Compositionsg Basics - Part II

Chapter 2
Picture-Making Basics - Part II

Phenomenon: Picture with sound and movement transmit information that is received by us through
our auditory and visual senses and further processed by brain
Objective is to sway the audience to react in a desired mood
Know your audience. Place yourself in viewer's position.
Experiment & shoot in an unorthodox fashion! But fi rst learn the correct way
Screen story: Series of continuously changing images on the screen, portraying events from a variety
of viewpoints
Scene: Place or setting where action is laid/ consists of one shot or series of shots
Shot: Continuous view fi lmed by one camera, without any form of interruption.
Take: Each shot is a take.When set-up is changed, camera moved, lens changed, different action fi lmed
it becomes a new shot, not a re-take.
Sequence: Series of scenes or shots complete in itself that depict an event in continuity
The brief shot
Viewing still picture, gives an opportunity to linger and scrutinize for a longer period. TV/fi lm screen
shots do not encourage browsing
Each is there only for a brief time, from a fraction of a second to perhaps half a minute at most. Then it
is replaced by another. Each shot has to make its point rapidly. Each to create impact
What makes a shot dull? 'Dull' is in the mind
Depends on your attitude to what you are seeing
Any shot is dull when you personally fi nd little worth looking at in it.
Appeal of any picture depends partly on
what it shows?, what it is about?, how interested you have persuaded your audience to be in it?
Well-balanced shots
A good sense of balance is important to us in daily life, and we apply it instinctively to everything we
do, even picture-making.
A well-balanced picture has a settled, stable look

Unbalanced shots
Using them deliberately
Unbalanced shot generates an insecure or uncertain feel
Result caused due to certain arrangements within the frame
[A] A perfectly ordinary, stable, rather dull composition.
[B] Become aware of the space below the vase in the frame. The picture has become somewhat top-heavy.
[C] The empty space above the top of the vase become prominent, and the frame is rather bottom-heavy.
[D] Asymmetrical and lop sided
Use with a purpose
An unstable frame increases tension in the visual fi eld
Easy way to achieve this is by making the picture top-heavy or lop-sided
Tight framing
If you frame shots too close to contain the subject's actions, it will keep moving in and out of the
picture. The result is very cramped and distracting unless done with intentions.
Framing people
Don't let the frame cut people at natural joints; intermediate
points are much more attractive. Avoid having people seem to
lean or sit on the edge of the picture.
Headroom
Keep a check on the distance between the top of heads and the top of the frame. If this headroom is
too little ('tight'), the frame will appear to crush down on people. Too much headroom ('loose')
unbalances the shot, and may attract the audience's attention.
Headroom
As a very rough guide, you can think of keeping the eyes about a third of the screen height from the
top of the picture, but as you will discover, headroom is infl uenced by whatever else is visible in the
top of the picture.
Proportions
An equally divided frame allows only formal balance - usually dull and monotonous
Dividing the screen in a 2:3 or a 3:5 ratio achieves a far more pleasing balance
Grouping (unity)
While including a number of items in the picture, avoid scattering.
Advisable to centralize viewers' attention by grouping subjects in some way, to restrict them gaze
around at random. Grouping creates a sense of unity, pulling its subjects together.
Create this grouping by

deliberately positioning your subjects to suit the composition
and/or
deliberately select your camera's viewpoint to frame the subjects in a way that will create unity.
A group that would look lop-sided and unbalance in the picture (1) can be counterbalanced by another
mass in another part of the screen (2).
If centered (3), the picture is balanced, even without other subjects, but continual centering gets
monotonous.
Different sized masses can balance each other, but take care not to split the audience's attention (4).
Juggling proportions
Adjusting the camera's distance, height and selecting a suitable lens angle provides useful degree of
control over proportions in the shot.
Adjusting lens angle
Wide lens angle -
Everything appear smaller and further away than usual
Size diminishes rapidly with distance from camera
Even items relatively close to the lens appear further away than normal
emphasizes distance and depth; distorts subjects in the foreground
Adjusting lens angle
Narrow lens angle -
Everything looks much nearer than usual
Relative sizes do not seem to change much with distance
Things far off appear to be closer
Depth is reduced
Adjusting the camera's distance
Closer things are to the camera, larger they appear in the frame. Even a slight change in the camera's
distance affect the apparent size of foreground items, while background remains about the same size.
Remember:
Do not attempt to tell the entire story in a single shot! Remember that a sequence is a series of
shots
Think if rst of the (scene) area required for a particular shot & then of the best viewpoint - how much
and where
Visualize an impression the sequence would make upon the audience
Approach each shot with a fresh attitude
Using same camera angle in consecutive shots will result in jarring jump cut. Change in camera
angle will assure a smoother fl ow of images

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Chapter 2

Picture-Making Basics - Part II

Objective is to sway the audience to react in a desired mood

Know your audience. Place yourself in viewer's position.

A well-balanced picture has a settled, stable look

Create this grouping by

Visualize an impression the sequence would make upon the audience

Approach each shot with a fresh attitude

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