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Basic Visual Syntax IIAnexerciseinbasicframingandcomposi2onal
rulesfornewfilmmakers
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SchoolofCrea2veArtsTownsville|Cairns
NM330:VisualSyntaxII
Perspec2ve
DeepSpace
Composi2onalRules
PunchDrunkLove
TheSopranos
001:SpaceOdyssey|Kubrick|1968
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"Some2mestheappropriateresponsetorealityistogoinsane."
PhilipKDick
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FramePlane
Depth
Plane
Geographic
Plane
X
ZY
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One Point Perspective
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Inessencetheframeplane(or frontalplane)hasnodepthbecauseitlacks
perspec2ve.
OnePointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Depthcanbecreatedbymerelyshiingcameraposi2onandcrea2ngapoint
ofperspec2ve.
Thisisacommonformofonepointperspec2ve.
OnePointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Ifwenowfollowtheguidelinesoftheshape,theydisappeartoapointonthehorizon.
Thisisknownasavanishingpoint.
Whatisimportanthereisthecrea2onofalongitudinalplaneononesideoftheshape
itappearsquitecloseontheoppositesideitappearstobefurtheraway,wheninfactitis
justaDshapeonacompletelyflatsurface.
OnePointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Anotherdrama2cexampleofonepointperspec2veistherailwaytrack.
Thisisagoodexampleofconvergencewhichagain-createsacuetoillusory
depthonaDsurface.Themoretherailsconvergethefurtherawaytheyappear.
OnePointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Two Point Perspective
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Thenextlevelofperspec2veistwopointperspec2ve,inwhichtherearetwovanishing
points.(Toillustratethis,extralineshavebeenaddedtothediagramtomakethe
convergencemoreobvious).
NBThelongitudinalplanes2llhasonlyonevanishingpoint.
TwoPointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Thelongitudinalplanecanbegivenasecondvanishingpointifthecameraangleisthen
raisedorlowered.
Thesidesofthelongitudinalplanearenolongerparallel.
TwoPointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Therearenowtwo
vanishingpoints:
Thelongitudinallinesconvergetowardsapointabovetheframe.
Whilethetopandbo_omoftheplane
convergetowardsa
vanishingpointbeyond
framele.
TwoPointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Twopointperspec2vecan
alsobeachievedbyu2lizing
twoplanes.
Inthisexampleweare
usingthecornerofa
building.
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Thetopandbo_omofeachlongitudinalplaneconvergetoseparatevanishing
points.
TwoPointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Twopointperspec2vecan
alsobeachievedby
inver2ngthetwoplanes.
Inthisexampleweare
usingthecornerofan
interior.
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Althoughthevanishingpointsarehiddenbehindthelongitudinalplanes,theyare
s2llconverginglines.
TwoPointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Three Point Perspective
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Inthisexample,allthevisiblelinesontheexteriorofthisbuildingareallconverging
tooneofthreevanishingpoints.
Threepointperspec2veisslightlymorecomplextoachieve.
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Onevanishingpointwillappearabovethebuilding.Thendand3rdvanishingpoints
willappearonthehorizontotheleandtherightofthebuilding.
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Inthisexampleweares2llseeingthreepointperspec2ve;this2mefromanangle
abovethebuilding.
ThreePointPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Utilizing the Rules ofPerspective
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Horizonlines,vanishingpointsandlongitudinalplanescanbeappliedtoanyobject,characterorframe.
Ifthecameraisateyelevel,thehumanformcanappearflatanddimensional.
U2lisingtheRulesofPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Whenthecamerais
loweredand2lted
up,theactor
becomesa
longitudinalplane.
U2lisingtheRulesofPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Theconverseisalso
trueahighangleis
usedandthecamera
is2lteddownonan
actor.
U2lisingtheRulesofPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Aviewersa_en2onwillusuallybedrawntoon-screenvanishingpoints.Thisisevident
bytheplacementandourperspec2veofthetwowallsbelow.
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Inthisexamplea_en2onissplitbetweentheactorandalsothevanishingpoints
betweenthetwowalls.
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Here,a_en2onisdrawntotheactorandisre-enforcedbythevanishingpointsofthe
twowalls.Perspec2veinthissitua2onhelpstokeepanaudiencesa_en2onfocusedon
theactor.
U2lisingtheRulesofPerspec2veNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Deep Space
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Thisshothasdepthbecausethethreeactorshavebeenplacedonthreedifferent
planes.
Asafamiliarobjectgetssmalleritappearsfurtheraway.Asafamiliarobjectgetslargeritappearscloser
SizeDifferenceNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Separa2ngobjects(oractors)onFG,MG&BGplanescreatessizedifference.
OneactorisplacedonFG(foreground)plane,oneontheMG(mid-ground)planeandthethirdontheBG(background)plane.
SizeDifferenceNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Thisisanexampleoftextualdiffusion.ThecrowdmembersintheFGhavetextureand
detail.ThecrowdinBGarereducedto2nydotsandhavelosttheirtextureanddetail.
Objectswithmoredetailappearcloserandobjectswithlessdetailappearfurtheraway.
Thisimagealsofeaturesotherdepthcues,suchassizechangeandperspec2ve.
DiffusionNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Tonereferstoblackandwhiteandgreyscale.Thegreyscalecontainsno
colour,itrepresentsthetonalstepsfromblacktowhite.
Tonalsepara2ondealswithaviewerspercep2onofdepthduetothe
brightnessofobjects.Usuallylighterobjectsappearcloseranddarker
objectsappearfurtheraway.
TonalSepara2onNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Eventhoughtwo
objectsareof
iden2calsize,the
viewerwillseethe
brighterobjectascloserandthedarker
objectasfurther
away
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Inthisexample,even
thoughtheredand
bluerectanglesare
exactlythesamesize,
theredrectangleappearscloser.
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Eventhoughthesetwoactorsarethesamesize,theviewerwillperceivetheactoronthelowerleveltobeintheFG
Up/DownPosi2onNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Ifthereisahorizonlineinvolved,theup/downposi2onbecomesmorecomplex.
Objectsneartothehorizonlineappearmoredistant,whileobjectsfurtherfromthe
horizonlineappeartobecloser.
Up/DownPosi2onNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Whenoneobjectoverlapsanotherillusorydepthiscreated.
OverlapNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Focusanddepthoffieldcanalsoinfluenceaviewerspercep2onofdepth.
Inthisexample,theFGisinsharpfocus,whiletheBGiss2llinrela2vefocustotheFG.
Itlosesitsdeepspaceandbecomesflat.
FocusNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Focusanddepthoffieldcanalsoinfluenceaviewerspercep2onofdepth.
Inthisexample,theFGisinsharpfocus,whiletheBGisblurred.TheBGmayappear
tocreatedepth,butthisisnotnecessarilydeepspace.Someobjectss2llneedtobein
focustocreatecuesofdepth.
FocusNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Inthesefollowingexamplestherearenumerousdepthcues,includingsizedifference,
texturedifferenceandcoloursepara2on.
Howeverthestrongestindicatorsofdepth,perspec2veandconvergentplanesare
missing.Thisisanexampleoffrontalplanesepara2on.
FrontalPlaneNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Inthesefollowingexamplestherearenumerousdepthcues,includingsizedifference,
texturedifferenceandcoloursepara2on.
Howeverthestrongestindicatorsofdepth,perspec2veandconvergentplanesare
missing.Thisisanexampleoffrontalplanesepara2on.
FrontalPlaneNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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Herewecanseethe
frontalplanesseparated
intoFG,MG&BG.
Usuallytherearetwoor
threefrontalplanes,
anymorethanthisandit
canbedifficultforthe
viewertodiscern
betweentheplanesanddeterminedepth.
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Herewecanseethe
frontalplanesseparated
intoMG&BG.
Usuallytherearetwoor
threefrontalplanes,
anymorethanthisandit
canbedifficultforthe
viewertodiscern
betweentheplanesanddeterminedepth.
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REFRESHCompositional Rules
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Goodcomposi2oncanbeobtainedbyplacingthecentreofinterestinthegeometricalcentreofthepicture.Thistechniqueistheexcep2ontotheruleand
isoenusedasvisualmetaphororfordrama2ceffect.
Generallyhowever,thisisnotagoodidea,becauseitdividesthepictureintoequalhalves,whichmakestheimageuninteres2ngandisdifficulttobalancewiththeplaneofdepth.
Bydividingthepictureareainto
thirds,bothver2callyand
horizontally,andloca2ngthecenterofinterestatoneofthe
intersec2onsoftheimaginarylines,
youcanusuallycreateafeelingof
balancetothecomposi2on
TheRuleofThirdsNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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DynamicSymmetry
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Thecentreofinterestwhenappliedbytheruleof3rdsis
denotedbythecircles.
Abalanceofsymmetrycanbeachievedbydrawingalinefromonecorneroftheframe
toanopposingcorner;and
thendrawingasecondline
perpendiculartothefirsttoan
oppositecorner
Wherethesetwolinesintersectisgenerallythecentre
ofinterest.
BalanceofSymetryNM330|TimeBasedMedia(Video)
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PunchDrunkLove(PTAnderson),Revolu2onStudios,003.
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PunchDrunkLove(PTAnderson),Revolu2onStudios,003.
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PunchDrunkLove(PTAnderson),Revolu2onStudios,003.
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PunchDrunkLove(PTAnderson),Revolu2onStudios,003.
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PunchDrunkLove(PTAnderson),Revolu2onStudios,003.
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PunchDrunkLove(PTAnderson),Revolu2onStudios,003.
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PunchDrunkLove(PTAnderson),Revolu2onStudios,003.
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PunchDrunkLove(PTAnderson),Revolu2onStudios,003.
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FurtherReading:
Block,B,(007)TheVisualStory:Crea9ngtheVisualStructureof
Film,TVandDigitalMedia.NewYork:FocalPress