VIDEO PRODUCTION

Achieving Good Composition

What are some things that make up Good Composition?

Obeying the “rule of thirds” Single Point of Focus / Selective Focus Avoiding Tonal Mergers, Dimensional

Mergers, and Border Mergers Proper Amount of Nose Room Shot Composition in a Minute:

http://vimeo.com/1461280

Composition Evaluation

The Beach: http://vimeo.com/10363683 Formal Composition: The Beginning of

The Royal Tenenbaums 5 Dollar Cover Seattle: The Beast What concepts from good composition

do you see examples of in this video?

Photography vs. Video

What are the differences in the ways that we should approach shooting video vs. shooting a photograph?In many ways we should treat them the

same in terms of a center of focusVideo is a dynamic compositionChoose a center of interest for a shot and

hold on it – this is especially important when you are shooting handheld footage

Nathaniel & Angie

Demonstration of Elements of a static composition We are now going to demonstrate the different things

that we should strive for in achieving good composition

Shot demonstration – We want to demonstrate the following:Focal LengthDistance between camera and subjectCenter of Interest“Rule” of ThirdsNose Room and Head RoomAvoiding MergersHigh and Low anglesBalance

Balance and Depth in Comp Shallow Depth vs. Deep Focus Shallow Depth of Field

Controlled by a Variety of FactorsAllows us to draw attention to a detail

Beginning part of Citizen KaneInnovative use of Deep Focus made

possible by faster lensesUse of characters and objects to balance

composition

Camera Shots From Millerson and Owen “Video

Production Handbook”ELS (Extreme Long Shot) – shows

significant space above and/or below the subject

LS or WS (Long Shot or Wide Shot) – features the entire person in the frame

MS (Medium Shot) – cuts the body just below or above the waist

CU (Close-up) – Just above the head to the upper chest

ECU (Extreme Close Up) – Detail shot for part of the body

Composing Your Shot

Drew Keller on Composing Shots

Dynamic Composition Often times you will want to make your scene

more dynamic and therefore you will move the camera around

Demonstration of dynamic movementsPanTiltZoomTrackDollyHolding beginnings and endingRack FocusLeading the subject

Handheld Techniques

Occasionally, you may choose to use handheld techniques to bring realism and movement to your project. You want to make sure that you have a good

stabilization system before you shoot the video

Try to put your body into position so that you can steadily hold the camera

Handheld Examples

Beginning of Children of Men “Intergalactic” from Awesome…. I shot

that

Capturing B-Roll

The purpose of B-Roll What B-Roll you Grab Videomaker: Capturing B-Roll

Exercise

Composition Scavenger Hunt Shoot, Edit, and Turn in today. Projects will be screened at the

beginning of class next week