***Apologies for the bad quality; my scanner was not working properly***
The 180-degree rule is followed when switching views between Mr. X and the group in the living room. The line of action is directly between them, and the camera angles remain on one side of the line.
The rule of thirds is also followed in both camera angles. When the group in the living room is the focus, Mrs. X is in the upper left crosshair while Henry is in the upper right crosshair. Mary does not have a prominent role in this scene, so she is not in any of the crosshairs. When the focus is on Mr. X, his face remains in the upper left crosshair. When he steps closer to show his knees, the camera tilts down so that his face is in the upper left crosshair and his knees are in the lower left crosshair. The rule of thirds is then briefly abandoned as Mrs. X and Mr. X exit the room.
The 30-degree rule is followed during this scene because the cameras are set at angles greater than 30 degrees from each other. The one-second opening shot actually made me question this, but by keeping my finger in the middle of the screen until the next shot, I figured that camera position is the same and there was only a slight zoom along with an accidental shift of Mary’s position on the couch. Having said that, it is apparent that 30-degree rule is followed because of the drastic different angle of the two shots between the group in the living room and Mr. X. Since they are having a conversation over a relatively large space (relative to typical conversation scenes), and Lynch is following the 180-degree rule, it only makes sense to follow the 30-degree rule.
This particular scene isn’t quite visually interesting (especially compared to the rest of Eraserhead), but it shows that Lynch knows his rules and applies them to the simplest of scenes. This might subconsciously contribute to why he is so well known as a great director.
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