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30 Degree Rule . Definition: The rule that a shift in camera angle between successive shots of the same subject should exceed 30 degrees.
Of course, Méliès strove to avoid any jump. His jump cuts usually involved illusions of something instantaneously disappearing, appearing or transforming, but he could never identically stage the before-and-after shots to make the cut look seamless. The long and short of jump cuts is that they give the impression frames of film have gone missing and causes the audience to wonder why. And this violates a first principal of filmmaking: Never distract your audience's attention away from your narrative.. Related Topics: framing Dutch angle 180 Degree Rule establishing shot 
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History: Inspired by filmmaking pioneer George Méliès, a Frenchman most famous for “A Trip to the Moon” (1902) and the iconic scene of a rocket hitting the eye of the Man in the Moon. This and other eyepopping special effects made Méliès synomous with the “jump cut,” so-called because a slight change in camera angle makes a subject appear to jump.