Screen direction

Screen direction is the direction that actors or objects appear to be moving on the screen from the point of view of the camera or audience. A rule of film editing and film grammar is that movement from one edited shot to another must maintain the consistency of screen direction in order to avoid audience confusion. Continuity editing is an essential rule that filmmakers follow to push their narrative forward in a navigable manner.

"Camera left" or "frame left" indicates movement towards the left side of the screen, while "camera right" or "frame right" refers to movement towards the right side of the screen. "Foreground" refers to the apparent space close to the camera (and thus to the audience), and "background" refers to the apparent space in the distance away from the camera and the audience. A majority of films will track from left-to-right rather than right-to-left. Some theorists believe simply controlling the direction of the shot can control the reactions of the audience. Another theory suggests it is due to right-hand dominance of the general population, i.e. left-to-right movement is more "natural" for the audience. This can go as far as making characters that move left-to-right good, and characters moving right-to-left evil.