Filming Theory.
The rule of thirds is difficult to explain but in its simplest form, the rule of thirds is most commonly used when filming in an interview but can be used throughout media, weather it be filming short films or photography but as I mentioned is most common in interviews. The rule of thirds is applied when a 3×3 rule is used as a guide, meaning there will be three squares horizontal and three squares vertical, this is used as a guide to align the subject on for interviewing, photography and filming; artists also use this technique. In interviews the rule of thirds usually look like this;
By placing the subject more on the right hand side this allows the audience to have a perspective shot of the scenery and the subject. One reason why most interviews aren’t head on is because most interviews are between two people and has been done as a question and answer format if there was to be a head on interview where the subject would be directly in front of the camera (centre Screen) it would usually be in a format of the subject talking to the audience such as; a news reading or a message to the audience.
The Rule of thirds in my opinion is a good rule to have, I believe the rule of thirds has its pros and cons, pros being, you get a sense of setting when you use the rule of thirds and if your in a luxury location you grasp the scenery well. I feel the only cons about using the rule of thirds is that everybody does it, if I was to have my own way, I would choose to break this rule.
2. Framing
Framing is important in all film, framing focuses and depends on the type of shot that the production team (predominantly the director) want to use, dependent on the framing, the film automatically depends on it. There are different shots, which could be used such as long, medium, and close up shots, there are many more shots but these shots in particular are the basics of what you would need to know. For the example I have used below, this is a long shot, if this was a moving image I would assume the next shot to be a close up getting the facial features of the character hanging up/picking up the phone, a close up is used to catch the intensity of a characters emotion, a mid shot would be usually used to show where the character is and what’s around them and in my opinion a long shot is used to grasp the scenery.
Framing focuses on the position of the subject in the scene, the term framing also refers to the edge of a particular image and where it is positioned on the screen, for example you have a wide variety of shots when it comes to filmmaking, shots could be used effectively in the topic of media where some shots may be more effective than others, since I started media I have been noticing a lot more what my perception of a good shot is and what I don’t like, personally this shot below I feel is a good shot because as described to me the audience like a looking room when filming, they don’t like to see things in the middle of the frame. As a filmmaker it would be preferable to frame your subject (point of interest) not directly in the middle, by placing the subject on the left hand side scenery automatically gets grasped and is easy to look at.
3. Eye line
The eye line, which is often known, as the eye line match in film terms is a major importance in film and television because it keeps the audience engaged and interested in the scene and by doing this it gives the audience a sense of existence and priority. The eye line is used to assure the audience where/which direction the actor or actress is looking in and more importantly what they are looking at. My guess on when eye line first had been introduced was when the first few films had been created, as you watch Charlie Chaplin – The Kid the director uses minimal examples of eye line yet there are a few shots where this is demonstrated.
4.180-degree rule
180-degree rule is the unwritten line as a director/film maker you do not cross, unless that’s the look you would want for your film, to explain it in its simplest form, the 180-degree rule is an imaginary line that the camera must not cross in order to not confuse the audience. Why would the audience get confused? As a member of the audience, watching a film, you would need to get a sense of direction of what each character is looking at, the characters position even down to which direction theyre breathing in, as a member of the audience we need to know this because if you don’t apply this rule, this could fluster your audience.
Here is the best example I could find which explains this:
I remember reading somewhere the 180-degree rule dates back to when film first had been created around the time period cinema had been invented which was in the year 1867 by a man called William Lincoln.
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