The Line of Action
An imaginary line runs between your two subjects. Keep both cameras on the same side of it and the cut reads cleanly. Cross it and the audience loses their sense of space. Drag the cameras below and watch the real rendered view from each one.
Press play to cut between the two shots in one window. When you are safe, the eyeline holds across the cut. Cross the line and both subjects suddenly face the same way.
Cross the line
Drag camera B above the orange line. Watch Subject 2 flip direction in the frame. Both subjects now look the same way, and the eye contact between them is broken.
Push in close
Drag a camera right up to its subject. The head fills the frame. Distance controls shot size, and the rule holds at every size, from extreme close-up to wide.
Circle behind
Drag a camera behind its subject. You see the back of the head. Every position in the semicircle gives you a usable angle: front, three-quarter, profile, or over the shoulder.
New sight line
A character turns to face someone new. A pivot shot joins the two lines, and the camera can use the new line as its axis.
Actor crosses
A character physically moves across the old line. Show the move clearly on screen and the audience reorients naturally.
Camera moves
Pan, dolly, or crane continuously across the line without a cut. The audience tracks the move in real time.
Cutaway
Interrupt with a shot that establishes no geography, such as a prop or a clock. Return from the new side when the scene resumes.