Shot Composition: Framing Effective Shots

Published by Emil Abraham, September 11th, 2019

The basic purpose of framing a shot is to show images as clearly as possible and to present them so that they convey meaning and energy. Essentially, you clarify and intensify the event before you. When working a camcorder, you are the only one who sees the television pictures before they are videotaped. You therefore cannot rely on a director to tell you how to frame every picture for maximum effectiveness.

The more you know about picture composition, the more effective your clarification and intensification of the event will be. But even if you are working as a camera operator during a multicamera studio show or a large remote where the director can preview all the camera pictures, you still need to know how to compose effective shots. The director might be able to correct some of your shots, but he or she will certainly not have time to teach you the fundamentals of good composition.

Screen Size and Field of View

Screen size and field of view are closely related. On the large movie screen, you can show a relatively large vista with a great amount of event detail. When the same scene is shown on television, however, you will not only have difficulty making out the smaller event details but, more important, you will lose the aesthetic impact of the shot. This is why some film critics suggest seeing a particular film "on the big screen."

Most television sets have a relatively small screen, especially when compared with the average movie screen. To reveal event details, you must show them in close-ups rather than long shots. In other words, your field of view must gener ally be tighter on television than on the motion picture screen. Such a close-up approach necessitates choosing and emphasizing those details that contribute most effectively to the overall event.

Field of view refers to how wide or how close the object appears relative to the camera, that is, how close it will ap pear to the viewer. It is basically organized into five steps: (1) extreme long shot (ELS), also called establishing shot; (2) long shot (LS), also called full shot or establishing shot; (3) medium shot (MS), also called waist shot; (4) close-up (CU); a n d ( 5 ) extreme close-up (ECU).

Extreme Long Shot: Typically used to show subjects of relatively massive scale. Pic- ture a mountain climber represented as a tiny speck against a vast expanse of snow, the extreme long shot conveying the relative insigni cance of the character struggling against their environment. It is a study in scale and majesty.

Long Shot: The distance of the camera from its subject also re ects an emotional distance; the audience doesn’t get as emotionally involved in what’s going on as they would if they were closer. In a way, it makes viewers a casual bystander, somewhat aloof to what’s happening. Take a couple arguing, where the details of their argument are lost to the viewer, and only the big blow-ups are able to catch our attention. Some- thing is happening, but we can’t be sure what it is.

Medium Shot: the medium shot is where we are starting to engage with the characters on a personal level. It is an approximation of how close someone would be when hav- ing a casual conversation.

Close Up: More intimate than the medium shot, the expressions and emotions of an actor are more visible and affecting and is meant to engage the character in a direct and personal manner. You are starting to lose visual information about the character’s surroundings, but the character’s actions are more intimate and impacting.

Extreme Close Up: For amplifying emotional intensity, the extreme close-up puts the camera right in the actor’s face, making even their smallest emotional cues huge -- and raises the intensity of the problems behind them. This works for objects too: the ticking hands of a clock, a bullet shell hitting the oor, the blinking cursor of a computer terminal. What the extreme close up lacks in context, it makes up for by taking a small event and making it enormous.

Bust, Knee, Two, Three, O/S, X/S: Four other ways of designating conventional shots are: bust shot, which frames the subject from the upper torso to the top of the head; knee shot, which frames the subject from just above or below the knees; two-shot, with two people or objects in the frame; and three-shot, with three people or objects in the frame. Although more a blocking arrangement than a field of view, you should also know two additional shots: the over-the-shoulder shot and the cross-shot. In the over-the-shoulder shot (O/S), the camera looks at someone over the shoulder of the camera-near person. In a cross-shot (X/S), the camera looks alternately at one or the other person, with the camera-near person completely out of the shot.

POV: Finally, there’s the POV or point-of-view shot. This is used when you want the viewer to see what the character is seeing or feel what they’re feeling. It can be a static shot or you can combine it with one of the camera motions that we’ll look at later.

The goal of composition is to create an image that is attractive or that at least captures and keeps the audience’s attention and effectively communicates the production’s message. Throughout the years, a series of composition "rules" have been established. However, the word "rules" is not really appropriate for composition; they should be treated as guidelines. They are designed to be adapted, or even broken. Television would be boring if everyone composed every shot the same way. Your goal should be to look for imaginative ways to adapt or take advantage of these rules or guidelines.

What is composition?

Composition refers to the way elements of a scene are arranged in a camera frame. Shot composition refers to the arrangement of visual elements to convey an intended message.

What feeling, thematic message, or experience do I need to create to make my point clear and effectual? Once we have this essential context, we can use shot composition to arrange all of our scene elements in the best possible way to drive our intention home.

Knowing how to arrange specific shots for specific reasons, will have a greater impact on the audience, keeping them engaged for longer. And engaging your audience is a requirement of filmmaking.

Good composition does not have to be difficult. However, it does take careful planning if you are to get the best image. Here are some key factors to consider that will ensure that your images effectively communicate the message of the production:

Symbolism: Does the image have meaning to the viewer? When viewers see the image, what do they immediately think of? Is that what you are trying to communicate?
Meaningful context: The content of the image should allow the viewer to under- stand the subject better. Compose the shot in such a way that it includes a back- ground, or foreground, that adds additional information or context to the image.
Motion and emotion: The video images should give the audience the same emo- tional response that you had while shooting. Does the image portray emotion or motion in some way?

Shooting from Different Angles

The majority of the images seen on television have been shot at the eye level of the camera operator. The most neutral camera angle is the eye level shot. The camera points straight ahead at about the same level as the subject’s face. This is how you would shoot an interview scene if you wanted to maintain a sense of objectivity. The goal is to let the viewer follow the action without manipulating their emotions. While it’s called "eye level," it doesn’t have to be a shot of the character’s face. You can get an eye level shot of an object by maintaining a neutral camera angle.

When shooting people, low-angle shots make them look important. A low-angle shot adds some subjectivity to the scene. Instead of facing straight ahead, the camera looks up at the subject from a low angle. This can make a character appear threatening, dominant, or in a position of power relative to another character. As with some of the other shots we’ve looked at, you can vary the intensity of it. A slight low angle might be used to convey a sense of authority, such as a teacher looking down at a student. An extreme low angle shot might be used to show a monster like Godzilla or King Kong bearing down on other characters.

A high-angle shot, which looks down on the subject, can make the person look small and insignificant. You can also take this to the extreme with a top angle or bird’s eye view. This shot looks down on the character from above and can be used indoors or outdoors. For example, you might look down on your subject entering a church or stadium. Or, you could use this to show your character running away from a helicopter, in which case it would be an aerial shot or a drone shot.

Dutch angle: Tilting the camera gives a subtle cue that something about the scene is unstable or just a little bit off-kilter. The effect shows the unbalanced mental or emotional state of the character, or to make the scene feel somehow unsettling. A Dutch angle is one of the most common ways to convey disorientation. For this shot, simply tilt the camera to one side so it isn’t level with the horizon. You might use this shot to show the POV of a drunk character stumbling down the street, or in a horror movie to give the impression that the walls of a haunted house are closing in.

Showing Scale

The audience does not always understand the size of the subject being shot. When shooting a subject that is very large or very small, it is important to compose the image in a way that puts the subject in context so that the audience can understand the size without being told.

Other Composition Techniques

The Rule of Thirds is a technique of dividing the frame up into a 3x3 grid, splitting your frame into nine boxes. Our natural impulse is to put our subject dead center, but a centered subject will look like they’re caught in a spotlight, and by dropping them in the center of the frame, it gives them nowhere to go. Instead, by positioning your action in any of the four vertices where those nine boxes meet, you create a balance in your composition that feels more natural. For example, a side view of a person driv- ing a car: on the top left vertex is the driver’s head and shoulder, which follows their arm down to the lower right vertex to the steering wheel. This creates a nicely bal- anced frame of the driver on the top left and the wheel on the lower right.
Relatives of the rule of thirds are Head Room and Nose Room (also, Look Room). Just as the rule of thirds splits up your frame to add balance, head room and look room mean to give your subject a little extra room in wherever direction they’re facing. If you are filming a public speaker, position them so there’s a little less room at their back and a little more above their head. Subconsciously, we picture the edge of the frame as a wall, so by giving your subject more nose room and head room, there is a space for them to speak into. By not giving them enough nose room, they’ll look like they’re talking to a wall.
Lead Room: Screen motion creates a motion vector. When someone or something moves in a screen-right or screen-left direc tion, you must leave leadroom to balance the force of the motion vector.
Leading lines is when the lines within the image lead the viewers’ eyes to what the director wants them to look at. Horizontal lines can portray calm and tranquility; Vertical lines can show strength and dignity; Diagonal lines can show movement and speed; Curved lines can portray serenity; Converging lines can show depth.
Balance and Symmetry: Understanding frame composition rules is invaluable knowledge for a filmmaker. Shooting a perfectly symmetrical shot, breaking the rule of thirds, is used for very specific reasons. Artists use this technique to direct the viewer’s eye to a specific place. And leading the eye to the center of the screen might end up serving your story better, and garner more emotion. Balance and symmetry in a shot can be very effective. They often reveal character traits and power dynamics.
Depth of Field: Mastering spacial composition in the frame is one of the hallmarks of effective visual storytelling. Depth of field describes the size of the area in your image where objects appear acceptably sharp. That area is called the field, and the size of that area is the depth of that field. Depth of field is essentially your zone of sharpness. If you make that zone longer, bringing more objects into focus, you will have a larger depth of field. Similarly, if you make that zone shorter or smaller, with less in focus, you will have a shallow (or narrow) depth of field.

References:

Herbert Zettl, Television Production Handbook, New York, Wadsworth

Millerson, Gerald, Video Production Handbook