Film School: Framing Techniques

Learning how to Frame a shot. "The Rule of Thirds" is a Basic composition technique used in film, animation, design, painting, photography and just about anything visual.

[XeebleCast]

I liked this because it wasn't 20 minutes of math and physics to explain a simple but effective key element. Using Gump as an example helped illustrate that using this rule is good but you don't have to be rigid to it, and the angle idea was actually a nice touch. Thank you

[MrFukuoo]

Great stuff. I heard of this information before, but you gave it a more direct and simple way of showing what the rule of thirds really is. Thanks.

[ronineditor]

I love these cocky people on here talking about "rule of thirds doesn't matter"... I had these same fools in film school, who thought they knew more than our professors. Those same people couldn't do the most basic framing, jump cuts everywhere, horrible negative space, etc. Of course, they always thought it their bad grades were 'unfair'. Impossible to learn when the glass is full, the water just runs over. This video is SPOT ON. It should be natural but if it's not, this is a good guide.

[Jacob]

Is that Forest Gump's voice over?

[ybaykova]

Great Video, cute accent. Thanks for keeping it to the point :)

[kdcruz]

i find in a lot of movies ..even the forrest gump clips ...that the rule of thirds is sometimes usede as framing within the frame ..and that the mid line is used to create another frame divinding the positions of the two characters ..eg when the car chases gump ..gump out edge is on one side of the mid line and the edge of the car is on the other side ..but the top third is used to divide their position hroizontally.at 1:16
i see that in a lot of movies..am i wrong

[OldSeries]

The intersection of the lines make points at either 1/3 or 2/3 along the vertical and horizontal planes!
Hope that clears it up. ;)

[DhaneshMahtani]

Excellent! I knew this, but never applied it to my videos. The movie examples made me kick myself.

[willardjansen]

more and more filmmakers like Wes Anderson abandon this rule completely and allow for more creativity in style.

[ronineditor]

Whoa... LOL, wtf!? I'm talking in general, but I'm sorry that you think I'm talking about you. I'm not a "know it all" but I'm literally typing this from my editing bay on the lot of one of main studios... so I have an "idea" about how this business works. You can still frame shots with unusual composition while being fundamentally correct. I'm talking negatively about people who can't keep things in focus, shaky cameras, waaayy too much negative space, etc. Relax dude, my God.

[futurestoryteller]

Obviously, no matter how untalented a person is, they would get bored of putting their focus object directly in the center of the screen. Where are you going to put it, then? Considering the examples shown: what constitutes 'following the rule'; it seems like it would be rather difficult to frame a scene outside the guideline you'd almost have to do it on purpose. So it seems to me to be - essentially - a Texas sharpshooter fallacy in educational form.

[ronineditor]

I don't get it, you write intelligently but you are clearly 'slow'. An artist knows how to compose a shot (drawing or painting too)... and hack cannot and, thus, cannot do what artists do. They trudge through life saying people just don't "get them" and don't understand how "talented" they are. But absolutely man, go ahead and be a rebel then, compose terrible, boring, out of focus shots and blame everyone else for why your films are no good. Btw, where can we some of your masterful DP work?

[bphnigga]

There are no rules, only guidelines. It is that way with any art medium. You need to know the guidelines so that you are free to break them as you please

[SamuelFaict.Filmmaker]

If you watch the films of Stanley Kubrick you will see that this video is irrelevant.

[benjamindbailey]

@JandritoBlues Emm, possibly. Considering I'm an American who can clearly articulate, I doubt it's so much that. More of a preference for a good narrator.

[benjamindbailey]

Thanks for the info, good length, fine script, but please choose a narrator who can speak English better. Thanks!

[futurestoryteller]

Alright, do I really have to point out that not everyone who says "rule of thirds doesn't matter" is cocky, and thinks they know better than everyone? Or that the grade a person receives in film school means nothing when it comes to the art? If you want to learn and produce sterile calculated shots through filming. Have at it hoss. But I was just on videos where Brian DePalma scoffed at the idea of 'coverage', and Scorsese said film school grades are *meaningless*. Film school is mechanical.

[futurestoryteller]

"LOL... because I don't like know-it-all filmmakers with bad attitudes... my attitude is horrible...? Hmm... only a bitter filmmaker would be offended... and it sounds like I hit a nerve."..."I'm talking in general, but I'm sorry that you think I'm talking about you."

...

[kdcruz]

when its one character in the scene ..he/she is placed between the mid and third
the edges of he character drawing the mid line and thirds ..
eg : at 1: 02, 1:07, 1:10 ( run forrest, run), 1: 11 etc...
am i right or wrong ..that what i see ..

[ronineditor]

Where, in the video, is there anyone framed in the center of the screen? You're right, that'd be boring... and it'd break the rule - which is the point of the video. The center of the person is on the 1/3 or the 2/3 and hopefully something interesting going on in the negative space of the shoulder. The bottom line is either someone can compose a shot or not... if you want to do well in this industry, you should be able to compose a shot AND learn how to tell a good story. Both are equal.