Film Craft 105: The Cinematographer - 15. The Rule of Thirds

Now, I don't have time to give you a full-blown course on the theories of composition. You can go to art school and learn drawing or painting techniques, and those will unquestionably make you frame better pictures. But I'm going to try and give you a few specific practical tips to keep in mind. One of the most basic ideas is a concept called the rule of thirds. This is a way to keep you from centering objects horizontally or vertically in your frame. Because while centering an object may seem like an obvious and clear choice, it's actually kind of a limiting and boring choice, and it can neutralize the energy in your scene. If you overlay onto your image a grid of four lines each at one-third of the way into the frame, you get this tic-tac-toe board effect. In fact, many cameras allow you to superimpose a grid like this right onto your viewfinder. Now, frame your shot so that the subject is aligned on one of the four vertices of the grid. See, by putting the subject of the frame off-center like this, you automatically create a more appealing and dynamic composition. You effectively engage your viewer to sense the space outside of the edges of the frame. Where is that ball coming from? Where is it heading? The object exists now in a bigger world than the boundaries of the video frame. When it's right in the center, somehow these questions don't really arise. Also, by moving the objects onto the tic-tac-toe board, you create more depth. Your gaze has to move from the edge across the frame to find its way to the subject. This literally engages your audience's brains more than a centered shot would. And engagement is, of course, the key to communicating. The lines also keep you from putting your subject too close to the edge of the frame. Putting objects right against the edge of the frame is annoying. First of all, small movements can make them bounce in and out of the frame. And secondly, it can leave way too much empty space in the rest of the frame, which itself can be distracting. So using the Rule of Thirds grid, you can quickly improve the composition of your scenes. It's not going to necessarily generate high art, but it will keep you from generating junk.