Basic Training: The Rules of the Grid (page 2)

Does Every Shot Have to Follow the Rule?

We've all heard that rules are made to be broken, and the Rule of Thirds is no exception. No one will call your production to task for slavishly following it, but they might wonder about your compositional skills if you deviate from it without a good reason.

When Steven Bocho made Hill Street Blues in 1982, he chose to film the opening sequence of every show, the "roll call," with a handheld camera. He was hailed as a visionary for deviating from the established tradition of sturdily-mounted cameras. If he'd chosen to film the whole show that way, people might have gotten motion sickness. Bocho had good reason for going off on his own: he thought the jerky, handheld camera would give viewers a "you are there" feel of being in the room with the police officers. This went along with a gritty, dingy set, and it was successful. It looked like real life and was hailed by police across the country as being accurate, partly because it dared to break some rules.

There will be times when it's appropriate to throw this compositional rule out the window and put your subjects dead center - it's up to you to know why you are doing it.

Contributing editor Kyle Cassidy is a visual artist who writes extensively about technology.

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Basic Training: The Rules of the Grid (page 2)

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