Basic Training: Composition 102: Part 2 (page 3)

With a good grasp of the basic rules of composition, the next step is to learn to incorporate them wherever possible and to make good composition second nature. Study several examples of good cinematography and learn to critically analyze the content that you consume. Make sure your shots don't just start out well-composed but maintain their composition throughout their duration. Learn more advanced techniques, such as use of depth of field, and add them to your repertoire.

Contributing Editor Bill Davis writes, shoots, edits, and does voiceover work for a variety of corporate and industrial clients.

When asked how he is going to build a hospital set with no budget, a clever director will realize that a movie hospital can be made with a stethoscope, lab coat, and a clipboard, if they shoot everything in closeup.
Directors compose around daunting setups all the time -- a crowd at a basketball game may only consist of the twenty people you can see on the screen, jam packed into a small section of bleachers. A desolate Kansas highway might actually be a twenty foot stretch of suburban driveway with forty corn stalks from a craft store standing in the background; the giant ape holding Fay Wray might just be a giant hand, and that ship being rolled over by a tidal wave might only be two feet long. Oftentimes composition is the task of making something out of nothing.

Every year Hollywood gives out an Oscar for the film with the best cinematography - in theory, this is a movie which is at the very apex of its craft, in practice it is often a movie that simply did well at the box office, however, almost no movie with bad composition does well at the box office. Recent favorites include 2005's Memoirs of a Geisha, 2003's Moulin Rouge for its spectacular use of color, and 2001's beautifully filmed war movie Black Hawk Down. Take a critical look at some of the nominees. Pause the movie frequently and asked yourself:

• What compositional elements are being used in this shot? Why is this shot better than something else? Could it be improved? If it's a shot that contains action or movement, does the composition remain pleasing throughout? How was the camera placed and how was it moved?
• Using some string and tape, try making a "rule of thirds" grid across the front of your television, see how often this rule is followed by different cinematographers.
• Remember to use the letterbox versions of movies when studying composition. If the film has been "reformatted to fit your TV" it means that someone has already monkeyed with the composition.

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