Invisible leading lines

2014

Eyes are the strongest language of emotion: they can express reactions both subtly and as expressly as possible. It is not for nothing that in caricatures, comics and animation the eyes are always enlarged - they emphasize and sharpen the emotion and story being told. The viewer always looks at the eyes first and the direction where the character is looking: at the action being performed, the person or object, thus trying to understand the character's intentions.

If you want the meaning of the story you are telling to be fully understood by the audience, you need to indicate where to look - “invisible” lines (leading, for example, to the eyes of the hero) will help with this, especially if your shots are short enough in editing. Let's see how this principle is used in cinema: both acting and animation. Below are examples where the lines come to the front of the eyes.

Only God Forgives (2013), Fargo (2014), Ocean's Eleven (2001), No Country for Old Men (2007), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Monsters University (2013).

Pay attention to the last frame on the left: the rails and the base of the stairs point to both heads of the two-headed character (Terry and Terry Parry) at once, Pixar uses this trick very often.

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983), On The Road (2012), Never Let Me Go (2010), Coraline (2009), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), No Country for Old Men (2007).

Concentrating and at the same time pointing designs in Star Wars create a majestic image of the main villain, it could only be made cooler if you shoot from a lower angle.

Usually, to demonstrate the thoughts of a character, the method of panning the camera to the hero is used, but, as you can see in the examples below, the lines, even in a static frame, perform the same function and take us into the inner world of characters just as well.

Stilyagi (2008), ???, Kill Your Darlings (2013), The Shining (1980), Thief (1981).

See how the lines help to create connections between the eyes of two or more people, thereby indicating contact between the characters.

Ratatouille (2007), Avatar (2009), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009).

Here, a huge number of lines create a concentration on a specific object, such compositions are suitable for moments of crisis or climax in a story.

Tangled (2010), Michael Clayton (2007), Moneyball (2011), The Proposition (2005).

In these examples, the lines do not point to the hero's eyes, but help to tell the story with the composition. These scenes are nice to watch and can remain completely static for quite some time, which is especially useful in pauses that follow active incidents.

Prometheus, Ridley Scott, 2012.

Yellow

2016

The Revenant by Tarkovsky

2016

Invisible leading lines

2014

Wes Anderson colors

2014

Shades of the Grand Budapest hotel

2014