Rules of Composition

There are a few rules you will want to consider as you start thinking about photography and filmmaking as art. These rules apply not just to photos and movies but all types and genres of art. 

The Rule of Thirds

This rule is probably one of the most widely followed and important rules of good composition. 

This tic-tac-toe-like grid represents dividing an image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. As you compose your art, you should imagine each image with the above 3x3 grid on top of the image. Line your subject up so that the focus of your image (a person's eyes, an important detail, etc) is located on a spot where the lines intersect, which is where the green dots are located on this particular example. 

The following is an example of a photo that does not follow the rule of thirds:

Notice how unbalanced the image feels. There is so much empty space on one side, and so much filled in space on the other. You eyes might be drawn more to the empty space than to the adorable baby. If you wanted the focus to shift more towards the baby, you might line the shot up like this:

Now the baby is aligned with the left third, and the bear is aligned with the right third, giving the picture a more well-balanced feel to it. You aren't distracted by the open space, and the image feels more even and visually pleasing. 

Leading Lines

You must be conscious of every line and shape in your images. Each shape directs the eye of the viewer towards a particular part of the scene, and as an artist you should consider what you are telling the viewer to look at. Leading lines usually start at the bottom of the picture, and work upwards and inwards from there. For example, in the photo above, the baby's arm forms a curved line that leads up to the baby's face. The bear's nose also points towards the baby's face, directing the viewer's eyes towards the baby. The easiest and most obvious example of leading lines is a road or pathway, as seen below:

Notice how the path guides your eye into the image and to the trees, which in turn guide your eyes around the other parts of the image. Rivers, roads, logs, fences, lampposts in a row, and many other natural and man-made objects can be used as leading lines in your images. Compose your images so that the lines within them guide the viewer's eye around the image, rather than away from or outside of the image. 

Breathing Room

Breathing room in regards to visual images refers to the amount of space you give your subject to "breathe". If you place the subject of your image too close to an edge of the frame or cut off part of it, the subject will feel incomplete and claustrophobic. A properly spaced image, however, gives the subject room to exist and gives the viewer a more comfortable feeling.

There are three types of breathing room for you to consider within your images - head room, nose room, and lead room. They are, fortunately, exactly what they sound like. 

Head room refers to the amount of space between the top of the head of a person or object and the top of the frame. Too much headroom leaves the subject unbalanced and incomplete. Too little head room cuts off the top of the object or person.

The right amount of headroom creates proper balance within the image and allows the subject to "breathe".

Following the rule of thirds will help you find the right amount of head room - just line a person's eyes up with the top third line and you'll be good to go. 

Nose room is similar in idea to head room, but this time you are concerned with how much space the subject's nose has within the frame. In the following photo, the subject is lined up along one of the thirds, which is good, but he also looks like he is looking into a wall because he is so close to the side of the frame.

What happens if the picture is realigned to give his nose more room?

Now, the subject has room to look into. He doesn't appear to be cut off or looking into a wall. He has room to look into, which is more visually appealing to the viewer.

The final type of breathing room to consider is lead room. Lead room is almost exactly the same idea as nose room, but it has more to do with movement within the image. For example, consider trying to capture a picture of a person running:

The runner appears to be running into the "wall" of the side of the image. She has no where to run. If the shot is reframed so that the runner has space to run into, it becomes a more balanced image.

The runner now has a place to run into within the image. She doesn't seem cut off or like she is about to crash into a wall, and she has the proper amount of breathing room around her. 

These rules are, of course, not always followed. Skilled artists know when and where to break the rules of composition. However, they must know and be able to use the rules before they can experiment with breaking them. Following the rule of thirds, using leading lines, and giving the subject proper breathing room allows the viewer to fully experience the image and allows the artist to have control over where the focus of his or her image is found. 

Editing in Adobe Premiere Pro

We will be using Adobe’s non-linear editing software Premiere Pro to edit our videos. This is a great piece of software, used by professionals and amateurs alike. It is relatively user friendly, especially if you are familiar with other Adobe products like Photoshop.

When you open Premiere Pro, you will be presented with the following window:

If you have already been working on a project, it should show up under “Recent Projects”. If it doesn’t show up there, you can locate it by clicking “Open Project”. If you would like to start a brand new project, go ahead and click “New Project”.

When you start a new project, you will next see this window:

The only things you need to worry about on this screen (at least for now) are the Location and the Name of your project. You can specify where you want your project files to be saved by clicking “Browse…”. I like to make a folder on my desktop that contains all of my video files and my Premiere file, so I did that for this project.

Next, give your project a name. It can be whatever you like, as long as you can find it.  Then click “OK”.

The next window you will see is the “New Sequence” window.

 A sequence in Premiere is where you will actually construct your movie. This is where you will pick a preset based on the type of video you shot with – for example, Canon DSLRs default to shoot 1080p 30 frames per second video. That’s the preset selected above in the New Sequence window. If you’re not sure what type of video your camera records in, you can look it up in your camera menu. If you can’t figure this out, you can always change it later.

You will also want to give your sequence a name that is not the default “Sequence 01”. This can be the title of your movie or it can be the project name – whatever you prefer. When you’ve done this, click “OK”.  Now you are ready to start your project!

This is the default layout of Premiere Pro:

The bottom left window is your project window. This is where you will import clips and other media to use in your video. Above that, the top left window is the “Source” window. This window is where you will see a preview of your clips if you double click on them. The bottom left window is the “Sequence” or “Timeline” window. This is where you will put the clips together. And the top right window is the “Program” window. This is where you will see the final product. Now that you know your way around, let’s get going!

How to Import Your Video

First you need to find your files. If you just filmed, pull the videos off of your camera memory card and into a folder on the desktop. This is important – you do not want to edit your files straight from your memory card. If you edit from the card, when you remove the card Premiere will lose the files and you won’t be able to edit them any more. You need to put the videos in a location where they can always be found that won’t be removed from the computer.

Once you have found you files, there are two ways to import your video into Premiere. The first is by selecting File>Import, and then locating the video files. The second is to drag the video files from the Finder window into the Project window in the lower left part of Premiere.

Start Editing

Once your files are loaded into Premiere, you can start looking through them by double clicking on the clip’s icon. The clip will be brought up in the Source window. This is where editing begins. As you go through the clip and find the section you would like to use, you need to create In and Out Points using the Mark In and Mark Out tools. They look like this:

Mark In is on the left, Mark Out is on the right. Drag the yellow playhead to where you want the video to start. Then click the “Mark In” button. Then play the video until you want it to stop, and click “Mark Out”. The section of the clip you want to use is now selected. This is the first step of editing.

Next, click and drag the video (either from the Source window or from the Project window) to the timeline. You can place the video anywhere on the timeline, but remember that the video starts at the far left, so that’s where you should place to clip you want to show first in your video. When you drag your first clip to the timeline, this message may show up:

If all your video is from the same camera or shot in the same format, you should click “Change Sequence Settings”. It will make editing much easier. If you have different formats or videos from different places/cameras, then you can click “Keep existing settings”.

Once your video is on the timeline it will look like this:

Notice how there are separate tracks for audio and video, and multiple tracks of each. This allows you to do some layering, just like you would in Photoshop.

Now you can start assembling your video! Woo!

When You’re Ready to Turn It In

Once you have finished your video and done the best you can do, you are ready to turn it in. This means you will need to export your video. You do this by selecting File>Export>Media… Then you will see this window:

The settings you choose depend on where you’re going to show the video. For our class, anything we do will either be shown in class or on YouTube, so we will be choosing export settings for YouTube.

Under the Format dropdown you should choose “H.264” and under the Preset dropdown you should select “YouTube HD 720p 29.97”.  The only other setting you need to worry about is the Output Name. If you click on the yellow output name, you can both change the title of your video and the location of the video. This is where you decide where it will end up and what it will be called.

Now that you’ve selected the Format, Preset, and Output Name, you can click Export down at the bottom of the window. How long the export will take depends on the length of your video – the longer the video the longer the export.

Congratulations! You’ve just exported your first video from Premiere! You can now post it to YouTube or bring it to class on a flash drive. Woo!

How to Use the Canon T3i and T5i

Each camera has three basic parts – the lens, the body, and the viewfinder. The lens is what lets light into the camera. The body is basically the brain of the camera – it records the images that the lens sees. The viewfinder shows you what the lens is seeing.

The Canon T3i is a DSLR camera – DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. This means that there is a mirror inside the camera that reflects up to the viewfinder and shows you exactly what the camera lens will see. This also means that it is digital – instead of recording images to film, the images are recorded to a memory card. This makes it possible to have your images immediately and transfer them to a computer. The Canon T3i can take both still pictures and videos – and it does a great job of both!

How the Camera Works

At its most basic level, a camera works very much like our own eyes – it captures light and converts that light into information. A camera has three different settings or functions that affect how light is captured.

Aperture controls how open or closed the lens is. Shutter speed controls how slowly or quickly a picture is taken. ISO controls how sensitive the camera is to light. For more information on these settings, go to www.canonoutsideofauto.ca

To use the T3i, you need to first turn on the camera. The On/Off switch is found on the top of the camera. 

Next to the On/Off switch there is a circle or wheel of different camera modes.

Go to http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-camera-modes/ to see how the different modes work and what they are good for. 

How to Take a Picture

Now that you are familiar with the modes of the camera, you can take a basic picture. I would recommend keeping the camera on the Auto setting for now, which is the green A on the control circle.

To take a picture, you need to look through the viewfinder, frame your shot, and press the round black button on the top of the camera near the front right. You should hear a “click” or a “snap”. This is a good way to make sure everything with your camera is working.

How to Record a Video

On the T3i, video has its own mode on the camera. Turn the dial to the icon that looks like a little camera on a tripod.

On other cameras the setting might be elsewhere, so look for the camera icon to find the movie setting. Once you have switched to movie mode, the screen on the back of the camera should turn on and show you what the camera is seeing. This is called Live View and will let you see what your camera is seeing without having to hold the camera up to your eye.

To record a video, press the camera icon with the red dot next to it (see picture to the left).

You should then see a red dot on the screen – this means you are recording! Press the button again to stop recording.

You can review any pictures or videos you have recorded by pressing the “Play” button near the bottom right of the back of the camera (see picture to the right).

Putting Your Footage on the Computer

Once you have recorded all of the videos that you need to, you will put them on a computer. If you have ever done this with another camera, it works exactly the same way.  On a mac, you will insert the memory card into the memory card slot on the computer and an icon that looks like your memory card will appear on the desktop.  Double-click the icon to open up the memory card. You will need to look through the folders on the card to find your videos. Once you have found them, you will need to select all of the ones you want to keep. You can select multiple videos at once by holding down the “command” button and clicking each video. Once you have them selected, click and drag them to the desktop. I recommend putting them in a folder with your name on it so it is easy to find.

Now you are ready to edit your clips together!

Welcome!

Welcome to the official blog of HTVS and Video Production at Highland High School. This blog will be used to post updates about the class (deadlines, links, assignments, exciting news, cool projects, etc.). It will also be used to distribute important info that each student should know for the class, as well as equipment check out policies and online forms. Basically, if you need it, it can be found here.