Camera Shot Techniques

The 180 degree rule

This camera shot influence's how the characters in the scene either stay left or right so it looks correct to the audience.  The axis line going through the subjects can only be crossed when the camera pans over the axis. From this the characters have changes sides and the axis line can only be crossed again via a pan to show that there back to there originals sides again.

Match on action

Match on action is when something happens then the same action happens but from a different angle, possibly to show a reaction. This is a example of continuity editing.

Shot reverse shot

This shot shows a character looking at another character, then the other character is shown looking at the first. This is because the characters are shown facing opposite directions the viewer assumes there facing the each other.