Describe a shot from a film you have seen where the director and cinematographer used the Rule of Thirds very well, in your estimation.
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The Rule of Thirds is used in Batman Forever very well. When The Riddler and Two Face have a discussion about a potential team up to find out who Batman is, make him miserable, and then kill him, the shot shows a transition of importance from Two Face to The Riddler. Two Face is on the left third of the screen which shows that he was the major focus of the scene before The Riddler showed up. Two Face is still angry about his failed attempts to kill Batman throughout the movie, although the proposition that The Riddler suggested pleases Two Face and that is shown through his normal looking face which faces the camera as opposed to his messed up looking face.. In the bottom right side of the third there is a gun that Two Face is lowering which is a transition from Two Face to The Riddler.
Although the Riddler was not the initial focus of the movie, the shot emphasizes on him and his new capabilities because he is on the right. The Riddler who was Edward Nigma or E Nigma wants revenge for not being recognized for his invention to make t.v. projects pop out and feel real to a viewer, so he became a villain. The Riddler is on the right side of the shot which shows that he is the new focus of the movie. His smile shows his joy in his ability to help Two Face kill Batman. although the gun in the bottom right side of the third shows that The Riddler is the less threatening of the two right now since Two Face could kill The Riddler in a second. This shot represents the beginning of a powerful and threatening duo that could defeat Batman.
A shot from the lord of the rings where Gandalf blocks the Balrog from crossing the narrow bridge is a very good example of the rule of thirds being applied well. This particular shot involves Gandalf facing the camera yet looking past it, the raised gaze of Gandalf matches his over all posture. His eyes line up in the topmost horizontal grid line where the eyes are normally placed in a shot where characters’ faces are shown. Gandalf’s raised hands match up with his shoulders that are just above the bottommost horizontal grid line creating another straight line.
In the left hand vertical column you have Gandalf’s right side, from the sword in his hand to his shoulder. The sword in this shot on the left column takes up as much space in this shot as the staff in the right column. Furthermore, in the right column, you’ll notice that the length from the staff to his left shoulder is almost the same as the length as the distance between his sword and shoulder on the right vertical column. The sword and the staff essentially frame the middle column in which Gandalf’s body is situated which gives even more symmetry to the whole shot.
The fact that all these things line up and appear to be symmetrical to each other show that this shot is a shot in which the film director & cinematographer used the rule of thirds very well.
Reference image: http://excretaonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/you-shall-not-pass.jpg
Cinematographer Danny Cohen and director Tom Hooper of “The King’s Speech” utilized the Rule of Thirds quite well, creating a sense of balance among the characters and properties within various shots. By employing the Rule of Thirds, Cohen and Hooper directed the audience to clear areas of interest within cinematic composition.
In one shot, viewers see Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) and King George VI (Colin Firth) performing speech therapy exercises to alleviate the King’s speech impediment and help boost his confidence and self-esteem. The two vertical lines of thirds cut exactly through both of their bodies, while the top horizontal line of thirds meets Logue and the King at eye level and the lower horizontal line meets the couch, the trim separating the wall and the floor, and the lamp illuminating the room in the lower left corner. Though Logue and the King are carrying out somewhat silly cheek/hand shaking and blubbering exercises, Cohen and Hooper not only draw the audience’s eyes to the focal points of the shot—the characters, their bodily movements, and their eyes—but they also manage to create a balanced environment, and thus an aspect of verisimilitude, within the shot.
Furthermore, viewers experience another shot where Cohen and Hooper execute the Rule of Thirds when Myrtle Logue asks “Will their Majesties be staying for dinner?” standing to the right of her anxious husband and to the left of the King, or Bertie. In this shot, the two vertical lines of thirds fall straight down the middle of both Logue on the left and Bertie on the right, separating themselves from Myrtle in in between them. The top horizontal line of thirds meets all three characters at eye level while the second horizontal line of thirds meets their hands as well as the bottom of the window within the door leading to the parlor. Attention is brought Logue and Bertie’s panic-stricken faces, particularly their eyes that convey a sense of apprehension and also, Myrtle’s hands which she frequently uses as she’s talking to help convey expression and fluidity in her conversations.
Near the end of the film, viewers see a close-up of Bertie’s face as Logue jokingly criticizes that Bertie stammered on the letter W. In this shot, the Rule of Thirds creates symmetry within the entire shot, meaning one could cut precisely through the middle of the shot and expect to see utter balance in either half. The top horizontal line of thirds meets Bertie’s eyes, the lower line of thirds meets his shoulders, and the two vertical lines of thirds meet his suspenders. The Rule of Thirds, in combination with the effect of the close-up, brings attention directly to the proud emotion Bertie displays through his facial expression after successfully completing a public speech with very few errors in his speech.
It isn’t required of cinematographers and directors to employ the Rule of Thirds in every single shot within the film, but when used, it creates a genuine sense of balance and unity and assists the audience in focusing on the most significant aspects within the shot, which further helps tell the story.
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There are a gazillion examples of the rulle of thirds. But the one im going to talk about today is from the movie Roshoman. There is a scene in this movie (that happens to be pictured on Mr. Weil's website) that has three people in it. There one figure in the background, one figure in the middle ground, and one person in the foreground. The two figures in the back are together but the one in the foreground is not. Note that the woman is in the middle ground separating the two (showing that she is the cause of a conflict between the two men). She is low to the ground, showing us her vulnerability. The two men in the scene are shown with their eyes on level with the top horizontal line. The woman is shown below and has her eyes below the bottom horizontal line. The Man in the background is depicted to be a man of power. He is upright, on the left side of the screen and there is a larger amount of light on him than the figure in the middle ground showing his significance. The man in the fore ground is shown in this way to present his sinisterness in the act he did. He arrives back to the scene where he is confronted by a man he thought he killed to get to a woman he thought he wanted. This man is shown to be very bright. The use of white and light shows how he has just came to realize something. The white shows not how he is innocent, but how like innocence he is ignorant to the situation, that he didn't know and now he does. This power struggle plays on throughout the scene even as it happens multiple times throughout the movie but told in different ways. In this picture that I have been talking about (http://mrweilmpa.pbworks.com/f/1282626981/rashomon.jpg) u will see that there is excellent use of many film elements. The rule of thirds is one of the ones that make this picture stand out.
Maxx Kleiner
There is a shot from All For The Winner used the rule of Thirds every well. This movie is about a young man (called ‘Xing’) went to Hong Kong and tried to earn money by his extraordinary ability.
There is a scene about he was invited by a powerful person while he occasionally lose his ability, but he had to show the special of himself. When he came to the powerful person’s house, there is a shot of him coming at the door. The director made the shot become funny by put 3 people in the shot. The Youngman was coming in at the middle part, and two bodyguards were in left part and right part, their head was at the top part, and their feet were at the bottom. So there are three people and they were divided by “head, body, and feet”, two bodyguards basically have the same gesture, and they are emphasizing Xing in the center. The background shows the owner of the house was very rich, and the bodyguards were polite (showed by their body gesture). Xing wanted to act like He is someone and walk slowly like a snail, but two bodyguards were polite and rapid. This make a strong compare between them, compare the speed at the bottom, the same serious formal dressing and face gesture at the upper part. It makes the whole shot look so funny, and helps a lot to make audience laugh. Of course, I was laugh with tears.
Titanic has many great examples of emphasising the third rule. However the moat prominent use I discovered was during the scene of when Leonardo De Caprio and Kate Winslet were on the edge of the boat as Leonardo was standing behind Kate and holding her while she was exsperiencing freedom from her oppressed relationship.
The third rule centres of Kates face smiling from ear to ear and the hair blowing as she was riding on the boat with her arms spread from to edges of the screen. I felt the director was trying to explain how after Kate's character was unhappy before she boarded the ship and when she first laid eyes Leonard's character she found happiness.
Another reason I found this to be a good example of third was because the setting and music guided the audiences eye directly to the center of the screen of where the third rule was implied.
http://ahspalding.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/the-lion-king-cartoon.jpg
The classic shot from Walt Disney's The Lion King where Rafiki, the wise bamboon is showing little cub Simba over the cliff to the rest of the animal kingdom illustrates the Rule of Thirds well. Although there is not an immediate cinematographer, the compisition of every shot is just as improtant in an animated film. In this significant shot, the faces of Simba's proud parents are in the very center. Elevated Simba is in the left vertical line while the end of his father's mane touches the right vertical line, perhaps symbolizing the end of his reign as king (while his son on the other side shows the next generation of power [as if his being held up to an entire worshipping kingdom was not powerful enough!]) The three adult figures are all captured in the center horizontal sectors whie Simba is the only one in one of the top horizontal sectors along with just the cloudy, blue sky This showcases his importance even more and the spotlight he is being given in that moment. At the same time, the only character with any part of them at the bottom is Mufasa along with just the rest of the cliff, perhaps shong his downfall.
Good examples of the rule of thirds are found in the movie The Machinist. The movie frequently uses the rule of thirds to convey an eerie sort on balance amongst all the shots. In the movie, which is designed to present mystery to the audience, the rule of thirds is often used to completely balance a shot, but then there is something to slightly disturb the balance and evoke feelings of discomfort and confusion. A good example of this is when Christian Bale is in his apartment, sifting through the trash he has thrown on his floor. In the shot, Bale's sink an counter serve as the left third, while his table takes the right. Bale is huddled in the center of the screen, and the top and bottom are equally balance by the absence of props. The scene at a glance seems very balanced, but upon closer inspection, one can see that everything is sort of angled. These angles cause the objects that make the thirds at first seem clear now off, because they sort of just leak into other parts of the screen. This makes a viewer uneasy, and the director and cinematographer for the film did a good job with the shot. Another good scene is the recurring image of the left and right paths in the movie. This first time this appears is at the carnival funhouse. In the middle are two signs, for the roads to hell and salvation, and on the left and right side are their respective paths. The hell side is very damaged and disturbed while the salvation side is almost pristine in it's organization, in the middle are the signs and Christian Bale and a young boy in a car. The shot conveys the feelings of consequence and redemption, two very important themes in the movie. The balance between the sides causes viewers to clearly differentiate between the pros and cons of each respective path.
All in all, The Machinist uses the rule of thirds to it's advantage. It uses the rule to make the viewer see with clarity and depth, and uses the breaking of the rule to create tension and mystery in the movie. The director, Brad Anderson, and the cinematographer, Xavi Giménez, did a commendable job in using the rule of thirds.
The rule of thirds is used well in thee most recent Harry Potter. When Harry Potter and Voldemort are going against each other in one of the earlier scenes in the movie, both of their eyes are placed on the top third from the bottom. With Harry towards foreground and Voldemort towards the background, it shows that there is much space on and off screen. Since this is a fight scene, they are constantly moving. In the next shot they seem on both be in the middle ground, Happy in the middle of the screen and Voldemort on the right side of the screen. In this shot both their eyes seem to be a little lower that the top third. With the open space on left side of the screen, it creates space so when they are using their wands and both Harry and Voldemort get pushed to opposite sides on the screen and mid screen all you see is the magic of their wands. This creates a very balance look for the users. All these aspects together make very good use of the rule of thirds.
In the book on page 219, Billy Wilder used a good form of the rule of thirds in Some Like It Hot. Marilyn Monroe's eyes are on the top line which is whereour focus goes. Also, the top and bottom panels are both dark while the middle panel is light. The two vertical colums go right on her arms so it separates Marilyn Monroe from the rest of the people in the back. The middle panel is directly where Marilyn Monroe stands so all of our focus lands on her. The horizontal lines balance the shot. The rule of thirds is supposed to balance the scene and draw our eyes to a specific spot. Finally, we know that our main focus point is Marilyn Monroe because she is in the center and there is more light in her than anything else.
The rule of thirds is used well in the one of the last scenes of the Titanic, when Leonardo DiCaprio is about to die and him and rose are on the broken piece of the ship.
Then rule is used well here because you ( the viewer) can see both jack and roses eyes are both on the top line of the dividers. It works well because you can see majority of rose and also all of jack, and the surrounding water and others who are in the water.
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