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The
Rule of Thirds
To
apply the hallowed Rule of Thirds to an image,
compose it so those important elements align with
the lines and intersections of an imaginary tick-tack-toe
grid that fills the viewfinder frame.
Why
does this simple trick work so well? First, because
the lines and crossing points mirror and balance
one another, but not a single one is centered
in the frame. (Centered equals boring.) The grid
organizes the parts of your image without lining
them up like toy soldiers.
The
system also works because so many subject elements
are horizontal (horizons, cross streets, floor
or ceiling lines) or vertical (wall edges, buildings,
light posts, trees). To test this system, try
setting the horizon one-third from either the
top or bottom of the frame. You'll see an immediate
improvement.
 Now
for some fine print. First, you don't have to
align everything on your grid, nor do you have
to hit every line and every crossing. A single
tree and the horizon can provide both vertical
and horizontal organization. Place your subject
where those two lines cross and you'll have a
pleasing image.
Also,
don't try to obey the Rule of Thirds every blessed
second of every shot, because that just isn't
practical. Instead, look for compositions that
begin with that organization and then follow the
action where it leads you.
Finally,
remember that the Rule of Thirds wasn't handed
down through a cloud on a clay tablet; it's merely
a set of (literal) guidelines. Many good compositions
don't follow the rule. So, just remember, to paraphrase
Duke Ellington: if it looks good, it is good.
 To
practice the Rule of Thirds, try this trick. Cut
a piece of plastic the size of your external viewfinder
and ink a tick-tack-toe grid on it with a black
marker. A blank overhead transparency is the ideal
material for this purpose. Tape the plastic over
the finder and start composing. Some folks discard
the overlay after getting the feel of the system;
others use it permanently.
Head, Chin, Look, Lead
 One
subject element especially profits from the Rule
of Thirds: your subject's eyes. Centering them
in the frame as so many beginners do looks amateurish
and dorky. Instead, make it a rule to place eyes
no lower than the top third of your frame. This
is the easiest way to compose your subject.
 The
top-third rule works with every camera angle,
from tight closeups through full shots (head-to-foot,
with a skosh of room above and below). Obviously,
if you try this with a long shot (subject filling
less than half the frame height) or an extreme
closeup (eyes and nose only), the results will
look peculiar.
 This
brings us to hair and chin room. For some reason,
it's quite all right to cut off a subject's hair,
but not the chin. If the chin continues out the
bottom of the frame, it looks strange when at
rest and even stranger when the subject's wagging
it while speaking. Don't ask why, but try it and
you'll see.
 The
Rule of Thirds also works well for the subject's
whole body. Generally speaking, subjects should
be offset to leave more space on the side of the
frame that they are facing. If looking frame-right,
for example, place them left of the centerline.
This is called "giving look room." By
keeping subjects away from the direction of their
looks, you prevent the vague claustrophobia that
results from crowding the frame.
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Of
course, you don't always need to spot your talent
on a one-third vertical grid line. Often, it's
enough to displace them just a tad off-center.
Nor does it matter whether the subjects are in
full profile or looking barely to one side of
the lens. The composition will improve if you
give them extra air ahead of their look.
 The
same is true of moving subjects, only this compositional
trick is called "lead room." The idea
is to give them extra air on the side toward which
they are moving. The offset may be subtle in close
shots, but in full shots (full-length) or longer,
I prefer to keep moving subjects on a one-third
vertical line.
Incidentally,
this rule applies to absolutely anything in motion,
from racing cars to hamsters. It can be perhaps
the hardest rule of composition to apply, because
of the old gunsight reflex; you instinctively
want to center your subject as if to shoot it.
High,
Low, Far, Near
In
the March 2002 Videomaker article, What's Your
Angle? we explained how a director selects and
uses different camera angles, from bird's-eye
to worm's-eye and from long shot to closeup. Today,
we're interested specifically in the compositional
aspects of these different angles.
High
angles offer useful perspectives over the heads
of crowds, but from a composition standpoint,
they're great for making patterns within the image.
Imagine a bird's-eye angle on a dance and you'll
see how the subjects weave designs on the screen.
Because
high angles also confer a feeling of distance
and detachment, it can help to shoot them with
telephoto lenses (if you can get high enough to
make this work). As we'll see in a moment, the
flattened perspective of long lenses enhances
the sense of patterns drawn on the screen.
Low
angles are, of course, the opposite, imparting
feelings of dynamic engagement with the action.
For this reason, they often work best with wide-angle
lens settings, which exaggerate apparent depth.
High
and low angles are hard to corral within the Rule
of Thirds grid, because horizontal lines are more
difficult to find and vertical ones are rarely
straight up and down in the viewfinder. In the
same way, close shots can be harder to tick-tack-toe
because they may offer fewer clean horizontals
and verticals. Again, the exception here is subjects'
eyes, which naturally fall on the upper horizontal
line.
Longer
shots are the opposite. Establishing shots in
particular lend themselves to formal composition
because they contain many compositional elements.
A camcorder set up for a slightly high angle enhances
their formality.
Pan,
Tilt, Dolly, Zoom
Moving
shots have their own compositional rules, whether
you're panning horizontally, tilting vertically,
moving the camera by foot or dolly, or zooming
in or out.
First,
you should have a strong composition at both ends
of the move. Start with a good-looking image,
make your move smoothly and then come to rest
with an equally pleasing frame. In fact, when
practical, it's better to have the ending composition
even stronger than the starter.
To
follow this plan, preset both your opening and
closing compositions. Then, rehearse the movement
between them until you can hit the ending image
right on the money. Nothing looks crummier than
a move that ends with a mis-frame, or even worse,
wobbles around trying to correct the final composition.
If
you move in order to follow a subject, be sure
to allow adequate lead room throughout the move.
The
second rule of moving compositions: roll the camera
for several seconds on the initial composition
before moving; then continue rolling for several
more on the final composition. This gives the
editor more flexibility in cutting in and out
of the shot.
These
rules apply to zoom shots, with a few additional
points. First, decide whether you want the zoom
in the edited program (because it is often a waste
of screen time). If you don't, then snap the lens
as quickly as possible from zoom start to finish
and don't hesitate to correct the ending frame,
knowing you'll cut this out.
If
you do intend to keep the zoom, determine how
fast to make it, since slow and fast zooms deliver
different dramatic effects. If your zoom control
permits, a zoom looks best if you accelerate the
speed at the start and decelerate to a stop at
the end.
And
here's a final hint for zooming in. Instead of
centering the ending composition in the wide-angle
opening, place it off-center and pan/tilt while
zooming to reframe for your ending. The result
will look very professional. |
