Framing

 Framing

Camera shot framing is deciding how subjects are placed in a shot. Simply pointing the camera at the subject is not enough; framing requires deliberately composing the image.

Single Shot:

One character is featured in the frame - They are the focus.

There are 2 sub-types of single shot; a "clean" single and "dirty" single. A clean single has no other characters anywhere in the frame. This shows the isolation of the character. A dirty single has the presence of other characters in the shot, but they are not the focus. An example of this is an Over-the-shoulder shot, where the back of another character is visible in the foreground, but the focus is on the character in front of them.

Two Shot:

A two shot is when there are 2 focal characters in the frame. For a shot to be a two-shot, both character's faces must be clearly visible. This shows the relationship between the characters, either good or bad.

Three Shot and beyond:

A three, four, five and beyond shot features several characters in the frame. These kind of shots allow a group of characters to be shown in one shot, establishing their position in the scene and their relationship with each other. When there are larger groups of people, where each character doesn't matter, it is known as a crowd shot.

Over-the-shoulder Shot:

An over-the-shoulder shot shows the subject from behind the shoulder of another character. This emulates perspective from the other character, making the viewer feel included in the scene. Because of this, it is often used in conversation scenes. These shots can help to provide orientation and connect characters on an emotional level.

Over-the-hip Shot:

An over-the-hip is similar to an over-the-shoulder, but instead of positioning the camera over a character's shoulder, it is placed behind their hip. This is commonly used when the focal character is sat down and the other is standing. This also often suggests a power imbalance.

Point of View Shot (POV):

A POV shot is a camera shot that shows the viewer what a character sees. A POV is generally cut between two other shots, in a technique known as a shot-reverse shot. This is begins with a shot of a character looking at something, then cut to a POV of the character, then another shot of the character for their reaction. This would allow the viewer to understand what is causing a character's reaction.

POV shots can also be third-person but serve the same purpose, by positioning the camera behind a character's head.

Framing Practice:

In this video that I filmed with some friends using a few toys, I practiced the use of framing with different shot types and techniques. The video uses an audio clip from The Dark Knight, where Batman is interrogating The Joker. We used a Scooby-Doo figure for the Joker, and a Wreck-It-Ralph figure for Batman. There is also a shot of Inspector Gordon, who is represented with the minion. 

The video is a conversation between The Joker and Batman which ends violently. To establish the location of the characters and their relationship in the space of the scene, we began the video with a two shot of The Joker and Batman. 

Next, we used over-the-shoulder shots when each character is talking. The shot focused on the speaking character, but the shoulder and head of the other character was visible in the foreground. This makes the viewer feel included in the conversation and shows the perspective of each character.

During the entire video, we made sure to obey the 180 degree rule. This means that The Joker would always face left and Batman would always face right. Breaking this continuity would disorientate and confuse the audience, which is usually undesirable.

In each of the single shots, each character is given "talking space", which is a gap on the side of the frame that the character is facing. This allows the character to have somewhere to talk 'into'. Failing to do this makes the shot feel claustrophobic and tight. This can be done deliberately when that is the desired effect, but we did not want that so we gave every shot talking space.

To improve the framing of the video, we could have made use of the rule of thirds. This is where the subject of the frame is positioned one third away from any of the edges of the frame, which makes the shot feel more interesting and balanced. 

Some of the shots may have coincided with the rule, but we did not specifically think about this when filming.

Another technique we could have used is thinking about camera angles. High and low angle shots could have been incorporated to show a power imbalance between the characters, making one look small and the other large. We could have used some low-angle shots of Batman to make him look strong and imposing, conveying that he is physically powerful. Then, in contrast with Batman's strength, we could have used high-angle shots of The Joker to show his physical weakness in comparison to Batman.