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Learn how to use composition techniques to create engaging visual experiences. Explore tips on shot selection, pacing, and conveying emotions effectively in your productions. Understand the principles of composition as guidelines for enhancing the impact of your work.
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What is Composition? • Definition - the orderly arrangement of elements in a scene which, when taken as a whole, conveys intent and meaning. • Why? - Used to create an emotional experience in the viewer.
COMPOSITION (cont’d) • The director is the one who directs the attention of the viewers. • Think of as a ‘tour guide.’
INSERT SHOT • A close-up of something significant within the basic scene. • The insert shot forces the audience to look at a significant aspect of the overall scene that highlights details that may not seem apparent.
INSERT SHOT (cont’d) • Good tour guides help people understand things by adding significant information along the route. • An insert shot could also be considered a cutaway shot. (cutting away from the action) Ex. Cutting away to a sleeping baby during a parade.
“Never just say it if you can show it.” • Atmosphere Introduction - a technique where a director tips us off to important things about characters by introducing us first to their surroundings. Ex. An expensive penthouse with ultra-modern furniture. What does this say about the character?
“Rules were meant to be broken.” • The principles of composition should be considered guidelines, not rules. There’s never a set way that you should do things.
1. Clearly establish your objectives • Stick with your plan of attack. Don’t stray away from what you’re trying to accomplish. Good writers, producers, directors and editors know the purpose of each an every shot. • Tip: Before you decide to include any shot, be able to justify its purpose in the overall message or goal of the production.
Slow=Boring • If information is presented either too slowly or at a level that is beneath an audience, the production will be perceived as being boring. • If it is presented too quickly or in too abstract a fashion, the audience can become lost and frustrated.
“If in doubt, leave it out.” • Most of yesterday's classic films are rather boring to today's audiences. (Chinatown) Among other things, they simply move too slowly. • Citizen Kane is considered by many film historians to be this country's greatest film. In terms of production techniques it was far ahead of its time. But, now, after a few decades, its production techniques are so behind the times that it's difficult to get a group of average people to sit through this film.
Depicting an emotional state • Filmmakers find it challenging to effectively convey emotional states. • Viewers assume that every shot, gesture, and word of dialogue in a production is there to further the central idea. Thus, each shot you use should contribute to the story or idea you are trying to convey.
When the elements of a shot combine to support a basic visual statement, the shot is said to have unity. • By deciding on certain appropriate themes, you can create a consistent feeling or look that will give your production or segments within your production unity.
Competing centers of interest within a single visual frame weaken, divide, and confuse meaning. Tip: Think of each shot as a statement. The viewer has a limited time generally only a few seconds to understand the content and meaning of a shot. If some basic meaning isn't obvious before the shot is changed, the viewer will miss the point.
Selective Focus • By focusing on the key element in each shot and throwing those in front and behind that area out of focus, audiences were immediately led to the scene's center of interest and not distracted by anything else.
Where there is light… • The eye is drawn to the brighter areas of a scene.
4. Observe Proper Subject Placement • Placing the center of interest in the center of the frame weakens the composition of the scene.
Rule of Thirds • In the rule of thirds, the total image is divided vertically and horizontally into three equal sections. • Generally, composition is even stronger if the center of interest falls near one of the four cross points illustrated on the next slide.
Remember… • Although composition is often stronger using the rule of thirds, many scenes "work" that do not follow this guideline.
Horizontal and Vertical Lines • Horizontal lines should not break a scene into 2 equal parts. • Vertical lines should not divide the scene into 2 equal halves. • Use the Rule of Thirds and line up the shot on the first or second third.
Leading the Subject • When a subject is moving in a particular direction, space is provided at the side of the frame for the subject to ‘move into.’
5. Maintaining Tonal Balance • The tone (brightness and darkness) of objects in a scene suggests weight. • Example: Against a medium background dark objects seem heavier than light objects.
6. Balance Mass • A scene must be balanced to be aesthetically pleasing. • How to balance?: Pan left or right, new camera angle, zoom in or out, or exclude objects.
7. Use a Combination of Elements to Create Meaning • If a variety of objects appear in a scene, we possibly (or even unconsciously) try to make sense out of why they are there and what they represent.
Continued… • While the director of a dramatic piece should be a master at creating illusions and emotional responses, the job of a documentary filmmaker is to clearly show things the way they are and let events and facts speak for themselves. • This approach does not rule out striving for new and creative ways to present subject matter. Often, it’s only by presenting the familiar in an entirely new way that an audience is awakened to its significance.
The Concrete and the Abstract • A shot in a dramatic production might be intended to lead viewers toward intended meaning without being totally concrete. Most intelligent viewers want a bit of room to think and interpret on their own.
Including Multiple Levels of Meaning • Is it possible to have it both ways? Yes, sometimes. Films can be designed to have multiple levels of meaning. • Animated films such as Cars, Over the Hedge, Finding Nemo, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Shrek are examples. While the animated characters and the simple story line are entertaining children, the grown-ups pick up on the adult humor.
Continued… • This, of course, makes it much easier for adults to sit through these "kids" films, and makes it more likely that they will take their kids to another such film. • Most movies strive for a broad-based appeal. If a writer (and director and editor) can "layer" a production with multiple levels of meaning and successfully provide something for everyone admittedly, not an easy task the production will have a much greater chance of success.
8. Make Use of Lines • The boundaries of objects in a shot normally consist of lines: straight, curved, vertical, horizontal, and diagonal.
Our eyes tend to travel along these lines as they move from one part of the frame to another. • Knowing this, it becomes the job of the cinematographer to use these lines to lead the attention of viewers to the parts of the frame they wish to emphasize. • When used in this way, lines are referred to as leading lines, because they are selected or arranged to lead the viewer's eyes into the frame, and generally to the scene's center of interest.
9. Frame the Central Subject Matter • By putting objects at one or more edges of the picture, a shot can be framed. Framing a scene holds attention within the shot and keeps viewer attention from wandering or being distracted from the center of interest. To cite a common example, a leaning tree branch at the top of a scenic shot breaks up a bright sky and acts as a visual barrier or "stop point" for the top of the frame. Note in the photo here how framing a shot with foreground objects adds depth and dimension.
10. Make use of the visual perspective. • Use the effect of visual perspective to enhance or support the scene’s basic idea. • The focal length and camera position can alter both the apparent perspective in a shot and the distance between objects.
Lenses: Distance, Speed and Perspective • The focal length affects: • The distance between objects in the scene. • The speed of objects moving toward or away from the camera. • The size of objects at different distances.
Compressing Distance • A long focal length coupled with great camera to subject distance appears to reduce the distance between objects in front of the lens.
Compressing Distance cont’d • The drawing below illustrates differences in the camera-to-subject distance.
Compressing Distance cont’d • The photos below show the dramatic difference this distance makes in the appearance of the background.
11. Color and Tone • A scene this is dark with many large shadows areas produces a far different feeling than a scene that is brightly lit. • The inclusion of bright or dark areas carries a strong psychological meaning regardless of what else is going on.
Color • In general, bright colors add energy to composition, while lighter hues give a serene stable look. • Use in moderation: Most people prefer a balance between calming and stimulating colors.
Color cont’d • Keep in mind that our eyes initially tend to be drawn to the "warmer" areas of a picture. So, all things being equal, things that are yellow, red, and orange will be noticed before those that are blue, green or purple.
12. Avoid Mergers • Tonal Mergers - result when important objects in a scene appear to blend together and lose their identity. • Dimensional Mergers - Cause important scene elements to run together and lose meaning • Border Mergers - Occur when the subject matter is cut off by the edge of the frame at an inappropriate point.
Tonal Merger • It’s much easier to see the butterfly in the picture on the right than it is on the left.
Dimensional Merger • It looks like this woman is from another plant? • The palm trees seem to be sticking out of her head. • Solution: Change the camera angle.
Border Merger • A shot that cuts off the subjects knees, hands, body, etc. looks awkward. • Solution: Tighten or Loosen the shot.
13. Control the Number of Prime Objects in the Scene • Generally, an odd-number of objects provides stronger composition than an even-number. • Note how the boats seem to divide the composition.
Continued… >> When a third object is added, the composition improves. >> But when a fourth object is added, the composition again seems divided.
Continued… • In the picture to the right, there are two prime objects (people). But the composition has cohesion because the subjects are looking at each other. • Imagine how different this scene would be if the two subjects were simply looking at the camera.
14. Balance Complexity and Order • A medium shot of a banana against a medium gray background will probably end up being a rather dull visual experience. Add a few apples, some grapes and an interesting fruit bowl, and you'll have a more engaging picture, with the banana still standing out from the darker colors.
