Picture Composition Rules

Often, low angle shots of musicians are used in pop videos. This is to make the performer seem taller and therefore more powerful than they are, and to provide what may look like an audience’s eye view of the band. There are several unwritten rules which aid picture composition in any kind of film media and will convey meaning to an audience. The first is the size of shot, whether it be an extreme close-up which can be used to show emotion, or an extreme long shot which can show a single person to appear isolated in the world. The position of the camera can also reveal a meaning – shooting a person from a low angle will make them seem more powerful, or just taller. Shooting from a high angle will achieve the opposite, making a person appear weak or feeble. Shooting a person from the front will make them appear boring, as they lack 3D definition in our eyes, but the more of an angle a person is at to the camera, the more interesting they will look. The rule of thirds, is a term that refers to how our eyes view a picture, and how we can use this to draw attention to something in the frame. The first place we look when we see a picture is top left, then we move across to the top right, down to bottom left and then across again. The graphic below shows how we can use the rule of thirds, and the “hot spots”, highlighted by green circles, to lead the vision of a person. This “leading the eye” is another composition rule that is used in pop videos. By leading a person’s eye, we can direct their attention to certain things in the video, like members of the band or important iconography.

Low angle shots of musicians are used frequently in pop videos. This is to make the performer seem taller and therefore more powerful than they are, and to provide what may look like an audience’s eye view of the band.

This picture clearly shows how the rule of thirds works. The picture is divided into 9, with the overlaps, also know as the "hotspots" shown by red dots. The subject of the picture is placed on the top left hotspot, as that is the first place that your eye will travel to when you see the image.