Editing - Spatial continuity: 180 Degree System

Eye-line Match

In an eye-line match, a shot of a character looking at something cuts to another shot showing exactly what the character sees. Essentially, the camera temporarily becomes the character’s eyes with this editing technique. In many cases, when the sequence cuts to the eye-line, camera movement is used to imply movement of the character’s eyes. For example, a pan from left to right would imply that the character is moving his/her eyes or head from left to right. Because the audience sees exactly what the character sees in an eye-line match, this technique is used to connect the audience with that character, seeing as we practically become that character for a moment. Each of the following sequences is from No Country For Old Men, directed by the Coen Brothers.

Examples behind the cut

In the first clip, five eye-line matches are shown in a sequence that’s only a minute long. The first of these contains movement from left to right, mocking Llewelyn’s motion as he walks up to the dead body. We then see relatively still eye-line matches as Llewelyn looks at man’s face, and then at the gun as he picks it up. The next eye-line match is shown as Llewelyn opens the briefcase of money, which contains a slight zoom. This zoom is not necessarily used to mimic Llewelyn’s eye movement, but rather his thought and emotion, as the sight of all the money understandably “brings him in.” The Coen brothers decided to use so many eye-line matches in this sequence and in the rest of Llewelyn’s journey so that the audience would come closer to experiencing what he was experiencing.


In the second clip, portraying Anton’s unfortunate car ride, we see multiple eye-line matches once again. The first and last eye-line match simply follow Anton’s eyes as he looks at the road while driving. We also see another eye-line match of Anton checking his rear-view mirror; in this match you can gain an appreciation for how perfect the angle is, mimicking exactly what the character sees. With these eye-line matches, we feel almost as if we are driving the car, which makes the crash all the more disturbing. As illustrated in these two sequences, and throughout the rest of the movie, the Coen brothers wanted us to gain perspective on both Llewelyn and Anton. Through this, we gain a better understanding of the relationship between the hunter and the hunted, one of the film’s major themes.