cinematography Getting the Framing Right

I have been watching movies and thinking about how most newbie short films don't have the camera zoomed in on the subject close enough in a lot of frames. I have been looking at movies and thinking about how shots should look to match movies I have watched on tv or dvd. Anyways, I was thinking we need a thread on how to choose to pick the frame correctly when filming.

Maybe we should have people draw out how they think a frame should look versus the typical mess up zoomed too far out look we see in newbie footage.

For example a shot could be of a car with a person in it talking on a cell phone. A newbie may show the whole car and the person would be hard to see in the shot. The more refined shot would be zoomed in on the actors face and the cell phone and only show a small part of the car like the A-pillar and top of door since that is where the actors face is.

I guess my thought is if you want your movie to look professional you must choose shots that look like they were done by a professional. So I was trying to think about what shots are chosen to give it that look.
 
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One of my most notable mistakes when I got my first DSLR was leaving in waaaay too much headroom. I was in love with my telephoto lens so I also tended to have a zoomed-in-too-much problem as well.
 
I'd like to add that noobs tend not to shoot off a shot list. There should be a reason for every shot type in the scene thought out well in advance. Experimental shots come after the shot list is completed. I learned the hard way. ;)
 
Story boarding could help you pick out shots in advance. They had the matrix done in storyboard before they shot it. They did it to look like a comic.

08-02-11_matrixstoryboard.jpg


matrix-compare.jpg
 
re

Here is a good video on story boarding and also figuring out your shots in advance by practicing a head of time. This is a Robert Rodriguez film school video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4_2zxaZnRU
 
True, but a descriptive shot list is useful in making a storyboard. A storyboard artist that is familiar with move making is expensive, usually not in the budget for an indie film beyond stick figures and software that will only give you a rough idea.

This is only what I've been discovering. Your mileage may vary.
 
To combat the headroom issue, I tend to put the subject's eyes on the top third line (rule of thirds) no matter the framing... it leads to my shots cutting together more easily as well.

As far as filling the frame, do it. Bread down the script into little beats and have a shot of each of those beats.

John approaches his car and looks to see if anyone is watching. He gets in and makes his phone call.

becomes:

LS: John approaches his car
CU: John looks around
Wide POV: no one is looking
CU: John opens door
MID: John gets in car
CU: John makes phone call

More pieces of information for the audience to stitch together a reality in their heads. Filling the frame makes it a single piece of information rather than a large tableau (theatre) as well.
 
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