Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds

Centrally placed subjects tend to focus attention in the middle of the image and leave it there, making pictures feel flat as a result; if you're trying to create an abstract or graphic representation of reality, this might be exactly the effect you're looking for, but you can strengthen your compositions with a subtle shift of the focal point.

Knowing the rules

The idea is to imagine that your frame is split into nine equal sections by two horizontal lines and two vertical lines. Then, by placing your subject, or a key part of your scene, at or near a point where the lines cross a point of power you'll lead your viewer's eye through the image, and create a more balanced composition; you'll be surprised at how dominant smaller subjects can become in a much larger scene.

Breaking the rules

Not every image in a shoot should conform to the rule of thirds ─ otherwise you'll end up creating a series of similarly paced pictures. Sometimes, all it takes is a slight nudge of the main subject off-centre to create a more balanced picture.

The Rules of Thirds states that there are certain “hotspots”, areas of intensity that exist within any given image, and if one were to align the subject within the range of influence of these hotspots, it will make for a more energetic and interesting composition.

I watched the Film Se7en Last year in an AS Lesson and the rule of thirds was used by it's director David Fincher and the film was shot by the brilliant cinematographer Darius Khondji.

The image above illustrates the rule; the four “hotspots” where the red lines intersect, and where Detective Somerset ( Morgan Freeman ) stands.

Example 2 : Tracy Mills (Gwyneth Paltrow) lit by a soft, beautiful rim light and composed within the hotspots. Her frame is supported by the various vertical lines formed by the two pillars and the windows in the background.

Editing to the Beat

Editing to the beat is one of the most challenging experiences we have had to deal with when editing our music video. To make our production look professional we have tried our hardest to keep the scenes in the music video in synch with the music itself to avoid confusion for the viewer and to allow a smooth continuous viewing experience.

I think it is more effective when the actions of the characters and speed of the editing are in synch with the beat of the music and makes it more interesting to watch.

Sad Montage

Above is a practice edit of the sad montage, we experimented with having it black and white, however then we could not use the symbolism of the red top and would have to use the grey. However the black and white effect adds a melancholy tone to the video and futher opposes it to the happier times.
Howver the point of a video is that the audience are not aware of the cuts, changing half the video to black and white would.

Rich Mix

Above is some edited footage of our day out on a trip that our media teacher had organised for us to go to to give us some inspiration and help for the production of our music video.

Going to the Rich Mix media seminar made us aware of the simplicity of our video. Our music Video Idea was too similar to the original songs and not be considered as an individual product. However as a group we feel confident in our idea and will perhaps rearrange some shots so they do not fit with the lyrics exactly but still connote key ideas such as 'train on a track'.

Also we feared our performance narrative idea was again too simple for our song after seeing some examples of work, and as the song is not in the pop genre which is where most of the performance/ narrative/ love base videos are. However again we felt confident in our idea and that whilst challenging the conventions of our film we could make it edgy and captivating enough to our audience so they would enjoy and re watch.

A key theme raised at RichMix was voyeurism, which is the artist looking at themselves as seen in Nat King Coles video. We therfore had the idea of her looking in a mirror however we felt this connoted 'pop' rather than the alternative/indie genre of our song and so had the idea of her reflection in water e.g. a puddle with someone casting ripples again showing the turbulence of her life in the bad times.

The seminar made me realise the changing/ modernising market of music videos. Due to the popularity of the internet the focus is now on youtube instead of Television with about 95% of participants agreeing that they primarily use YouTube for music.

The Trip was very insightful and has had a major impact on our ideas and will hopefully improve our end result.

Practice Films

Here is the part of the footage from the iphone. The unsteadiness of represents the racing emotions she is feeling and that she is uncertain of her future and what/where to go/do at this point.

Here we practised our lip syncing editing skills with practise footage from our happy location in Cuffley. We found that we could reuse locations and time of shot, however we would need it from another angle or perspective something we found in other videos that they return to narratives or use cuts to narrative but of a different angle of the same shot.

Costume planning

Happy Times - Field/ Performance

After we went to look for a dress in TKMaxx we discovered that the natural, floral style of dress we wanted was unlikely to be in any shops therefore so we could have complete control over the look, length and style of the dress we have decided to buy material and make the dress.

Here is a sample of the kind of pattern we were hoping to find. The white background denotes purity whilst the blue floral reveal her feminine side which is not as present in the sad times the blue flowers show her femininity without being too 'in your face'. Also as the dress is not completely white but patterned it symbolises how she herself is not as clean or pure as she was prior to the relationship but has been changed because of it.

Sad Times - Narrative - Rooftops

To symbolise her feelings of sadness and the 'darkness' of the relationship we have dressed her in black clothing.We also decided to have her in dark boots to show both the influence he had on her but to conform to typical violent relationship stereotypes. Also the dark clothing make her look both a stronger character as a female and weaker when he pushes her as she is all in black on the floor belittling her.

Below is a still shot of Eleanor running, I like the connotations of the red top as it symbolises danger and anger which she is subject too but also makes her stand out from her dark surroundings giving her a greater visual impact on the audience and symbolising her strength to move on from the 'dog days'.

Below is a still shot of one of our practise shots of Eleanor running through the car park (video to follow), we feel wearing the black leather jacket if effective, however as you can see she is in grey in this shot. We chose to experiment with grey as it shows how she does fit in to those surroundings and shows how she is very humble and defenceless in the relationship it also is between white (happy) and black (sad) and so could be used to show the transition of her emotions. Therefore we must decide as a group if we prefer the protagonist to wear a red top or grey top as they both symbolise different aspects of the narrative.

First Fitting

A friend who is an aspiring fashion designer offered to create the dress so that we could use a unique prop in our music video.

Extension of story board

Here we have been able to extend our storyboard to include the rooftop scene and develop some of the narrative ideas.

Storyboard Music Video.ppt Recovered]