CinematographyCOMPOSITION

Intro to Video

Rule of Thirds

An old theory about composition

It won’t compose the picture for you, but it’s a good start

The idea is mentally divide the frame into thirds, both horizontally and vertically.

Then place you elements along those lines, with the center of interest at one of the four points the lines cross

Examples

Examples

Examples

Balance

Leaving enough space or nose room in the direction the subject is viewing – leading looks.

This is called compositional weight.

Not just people have leading looks, other objects and subjects. (TVs, Cars, etc…)

Visual leverage, using the elements within the frame to even out or balance the composition.

Examples

Examples

Examples

Angles

Reality has three physical dimensions: height, width, and depth.

In pictures, we have two dimensions: height and width.

To give the illusion of depth, we show things at an angle, so we can at least see things from two sides.

Examples

Examples

Examples

Examples

Frames within Frames

Often you can make a picture more interesting by using elements of your location to create full or partial frames within the camera:

Leading Lines

A nice way to direct the viewers eye to your subject:

Backgrounds

Removing any distraction element that take focus away from where you want the focal point to be:

Doorways

Frames

Visually busy backgrounds

Unusual movements

Simple Solution: reposition the camera placement, move subject to cover, place prop to hide it.

Summary to Composition

Don’t sell yourself short, set up camera at the first place that looks ok…take some time to walk around and see what options are there.

Don’t accept the location exactly how you see it.

Look, then look again as critically as you can…

Remember that shot that was perfect when you set it up, only to discover when you saw it later, there were telephone lines running across the frame.

Rule of Thirds, Nose Room, Angles, Frames within Frames, Leading Lines, Backgrounds.