In Camera Composition & Framing

• Think about effective ways to capture what lies beyond the camera’s view. This includes panning, tilting, tracking, and zooming.

• Remember to be sensitive to in-camera composition since re-framing a shot in FCP is very difficult because the image quality, along with the proceeding and following shots will be compromised.

• Superb editing skills in FCP cannot save bad footage.

• TAKE TIME PLANNING SHOTS• Looking through the lens to make adjustments to framing and what lies within the frame can make all the difference between a well composed and poorly composed shot.

Types of Shots in Relation to

FRAMING

Long Shot

From Maya Deren’s At Land

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Full shot

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

From Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life

Medium Full Shot

From Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Medium Shot

From Mathew Barney’s Creamaster 4

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Medium Close Shot

From Mathew Barney’s Creamaster 3

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Close Shot

From Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Close Up

From Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Medium Close Up

From Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Extreme Close Up

From Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Types of Shots in Relation to

SHOOTING

Establishing Shot

From Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Master Shot

From Miranda July’s You me and Everyone we Know

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Reaction Shot

From Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Reverse Shot

From Miranda July’s You me and Everyone we Know

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Two Shot

From Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Three Shot

From Maya Deren’s At Land

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Tracking Shot

When you plan your storyboards and

shooting scripts be sure to reference the types of framing and shooting shots you

plan to use.

Shooting Tips• USE A VARIETY OF SHOTS TO CREATE DYNAMIC PACING.• Tripods are awesome. Handheld camera work should be avoided if possible, unless you are deliberately looking for the “handheld look”.• REMEMBER FORM AND CONTENT IMPACT ONE ANOTHER.• It’s better to zoom in and out when you are composing a shot, before recording begins. If you do need to zoom while you are recoding, BE SURE TO USE THE REMOTE to avoid camera shake.• If a subject moves in and out of the frame or if you are in low light levels, you may want to switch off auto focus and focus manually.

RULES OF COMPOSTION

The Rule of Thirds

Without the use of the Rule

of Thirds With the use of the Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds:• discourages central placement of the subject, thus creating a more dynamic image.

• prevents a horizon line dividing an image in half.

• when filming, align the figure with one of the vertical lines with figure’s eyes aligned with a horizontal line. When the subject moves, the majority of the extra room should be in front of the person.

180 Degree Ruleor The Axis of Action

Deals with the orientation of two subjects within a frame and creates consistency between shots.

An imaginary line connects the subjects, this line is called the axis. When you keep the camera on side of the axis throughout a scene, the characters will be consistently positioned on the right and left. Thus helping the viewer understand the spatial relations within a scene.

http://www.viddler.com/v/8a6af804

Everything within the light grey rectangle is the essential area.

• ESSENTIAL AREA - important information should be framed within the center 80% of the frame, also known as the title safe portion of the frame.

• LOOK SPACE - space within the frame in the direction the subject is looking.

If your subject is looking in one direction, it is best to place them on the opposite side of the frame. By doing this, you are giving the subject space to look into. This will also draw the viewer into the image.

• WALK SPACE - space within the frame in the direction the subject is walking.

• HEADROOM - the space between the top of a subject and the edge of the fame. The eyelevel of the subject should be no less than one third from the top of the frame unless the subject of the frame is the mouth or nose (or an extreme close up)

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.Too much headroom, a common mistake.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.Not enough headroom, another common mistake.

Good composition, the subjects eyes are one-third of the distance down from the top of the frame, following the Rule of Thirds.

High Angle ShotOr Bird’s Eye View

Low Angle Shot

Forced Perspective

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Remember perspective can change the mood within a scene.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Much of Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining was filmed from the perspective of a child’s height, or used low angle shots. This shift in perspective is naturally unsettling to viewer.

L I G H T I N G

Lighting can also change mood within a scene.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Kenneth Anger’s Fireworks

The harsh lighting makes the figures seem even more foreboding.

Shooting outdoors:

-You will be at the mercy of natural light, which alone can be quite amazing! - Remember to shoot all shots within a scene in a short period of time so that the natural lighting does not shift too much.- If you are shooting at night, you may need to employ artificial lighting. Night mode is graining low quality footage.

For shots with little or no movement within the frame:

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

You should begin with a traditional three point lighting setup.

White Balance

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Timecode:

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.