, first, watch a scene where the characters' movements went from left to right, as well as from right to left, and then share how each video made them feel.
Their findings? The footage that showed right to left lateral movement made the participants feel -- bad. They responded that watching the footage made them have more negative feelings than the footage in which the lateral movement went from left to right. Why? It's not entirely or definitively clear, but if you think about it, our culture has trained our brains to view left to right movement as an indicator or progress -- of success.
Other factors play a role in how we interpret a subject's movement within a frame. For instance, there's a concept in aesthetics that defines the actual angles of lateral movement -- the lateral (L-R/R-L) movements that are either angled up toward the top of screen or down toward the bottom of the screen. These are defined as easy/hard ups/downs. They're broken down as such:
- Left to right from top to bottom: easy down
- Left to right from bottom to top: easy up
- Right to left from top to bottom: hard down
- Right to left from bottom to top: hard up
All of these things have different indications. For instance, an easy up composition would be Rocky running up the stairs during his training montage. He's powerful. He's driven. He's a good guy. He's running toward success. He's going easy up!
Now look at this image from World War Z. What's the difference? The zombies are also powerful and driven, but they're bad guys running toward the destruction of the human race. They're going hard up!
Again -- why that happens is still not officially determined, but the study from Cleveland State University, which I highly suggest you take a peek at, aims to figure it out scientifically. To learn more about the role character movement plays in aesthetics, as well as how those things communicate with your audience, you can check out the CSU study here.
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Your Comment
22 Comments
Great article. Great video essay. This video might be an appropriate addition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X05TDsoSg2Y
February 15, 2016 at 5:49PM, Edited February 15, 5:49PM
Nope I don't get this explanation. Does it mean in Arabic countries right to left will feel more natural?
February 15, 2016 at 8:08PM, Edited February 15, 8:07PM
That is the implication.
Personally I usually like framing movement left to right. Perhaps if I was born reading right to left I would feel otherwise.
February 15, 2016 at 10:41PM
Yes, the meaning we give to left/right is culturally imprinted.
There was a brand of babyfood that used their add in Arabic countries.
It was a triptych
A crying baby, the baby food, a happy baby.
It was no success as it was read as: happy baby, baby food, unhappy baby...
In other words: this food makes your happy baby cry.
February 16, 2016 at 5:46AM, Edited February 16, 5:46AM
So, if this theory was applied to American politics...................?
February 16, 2016 at 3:02AM, Edited February 16, 3:02AM
Great article... I have used these principals before and never realized why lol when you learn you grow!
February 16, 2016 at 4:01AM
Left = sinister.
Sinister is Latin for left. :-p
February 16, 2016 at 11:18AM
This is unnecessary affectation .. its just a director Choice and taste ..
Heroes in Braveheart and The Last Samurai Attacking from right to left ...
February 16, 2016 at 1:02PM
Indeed they fight from right to left.
SPOILER:
and they are meeting their doom by challenging the status quo or technological progress.
(Some extra affectation ;-) )
February 17, 2016 at 2:39AM, Edited February 17, 2:39AM
:)
February 18, 2016 at 1:05PM
you better get "RIGHT" or your going to get left.
February 16, 2016 at 6:14PM
A quickie from Every Frame a Painting on left or right in Snowpiercer: https://vimeo.com/110329961
February 17, 2016 at 11:12AM
Very interesting article. When I look at how I envisioned both versions of my screenplay, I noticed how all my camera angles and movements from right to left are when they were moving into danger, and left to right when they were escaping danger. Interesting.
February 18, 2016 at 9:23AM
When I learned shooting for television some 12 years back, one of the first tips I got from an older colleague was: "only pan from right to left if you have to, or if you want to express a negative emotion. Left to right pans on the other hand evoke positive emotions in the viewer"
I always wondered if this may differ in arabic countries where people read from right to left.
February 19, 2016 at 7:09PM
I would say another reason people didn't like the video moving left is because it was flipped. Subconsciously you would realize it's flipped and it would make you uneasy.
February 20, 2016 at 5:46AM
That was really informative.
Thanks :)
February 20, 2016 at 8:45AM
I used to have that Raquel Welch poster too! Why's it backward?
February 24, 2016 at 3:45PM
There are scenes in Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" that uses a pan from left to right to illustrate Jobs's states of mind (or multiple personalities). When he's being mean, they cut to his face on the left side and when he's being vulnerable, the camera moves to his face on the right side.
April 14, 2016 at 12:48PM
There are scenes in Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" that uses a pan from left to right to illustrate Jobs's states of mind (or multiple personalities). When he's being mean, they cut to his face on the left side and when he's being vulnerable, the camera moves to his face on the right side.
April 14, 2016 at 12:51PM
It's not clear, where it comes from, but look into the stadium, the 100-Meter-Run. In Front of the people and in every TV, they run from left to right. It's counter clockwise. On all sports, also ice skating, bicycle and even swimming, the goal is on the right side.
Think of people with bathing stuff, who cross the street. When they go from left to right, you think they are going to the beach. If they go from right to left, it doesn't mean, the beach is on the left side, it means, they coming back.
May 21, 2016 at 2:09PM
I can't refute evidence which clearly shows this theory holds true, but I can say that this still comes down to a creative choice. Like holding a 180 line during a scene, any "rule" can be broken if it serves the story. I myself never considered the direction of a character's movement a piece of characterization, as I care more about their words and particularly, their actions. But in the end, I think this is a good idea to keep in mind, as defying convention for the sake of doing it would likely be detrimental to a piece.
September 12, 2017 at 9:59AM, Edited September 12, 9:59AM
I think it really depends on what the character is doing and why he is doing it and not much about why he is walking right or left
March 8, 2019 at 4:35PM