Composition Rules

Film making is a language which uses various parts of film grammar to communicate the meaning that the director wants in pop videos and movies . The picture composition rules are this grammar . I explain with some of the key ones below.

1) Different types of Shot size

Different types of shot convey different types of meaning.

Extreme close up (ECU this shot is meant to be emotive and filled with detail. Forexample it could to show a smile on an actors face to show an emotive repsone of how the charcter is feeling.

Close up (CU)this shot shows a small bit of the scence yet its main emphasis is on the charcters whole face .

Mid shot (MS)this is where your able to see most of the actor .A good example of this is seeing things that the actor with his hands , giving something to someone or just a simple hand gesture.

Wide Shot (WS)this shot allows you to see the entire actor and most of his surroundings for example sitting an old man sitting on a park bench with a small sycamore tree behind him in shot

Extreme wide shot (EWS) this shot can shows where the film is being set , being either a long landscape shot or just a shot of a town

2) Camera Position and angle (up shot,down shot)

If the camera shoots the actor at his/her ‘eye level’ then this is usually to display factual information

If the camera is shot at a higher angle the camera looks down at a character then this suggests that the main character is humble and we as an an audience feel a sort of power or authority over the character

If the camera is shot at a low angle this gives a sense of authority to the actor . This could also be used to juxtopose the charcter to be of an arrogant nature .

(3) Camera Movements

Crane shots are used to give an aethestic pleasure to the scene. As it is a camera attached to a long pole that can lift up and down , side to side . which ghives a whole new element of movement to a camera.

Zoom. We use zoom to move from a long shit to a closer one very quickly . The subject size is increased and the viewers attention is drawn to whatever the camera zoomed on for example a fight scene zooms into a hand clutching a knife. Following pan. Zooming out how ever could be used as an establishing shot to show the viewer where the subject is.

Tracking (dollying). Tracking involves the camera actually being moved closer or futher away from the subject . It gives a smoother feel to zoom and looks more ‘professional’ lines are put down on the ground to make this operation easier. A camera tracking to a particular scence can make it intimate and emotiona;

Hand-held camera. A hand-held camera can produce a jerky, bouncy, unsteady images . This used for POV shots sometimes or to feel close to the charater as your basically ‘walking’ with him .

4) Lighting

Soft and harsh lighting. Soft and harsh lighting can manipulate a viewer's attitude towards a setting or a character. The way light is used can make objects, people and environments look beautiful or ugly, soft or harsh, artificial or real. Light may be used expressively or realistically.

Backlighting. A romantic heroine is often backlit to create a halo effect on her hair.

If the main protagnist is sitting in a room you would have 3 lights to light him properly.

1) The spot this used to light the subject , the main aim of this is to flood the subject in a pool of light

2) 32 * anticlockwise to this you would have the Fill light. This is used to create shadows and give the person some depth.

3) The actor will still look like a cardboard cutout so we then have to use another light directly behind him which gives the person a 3D sense to him .

Light is mainly used to change the emotion and mood of an scene. Soft lighting can make the scene beautiful and romantic .Harsh lighting can make an actors face look horrible and ugly and the scene dark , dismall and even provoke fear.

5) Rule of Thirds

This used to make a scence visually pleasing .If you look at the diagram there are 4 different hot spots and a head or the main subject content in that spot will look great . But you can subvert this idea by breaking the rule and placing the main content in different spots to the the 4 main hot spots.

6) Leading the eye

This can be done to make the viewer look for what is the subject content . It gives the picture a pleasure to look at . For example there could be a extreme long shot of a desert , barren area , with a long and twisting path cut deep into the sand with a small cabin at the bottom of it

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