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Don't be Square about Framing

Art - to many people this word conjures up visions of long dimly-lit hallways, filled with soft murmuring whispers, echoing between some very square, very frumpy patrons, shuffling the catacombs of a dusty old museum. Small groups of stiffs standing and staring at a boring, motionless, flat-framed piece of work for hours, discussing how exciting the art is and how much movement it has. Why doesn't this happen when I show my video, you might ask? What could possibly be so exciting about a static image, anyway? It just sits there. For an image to be exciting, it has to move! Right? Things need to be constantly changing and adjusting. Pictures flying in and out, angles adjusting and tilting, edits happening left and right. There is nothing still about our art. Or is there?

How many times have you used a well-framed image in one of your projects, or just held a pretty angle for longer than usual in an edit, and you could actually feel the motion and excitement? Maybe it was a feeling of curiosity that came over you, which made you look deeper into the video again and again, until the image felt like it had a 3D quality. Even though it wasn't panning or zooming, did the image feel like it was moving? How can a still image move someone to look further into the frame, when it has no zoom or edit in for detail? Well, the answer is all about the framing.

Yes, my Di-rec-tor friends, in order for your videos to move, you need to think about the framing of the static image, not the moving image. The best movies are merely one beautifully-framed static image transitioned into another one. Professional camera operators have learned that every image, no mater how short, tells a story, asks a question or gives a clue. Taking your time in framing your shot determines what you want your viewers to remember or the feeling you want your viewers to have. So how can you make a shot that doesn't zoom or swish or zip be exciting? Well, let's call the answer to that question The Rule of Thirds - Bonus Edition.

Many of you may be aware that a well-framed image is often not a centered shot. Placing an imaginary tic-tac-toe grid, or rule of thirds, as it is better known in the industry, over your viewfinder, divides the frame into three equal parts, both horizontally and vertically. These lines, and the areas of the frame they intersect, according to numerous studies, are more pleasing to the eye. Putting your key subject over one of those lines draws a viewer's attention to it, thereby increasing interest.

Try this test. Place two subjects in your frame: let's say a boy and an ice cream sundae, but it can be anything of interest. Let's place them in a diner next to the counter. Start by placing the boy in the center of your frame with the ice cream in his hand. What do you think? It's a boy with his sundae. End of story. Now place the boy on a stool on the right vertical line of your imaginary tic-tac-toe grid and the sundae on the counter on the left vertical line. What do you think? What questions come to mind when the boy looks at the ice cream? Is it his? Will he steal it? Will someone else come and sit down and finish it? Who will that person be? You will prompt all these questions and more from just by putting your subjects on the lines, thereby leaving a large enough space between them. Bring them closer inside the lines and it will look like the boy still owns the ice cream, and the image has less impact. More important, though, is the way your eye travels back and forth between the boy and his ice cream when the two are farther apart. This eye movement keeps the viewer's mind interested for much longer. Even when you flash the image before the viewer, the mind retains the image and still asks all those same questions. You see, it's not the movement - it's the framing.