Cinematography-Theory-And-Practice

Figure 3.18. (above) Strong diagonallines are crucial to this shot fromThe Conformist and also in Figure 3.1at the beginning of this chapter.Figure 3.19. (right, middle) Diagonalsin the noir film Out Of The Past.Figure 3.20. (right, bottom) Verticalsand horizontals in this shot from JFKare especially strong given the widescreenaspect ratio. Notice also howthe unbalanced frame and negativespace on the right side are especiallyimportant to the composition.Imagine if they had framed only theimportant elements on the left. Itwould not be nearly as strong a compositionand would not work nearlyso well for wide screen.up/down, and even the space behind the camera — all part of thefilmspace of the entire composition and crucial to making the visualexperience more three-dimensional. This power of the frame itselfis also important in our choice of aspect ratio — which is shape ofthe frame. It has changed over the history of film, generally from analmost square shape (Figure 3.19) to a wider, more horizontal rectangle(Figure 3.18) to an extreme wide frame as in this frame fromJFK (Figure 3.20).cinematography48