Camcorder Techniques: Framing a Shot

Framing the shot is simply a matter of placing the subject properly in the picture. You don't have much to remember to frame a shot correctly. Keep these three things in mind when framing: safety margins, offset versus symmetrical, and proper headroom.

Safety margins

Safety margins are two imaginary rectangles on the outer edges of your picture, as shown in Figure 1. Some camcorders actually show these rectangles in their viewfinders. The outer rectangle warns you that any images or characters outside the rectangle's boundaries may not appear on some monitors. Obviously, vital parts of a scene, including titles and credits, must be kept inside the outer rectangle. The inner rectangle is the safe area. Within this rectangle, you can safely add images or characters at any time during the editing process.

Be sure to keep safety margins in mind while shooting. You don't want to use a shot that's too tight, thereby creating the risk of an editor later putting images or characters on someone's chin or neck rather than across his or her chest. Although you may not have safety margins in your camcorder's viewfinder, you can teach yourself to remember where they are.

Offset versus symmetrical

One of the simplest things that you can do to add appeal to a shot is to offset the frame — that is, center the character on the third of the frame that is opposite the direction that he or she is facing. For example, if the character's shoulders are turned toward the viewer's right, frame the character on the viewer's left. If the character's shoulders are turned toward the viewer's left, frame the character on the viewer's right. If the character's shoulders are square with the camera, use symmetry by centering the character in the screen.

But just how far offset should the subject be? Imagine for a moment that the video you see in your viewfinder is divided into thirds vertically and horizontally. Envision a grid that's similar to a tic-tac-toe board, where the screen area is divided into nine blocks. This is called the Rule of Nines, and you can fill the blocks of this imaginary grid to determine where your subjects should be offset.

Proper headroom

Establishing proper headroom is one of the simplest techniques to understand, and after you know the basic idea, you'll set proper headroom without thinking about it. Simply remember that a person should not look as though he or she has slipped toward the bottom of the screen (too much headroom). Also, a person shouldn't appear crowded into the frame as though his or her head might scrape the top of the screen (too little headroom).

After you start practicing these techniques, you'll probably like the look that you achieve. They are especially helpful if you plan to layer text later on to allow room.