3+-+Basic+Composition

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Basic Composition

Public Service Announcement or Commercial
We've learned to operate the camera and to use the editing software. In this unit we will look at some video composition basics and use that information to create a public service announcement or commercial. By the end of this unit you will be able to:
 * describe the rule of thirds and apply it to your video project
 * demonstrate use of head room and explain why it is important
 * demonstrate use of look and lead room and explain why they are used
 * explain the difference between white balance and exposure

= Definitions: =


 * **__Rule of thirds:__** An aid to composition in the form of imaginary tic-tac-toe grid superimposed on the image. Important picture components are aligned with lines and intersections of the grid.
 * **__Head Room:__** The distance between the top of a subject's head and the upper edge of the frame. For example, you don't want to have a shot where there's excessive empty space above a person's head. That's just dead space. There should be just a little room above a person's head in a shot
 * **__Look Room:__** The distance between the subject and the edge of the frame toward which it is looking. Look room is sometimes called "nose room", especially in close up shots. The rule of thirds can be used to figure out where to place your subject for the proper amount of look room.
 * **__Lead Room:__** The distance between the subject and the edge of the frame toward which it is moving. This is similar to look room.
 * **__White Balance:__** The camera setting selected to compensate for the color temperature of the light source that is illuminating the subject
 * **__Exposure:__** The amount of light collected by your camera to create the image in your video. Too much light can cause your video to be washed out with weak colors. Too little light can cause your video to be dark and hard to see.

= Rule of Thirds: =

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Test yourself:
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= Exposure/Lighting, Look Room, Head Room :=

The 5 Deadly Sins of Video: media type="custom" key="12467410"

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= What is white balance? = media type="youtube" key="MNCWXvVzKw0" height="315" width="560"

= What is exposure? =

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= Lighting: =

Three-point lighting is the fundamental lighting style of most video. This video gives a nice, quick, demonstration of what it is and how it works. media type="youtube" key="4CNzZexGaiU" height="315" width="560"
 * What are the names of the three lights in the three-point lighting system?
 * What function does each light serve?

I love this short video demonstrating a few ways to light your shots using only one light source. Bounce lighting is the key. Very cool.

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