Picture composition (2)

Background setting

Placing a person in an appropriate background can greatly affect their apparent integrity. Dress them in a white coat, put them in a laboratory and most people will believe they are intelligent and trustworthy.

Use of different focal lengths

You can change the perceived size of two people by changing the focal length of the lens.

If two people are in a scene together and you shoot them with a tight lens from a fair distance, they appear a similar size on screen. Alternatively, a wider lens can be used and the camera moved closer to the front performer. She is the same size on screen as before, but the background person now appears much smaller, or more distant.

Viewpoint

If we shoot from a low angle (LA) a person appears to become more powerful. Alternatively, if we shoot from a high angle (HA) they look smaller and diminished in stature.

When you have two performers together the angle of shot affects our relative perception. A high angle shot makes the background person appear stronger. In a low angle shot the foreground person appears to look down on the background person, giving strength to the actor nearest the camera.

Objects in a line

A mistake typical of new directors is putting all objects in one horizontal line instead of breaking them up. This is both visually dull, and, in human terms, unnatural behaviour.

Always remember you have three axis to play with, not just the horizontal (the x-axis) and vertical (the y-axis). The z-axis runs out of the television towards the viewer, and creating movement down this line can be dramatic and effective.

Putting actors in a straight line all facing forward is particularly common in low budget dramas and situation comedies. It’s easy to shoot and get clean single shots, but it looks ridiculous.

Use of diagonals

For some reason humans find aesthetic beauty in non-horizontal lines. This is most apparent in ballet, where so much effort goes into choreographing positions to create lines and curves. On the television screen, diagonal and ‘V’ shaped lines create comfortable pleasing composition, whether it be a landscape or a movement.

Adjusting background object size without changing foreground