You will prepare and submit a term paper on Shot and Reverse Shot Technique. Your paper should be a minimum of 2000 words in length. This paper will analyze a particular technique that is used in cinema, namely shot/reverse shot, and examine its peculiarities on the example of a scene from The Bourne Identity.

To begin with, it may be particularly important to pay attention to the fundamental elements which make the above-mentioned technique. Thus, it primarily focuses on depicting characters who are having a conversation in turns, focusing on the person who is talking rather than the one who is listening. The latter might be shown fully, partially (from the over the shoulder point of view) and disappear from the screen (Bordwell 2007, p. 58). In other words, shot/reserve shot structures the narration in a way so that the audience would be able to see only the person who is talking rather which makes one more important than the other.

Another important element of the technique in question is portraying the character looking at each other. Indeed, in spite of the fact that the camera changes its location constantly, the position of the people who are engaged in a conversation should remain looking at each other. Indeed, if the viewer does not see this, then the interaction of the characters will lose their contextual value. What is more important is that if two people face each other and are portrayed simultaneously then this will not be aesthetically pleasing with as, on the one hand, the audience will be looking at them from a side, not seeing their faces, and, on the other hand, if a face of a person is shown fully, there is no way but to show the other person’s back which ruins the face to face atmosphere.

Finally, a significant part of the shot/reserve shot technique lies in the fact that there are no transitions between moments when the camera shows a different person talking. In other words, there is no fade out, fade in or other elements of editing.