Well guys here we are i managed to put off doing this video for almost two years and whilst there
are certainly no shortage of videos out there on the rule of thirds it is such a fundamental aspect
of filmmaking and composition that i couldn't avoid making this video any longer it's time
for me to put my spin on it and hopefully leave you with a fresh perspective that you'll find
entertaining and useful i'll be covering what the rule of thirds is why it's so powerful as well as
discuss some instances when you may not want to follow the rule all right let's get into it
the rule of thirds is probably the most well-known and probably the most used rule of composition
it enables you to create powerful compositions quickly and consistently and it is by no means
a beginner only sort of rule i subconsciously find myself using it almost every single time i
go out and pick up a camera it works and it works extremely well the rule is simple you mentally
divide your frame up into thirds both horizontally and vertically many cameras will now have
rule of third guidelines that you can go and turn on in the menu what you do next is you place the
key elements of your composition on these third lines so for example if you're framing up a wide
landscape shot that incorporates the horizon try placing the horizon on either the top or bottom
third line which you choose is going to depend on whether you're framing for the land
or the sky if you have a vertical subject such as a person try moving them off to either the
left or the right third line to expand on this further the best places to position your elements
are on the points where these lines intersect these intersect points are extremely powerful
it is said that the reason they work so well is because of how our eyes scan an image our eyes
have this tendency to move around a picture landing on these various intersect points by
placing our subjects on these points it gives our eyes a target to lock onto and engage with and the
composition feels natural aesthetically pleasing and well balanced it just feels right now if you
have secondary or background elements within your composition where possible it might be best to
also position that element on the third lines and intersect points as well when placing two elements
on two opposing third lines your composition will feel balanced and interesting to watch
this might be another person or anything of visual interest within your frame all right let's explore
how we can use the rule of thirds when designing a conversational scene between two people you
will see this technique used all the time in virtually anything that you watch let's set
up our first shot featuring both subjects we'll create what's called a two shot with both subjects
on opposing third lines facing one another we'll position both of their heads on the top third line
to create a nice balanced composition you can see how this shot not only looks great but it
feels right it feels comfortable as a viewer for the next shot which will be a close-up
we'll take one of our subjects and position them on the left hand side of the frame
with their eyes on the intersect point this leaves two thirds of the negative space in front of their
gaze which feels comfortable and balanced when we go to film the reverse shot of our second subject
we should now place their eyes on the opposing intersect point looking back the other way when
we film a scene this way it creates a comfortable amount of negative space between our two subjects
as we edit between these two shots our eyes will move from left to right and then back again
just as it would if we were sitting in on the conversation in real life this negative space
in front of our subject's eyes is called looking room and we've done a whole video on this topic
if you'd like to learn more we also discussed the effect of cutting off or short-sighting someone's
looking room and the emotional impact that this has on an audience so make sure you check that one
out it's super fascinating now i know what you're thinking david you're breaking the rule of thirds
right now you're not on the third lines you're centrally framed what gives excellent thought
which leads me to those instances where you may want to consider breaking the rule of thirds
not so long ago central framing used to be called dead center for this very reason your eye settles
in the middle and stops tracking for a long time this was considered to be dead boring but it does
have a time and place it works for videos such as these which are educational content or vlogs
where you want to have a conversation directly with your audience in these instances you want
your audience to be focused in on a single thing the message that you're delivering directly to
them and this is the best time to break this rule and frame your shot centrally in this situation
you don't want their eyes darting around the composition you don't want to lead their attention
anywhere else you want them to remain focused as much as possible so this is one reason that
you might consider breaking the rule of thirds another reason may be that you want to employ
a different compositional rule one that's more symmetrical such as a one point perspective shot
or a circle or spiral where the shot is balanced on all sides there are many reasons that you may
not want to employ the rule of thirds and remember this rule like all of the rules of composition
are powerful when used but they are also more guidelines than hard rules nothing is set in stone
but if you understand them then you are empowered to break them with intention which is when going
against the grain will have the greatest impact well that's it from me i hope you enjoyed this
video and if you did please let me know by leaving it a thumbs up if you'd like to see more videos
on composition please let me know down in the comments what kind of videos you'd like to see
next and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on future videos thanks again for watching i
hope you have an absolutely amazing day and i look forward to seeing you in the next video