Composition - one of the 5 C's!

Here's a greatvideo tutorial for Framing & Shot Composition:
http://videopia.org/content/view/212/231/

"Remember, you can't break the rules if you don't know what they are"

Check out his "Joy of Interlacing" video too!

hi joe,

indeed, nice way to present tutorials

his reflections about 'composition' are probably most worth to remember.
with the introduction of cinemascope, this has become so important, as both have been noticeable: the art of using a high aspect-ratio and the abuse of doing so. some directors, like sidney pollack, developed a high understanding of frame-composition in cs, and naturally got upset, when tv masked it down to 4:3
well, introduction of 16:9 has never been a solution for me. movies don't know that format, so it was more a question of 'how can we simulate a cinemascope, but not that much?' - nothing more than a irritating compromise.
interestingly, and since composing a frame in cinemascope (or wide-screen 1:1,85) is a truly art, many newer productions are made in easier to compose 4:3. but since advertising a wide-screen is better, the final distribution is in 16:9 then. which leads sometimes to scary frame-masking... like fe the dvd-release of 'matrix 2' (not discussing the story-quality here ), which was shot in 4:3 and just cropped to wide-screen later. watching this movie in a cinema, where the projectionist knows how to interprete the frame-bars correctly, it is a well composed 1:1,66 (all heads show up, no parts cut in the middle, etc). viewing the ntsc-dvd (in wide-screen 16:9), actors have no fronthead, no chins, no heads in the background, and so on.


about 'interlacing', it has never been the purpose to avoid flicker. flicker is produced by the frequency of bright light. in cinema, this happens due to the nature of the shutter, that's why the shutter opens 2-3 times per frame. in tv, flicker is produced by the frequency of the cathode-tube regenerating the frame. the general frequency of current is in us slightly below 60htz and in europe 50htz. to avoid flicker, the same frame could have been shown 2 times as in cinemas... the whole purpose of interlacing was to get enough picture transmitted by the very limited bandwidth. the disadvantages of visible distortion in movement had to be taken, although always known.

very true he is though, by saying that any de-interlacing should be done on production, not on distribution. however, in case of computer-generated pics, it should be out of questoion anyway to create footage in progressive mode.

interesting on a similar topic is also to watch the development of hi-def tv! there is, mostly in europe, the ongoing question of 720p or 1080i. although the details are better in higher resolution, the overall quality of viewing pleasure is higher in progressive.
however, this might be left to the viewer himself... in the end, and at the moment, it is far more important, that the displays, as final instance, are able to get the logo for being capable of showing hi-def, but the norm doesn't state anything about the way of downsizing/resampling the received signal. after all, it is business - and the customer should better not trust a logo, but have a look himself before buying.

Thanks Joe for the link....good info this