Crossing the Axis with “Two Fish And An Elephant”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBbfVHh3OUg

On the topic of the visual language (and stories without words), I thought this artistic music video from Khruangbin would be an excellent illustration of the 180° rule, or “crossing the axis,” and motivated camera movement.

The first scene the POV is from the outside of the car looking in at the protagonist’s right side. The camera begins to move closer and around her, almost as if to complete a 180° so that the POV becomes from her left. But before that action can be completed, boom, we’re slightly disoriented, because the camera cut to the other side instead. We’re now looking on at her from her left side.

Thinking about motivated movement, at 00:15 the protagonist notes the string tied to her wedding band. A few seconds later at 00:22 the camera subtly begins to move away from her, motivating the audience to follow it, to follow the string, which is gently tugging her from some unknown place outside of the frame.

Until about 2:20, the string is the object that is motivating us to move with the camera through about three different scenes. The scene where the protagonist, and the man at the end of the string begin to dance, also offers illustrations of the axis being crossed, but maybe it works here because the scene is very magical, and they’re dancing. I don’t mind it, but what about you?

2 thoughts on “Crossing the Axis with “Two Fish And An Elephant””

  1. The opposing 180 degree shots in the opening scene are a clever and effective visual technique, setting the hook and signaling that there is much more to the story. One side of her face says simply that she’s sitting in her car, the other, blood spattered, suggests violence, drama, viewer is intrigued…

  2. Besides the 180 rule, I enjoy the detail shots and color correction in this video. 1:59 is my favorite shot, the guy pulls the string. 2:21, she fell into his arm, the color bright it up, gold and shiny. 3:29-3:31, fast-paced running shot with cold blue-ish color. It is an interesting video ! Thanks for sharing !

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