Lead room

Space in front of a face or a motion: the frame breathing where the subject looks or goes. Deny it only to mean something.

Lead room honours anticipation: a profile needs air ahead of the gaze, a walker needs frame ahead of the walk, because the audience's eye travels ahead of the subject and wants somewhere to arrive. Balanced lead room reads as neutral grammar; nobody notices it, which is its job.

Denying it is a sentence with meaning: a face pressed against the frame edge, staring into nothing, manufactures unease no dialogue needs to explain. Motion cut against its lead room feels obstructed, pursued, wrong on purpose. As with headroom, the rule exists so its violation can speak.