Marketing & Design May 2020 Issue

from Marketing & Design May 2020 Issue

Marketing & Design May 2020 Issue

FRAMING YOUR SHOTS

By Joseph Morris | Filmmaker

Framing & composition is an element of filmmaking and videography that is often overlooked. In the age of social media content where just about everything goes, we often times buy into the idea of just ‘get your content out there.’ For some types, that can work. For others, your audience may be anticipating higher production quality to match the messaging of your brand. When we see commercials on TV, or movies in the theater, or even interviews, a keen eye is given to how to frame a person or subject within a shot. It can make even a simple cellphone video look visually interesting. I want to go over 2 quick ways that you can immediately add that visual interest to your shots.

First up is rule of thirds. This rule is not really a rule at all but rather a guideline of where best to place yourself or a subject you may be interviewing. On a 16x9 frame, 2 equidistant lines are drawn along the horizontal and vertical axes the image resulting in a grid that looks like this. (1)Placing anything of interest along these third lines immediately makes your shot look more visually striking. Take a look at shot of my friend Felix.

First we can see that his body is being centered along the right third line column. Next we can see that his eyes are being placed in the near vicinity of the intersection point with the top row line. Each of the intersection points of the lines can give you an idea where to place important items of interest.

Next we can see that along with his body being placed on the right third, the rest of his body is facing towards the empty space of the left two-thirds of the frame. Whenever placing someone on a thirds line, make sure that they are facing towards the area of the frame with the most empty space.

Take a look at this still frame from a wedding. (3) After placing the thirds grid on top of this image, you can again notice how the two of them are framed along the right third line. (4) This Is a fantastic and easy way to break up the mold and add visual interest to your shots.

Next is ‘center framing’.

Most of us already know this naturally: whenever framing someone, place them front and center of the camera view! (5) This is a natural start for most people because a) it’s easy, and b) it’s immediately clear what’s important in your frame. One negative to this type of framing is that it can tend to get boring if overused. It doesn’t allow you to highlight any background elements or give your subject much room to maneuver inside the frame. One way to compliment this type of framing is the concept of leading lines. (6)(7) For example long hallways, or corners of rooms are great areas to place people because the lines of the background naturally lead the eyes to what’s placed in the middle of the frame. (8)There are an endless amount of ways to frame people and objects within a frame but these are two really simple and effective ways to add visual interest to pictures or videos that you may post.

Marketing & Design May 2020 Issue

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