Shot composition tips

It is one of the issues about making videos for a living that our composition can become lazy in some instances whether we like it or not. This can be particularly the case for people who are making the same types of video day in day out that don't offer them much in the way of creative experimentation. It is very easy to fall into the trap of being too 'safe' in the way we compose shots.

I'd like to offer a few things to think about when you next go out on a shoot. Some will seem pretty obvious, but some of them I am basing on what I have seen from various productions.

1. Try to vary your interview composition. In 16:9 don't be afraid to go in closer and crop the head of the interview subject. It is part and parcel of using that frame shape. Try slight angles. You don't have to perform a full dutch tilt, but sometimes a subtle angle can make a dull looking shot look a bit more dynamic. Try having your interview subject standing somewhere instead of sitting down.

2. Got to shoot in a white walled office? if you know about this before hand get those lights in there with a pattern to break it up. If you come across this situation often, then a portable interview background might be a worthy investment.

3. In 16:9 GV's, low down shots look good.

4. Foreground objects are your best friend for interesting composition.

5. Outdoor shots are best done early morning or late afternoon. If you are filming at a company for example, and need a shot of their building, it would be nicer to get that shot at a time of day when the light is more pleasing. This can be planned around. Too often people plan to get the interior interviews first thing in the morning, and then end up shooting exteriors around mid-day when the sun is very harsh.

6. Vary your shots during interviews. This sounds an obvious one, but I have seen even people of many years experience simply fix the shot and fail to vary it a bit.

7.  Don't zoom as part of a shot. Or at least only use this technique when it is creatively viable to do so. For example during an interview that is becoming more emotionally intense. You could subtly zoom at that point. But please don't zoom on a GV shot for example. It really, really, really looks naff!

8. On a broadcast zoom use the macro function to perform pull and push focus shots without 'focus breathing'.

9. Try to move outside of the rule of thirds for more interesting composition.

10. Getting blown out skies? Try a different angle to avoid showing the sky. Sounds obvious. But this will also force you to think more creatively about the shot you are getting.

11. Want shallow depth of field but can't because of the location? Don't be afraid to move outside or to another area where you can achieve this. Shooting an interview in an office may seem like the logical thing to do, but in fact it is very dull and a more relevant background can usually be found elsewhere anyway.

At the end of the day getting better composition comes down to making that little bit of extra effort, even when you might not feel like it, or you feel like time is short. But the end results more often than not make it worthwhile.

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