Entry 4- Framing and M.Kurtzmann

Today we learnt about framing and watched saw some photos and watch a video that the photos came from to compare. 

The “Rule of Thirds” is possibly one of the first things that cinematographers or photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots. It is one of most common principles in the words of photography and cinematography. By applying the rule of thirds your images should naturally lead the viewer to the most interesting points in your image

However, it is not necessary to follow the rules everytime, as it doesn’t mean that one's shot/image is unbalanced or uninteresting. 

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that there are 9 parts. With this grid in mind the ‘rule of thirds’ now identifies four important parts of the image that should be considered placing points of interest in as a frame for the image/shot. In addition, the four ‘lines’ that are created are also useful positions for elements in photos. People’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the centre of the shot. By using the rule of thirds, it creates a natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it. 

The rule of thirds is sometimes referred to as the golden ratio. In Photography there are some additional golden rules which can be applied with the golden ratio to help make your images more interesting. The Golden triangle is also another rule of thirds that makes the photo more interesting. 

The Camera’s position and height: Low or High and Canted/Tilted angle. The use of light to create and emotional response in your viewer: Use of shadows or light to hide/show certain elements. Intentionally showing or hiding elements from the viewer: i.e. Hiding the killer’s face until the final scene. The three that is mentioned are additional elements to consider. 

Basic shot types: 

Shot 1: 

Surname: Buttle 

Department of Records 

Religion C o E 

Dept Retrieval N.A 

Committal to dept - of Retrieval 

D. Hopperton is the retrieval officer  

DEPT. OF RECORDS is in big letters. showing that it’s important 

The character is focusing on the receipt 

The name is on the line of thirds 

What the class discussed: 

The bold writing that is used when writing the surname, BUTTLE, in contrast to the other words that is written in fine writing shows that that name is important. In addition, another focus point in this image would be the big blue writing of Dept. of Records. Since Dept. of Records is written in a blue writing, it contrasts with the negative background colour, which is black and white. Furthermore, the Dept of Records is tilted, which creates a leading line. The leading line is a technique that is similar to the golden triangle, referring to a composition technique whereby the viewer's eye is attracted to lines that lead directly to the principle subject in the image. The way the stamp is stamped huge on the clipboard indicates that the receipt is probably very important and to be looked after thoroughly. This is a miss en scene technique, as most crime films put a big stamp on important documents that should be seen. The clipboard also takes up most of the frame, which further proves that the receipt is very important. The slightly low exposure that is used in this photograph also creates this sense of importance, as darkness usually associates with seriousness. 

Shot 2: 

There’s a lot of documents laying around 

crowded 

The lighting is directed towards the man in the middle 

Everyone’s eye is directed towards the crowd because of how the ground is narrowing down to them 

People are talking 

Lots of busy people 

Underground 

Important guy on the top of podium talking to the crowd 

The crowd is on the third line 

The room is dimly lit, which makes it seem as if it's undercover or hidden. The industrial setting kind of implies that the place is underground. There are paper flying everywhere, which means the place they're in is related to keeping document files. This leads the viewers to believe that it's probably related to something of an underground secret police. There is a crowd on the line of third, which makes the viewers eyes have that as a focal attention. The leading lines on the floor also helps in doing that. While the right side of the screen is filled with machinery/ sets, the other left side is filled with people. This is a technique used by cinematographers, as people usually see the hollow space of a photograph first and then the sets. There is also a person standing on the stadium with a bright backlighting, this indicates that he is important. 

Shot3: 

The light is focused on the man’s eyes/ expression 

He has a watch (?)

M.Kurtzmann is probably his name 

He is having a stern expression, probably he found something bad 

Seeing that his name is there, he is important 

There is a back fill light behind, showing that his name and position is important 

The person is looking down at a watch, which means he is probably being "chased" by time. He also has a stern expression, which is accented by the underlighting. He is also wearing a business suit, and seems like the guy that was standing on top of the stadium, which means that he's probably really important. This is supported by the low to high angle shot, which shows that he is powerful. The name, M. Kurtzmann on the bottom right corner is probably his name, as it is placed closed to him with a black fill lighting, making it catch viewers attention. 

After discussing the images in class, we saw that the man is actually not powerful, as as soon as he goes in, the people that were working hard went back to watching tv shows. He is then shot in a high to low angle shot, which is quite contrasting. We also got to know that this scene is connected to the other scene that we watched the other day. 

We also briefly discussed about what our task for this term is. Our task is creating a short silent film, that is about a minute long where the character is searching for something. My idea for the film is about a girl trying to find her name. Her name is kind of like her identity. I decided to do this because Mr. Andrews keeps on joking about how I don't have a name because of that one time where I didn't have a name tag on. Anyways, I was thinking of making everyone else wear name tags, but the girl not having a name tag. This will be cooler if she wakes up from lying down on the floor, and feels as if something is off, only to find that her name tag is missing.( I would probably use a low to high angle shot for this. ) Therefore, she goes around asking people whether they know what her name is, but nobody seems to care. I was thinking of making the ending where she's actually dead, and she finds her name on a gravestone. I don't know if this will work out. In addition, we have to work in pairs. This will be kind of hard for me since I have never worked in pairs for media arts. 

That's all we've done this lesson.