Cinematic composition

The next book I’m going to review is “The filmmaker’s eye. Learning (and breaking) the rules of cinematic composition.” By Gustavo Mercado. Though it is not book about game design I can learn a lot about creating better experience for players by studying field of cinematography.

The first thing the author writes about is to put in frame only things that are relevant to narration. Putting a random object into the frame can distract viewers, make them don’t pay attention to the important things, or get wrong impressions.

“Whatever visual strategy you decide to use based on the core ideas of your story should be used consistently throughout your film for your audience to understand its intended meaning within the context you created.”

“If you use particular shot composition…. At one point in your story, you should then avoid using the same shot composition to mean anything else… or else the audience will fail to connect with the core ideas in your story even if they can follow the events that take place in it.”

Principles of composition:

The author writes about different aspect ratios, but does not elaborate on them at this point. If different ration can influence viewers’/players’ emotional reaction in any way, it is worth to investigate that. Although games now days are usually in 16:9 ratio I could imagine using foreground elements to block some part of the screen to artificially change the ratio.

Next the author focus on the frame axes and the rule of thirds. I have a pretty good idea how they work in 2d images, and I’m keen to learn how you can apply those rules to films, or games, while the camera is moving. 

The author gives some examples of where to place a character while it moves across the x axis. He claims a character should be placed on the opposite side to the direction It is going, to give it a proper walking space. And if you want to achieve unbalanced, uneasy composition you should put a character in different place. This reminds me how in a lot of games that include chase sequence a character is usually placed in the middle of the screen or on the side it is going towards. I guess this is supposed to emphasise the speed and make the sequence more exciting since you don’t know what lies ahead.

Hitchcock’s rule – size of objects in a frame should be directly related to its importance in the story at the moment.

What is true for film, doesn’t have to be true for games. In the game we control the avatar. We control, to some degree what we do, where we are. And thus the avatar is usually the most powerful element of the scene, the thing players will pay the most attention to. And because of that it might be tricky to apply Hitchcock’s rule to games. I’ll have to look through some examples to properly judge that.

Balanced and unbalanced compositions – balanced compositions are used to convey order, uniformity, and predetermination. Unbalanced compositions are associated with chaos, uneasiness, and tension.

High and low angles – Placing the camera below eye-level (low angle) is commonly used to convey confidence, power and control. And placing the camera above eye-level (high angle) is used to show weakness, passiveness, and powerlessness. Though these are not set in stone rules and can be changed based on the context of their presentation. 

Depth cues – The author writes about the two most commonly used techniques to add depth to a composition. The relative size and object overlapping. They are both self-explanatory.

Focal points – “ refer to the center of interest in a composition, the area where the viewer’s gaze will gravitate to because of the arrangement of all the visual elements In the frame.”

As with  many others, concept of focal points isn’t anything new to me and I won’t elaborate on it now. But I think is worth to point out it’s essentially the same thing as visual landmarks covered in my previous blog post about “ A book of lenses”.

Image systems - This basically applies to different types of shots. I will cover only those I fell I can apply to my game project.

Medium long shot:
- Commonly used in combination with tighter shots to control the emotional involvement of the audience.
- Good to established dynamics of a characters' relationship.
- Usually kept longer on the screen with fewer visual elements.

Long shot:
- Concentrates on body and what it reveals.
- Commonly used as establishing shots.
- Can emphasise a character while neglecting the space or vice versa.
- Can establish a special connection between a character and the space around them.
- It’s usually kept longer on the screen.
- Can be used with different types of shots to gradually increase the emotional involvement of the audience. Or can be used to limit that involvement.
Extreme long shot: 
- Used to emphasise the scale of a location.
- Human  subject are dwarfed by their surroundings.
- Reveal vastness of a location.
- Emphasise contrast in size.

Emblematic shot:
- Have the power to communicate abstract.
- When at the beginning of a scene, they set up the tone.
- When at the end, they contextualise, comment on the events lead to the shot.

Mercado, G. (2010) The filmmaker’s eye: Learning (and breaking) the rules of cinematic composition. Amsterdam: Focal Press/Elsevier.

In-text citations: 

• (Mercado, 2010)