Composition Techniques

There are four main types of composition techniques, and they are; Rule of thirds, Framing, Unusual Angles, and Leading Lines. Rule of thirds is when you get a shot with the subject's eyes on one of the grid lines. It really helps to make your stories a lot more interesting. Framing is when you frame your subject with trees or something. Using Unusual Angles is when you take a shot from an unusual angle. (DUH). They help create interest, just like Rule of thirds. You use Leading Lines by pointing the lines to the subject.

We create

d a video about this in the beginning of the year, and our videos showed how to use certain composition techniques, and how not to. Our video included both Framing and Leading Lines. We showed examples on how to use them, and gave descriptions about them. For Framing we used two trees, and put Kasiah in the middle of them, and for Leading Lines we used Preston, and had him sit on these lines on the sidewalk.

Three Shot Sequences

Three shot sequences are very important parts of visual story telling. When you are making a great video, sequencing is key. A sequence is three great clips with changing perspectives from wide to medium then to a close-up. It is important to have great sequencing skills because it makes your movies better and more interesting. Sequencing helps to show detail in the closest shot, gives you an establishing wide shot, and helps give you an idea about the details that will pour forth with your close up by giving you a great middle!

At the beginning of the school year, we did a project about sequencing, just a nice short video to prepare for the bigger one we did later. It was a sequence with a wide, establishing shot of a boy picking up a piece of paper and a pen, a medium shot of him writing on the paper, and a close up of what he was writing. It was one of the first one's we did, so it's not exactly the best video we have ever done. But it's a good example of a sequence!

Here it is....

Practice Story Reflection

My GT class had a project this past week. We were to split into groups of 2-4, pick one person to interview, and ask them questions. My group consisted of 3 other people (Talia, Preston, Kasiah), and we were going to interview my good friend Kasiah about her gymnastics class. Now, this was just a practice story, and the real one would be done about a wise person we knew. We had to shoot an interview, collect B- Roll (Extra Imagery), record transitions with a narrator, and piece it together in Final Cut Pro.

      

My group had many challenges along the way. We were a group of 1st year Gt students, not that has anything to do with it. Non of us react well with stress (Especially me), and this was a very high stress project. Arguing was a common noise around our workspace, and although we tried to avoid it, the stress caught up to us, and we bickered about dumb things that we could have just ignored, and lost a lot of time that could have  been spent more efficiently.
     
I will take away a lot from this experience, stressful as it was. I hope that everything stressful I go through will bring me a little closer to my altimeter goal of being able to handle a high pressure environment better. Next time I know my group will be able to work together better, and I am looking forward to that. It is an amazing experience to be able to do the things we do in Final Cut Pro, and what I learn everyday with Mr. Sanderl is awesome. Can't wait to tell you about our next project coming up!!!