Guiding the Viewer's Eye
Framing techniques in film and video usually focus on composition and the 1/3 rule but what about guiding the viewers focus in the frame? What about all that other stuff vying for their attention?
You point your camera at your subject, the point of interest of your shot. Maybe it’s a person, maybe a prop, or a whole set. What are different ways in that frame to guide the viewer's focus, their attention, to what you want? And how do you avoid objects stealing focus?
The lens sees outward in an expanding cone and it’s important for us to control as much of what we see in that frame as possible so it furthers the purpose of the video. In the art world, they’re pretty adept at guiding the viewer's eye in a static frame, using composition, detail and lighting/contrast
Composition
Composition is to compose objects, to arrange and form them into a whole that serves a purpose.
Take these letters in the video above. They’re scattered about and have no meaning except chaos. Compose them into a line and arrange them in a specific order, and they form a word with meaning. Now arrange them in a way that conveys even more.
We can do this in our frame with how the emphasis is placed on the subject. They could be balanced in the frame or one is made to be more dominant in the foreground. We look at one first, then the second. We covered this in more detail in our video on various forms of composition from the art world.
Both characters are balanced in the frame. Are eye is divided between the two and we focus on that divide.
One character is prominent in the foreground. We look at her first, then the second character in the background.
Detail
A scene is made up of an overwhelming mass of detail. Stare at it long enough and you’ll see more and more. What should I be looking at?
Even a single person or object contains a lot of detail. In the art world, they can leave detail out in order to guide the viewer's focus. In our frame we can accomplish this by leaving out props or using shallow focus, making the center of interest clear.
Shallow focus (soft background) separates our talent from the environment and guides the viewers focus to them.
Details can easily be missed until we see them in the frame. Where a previously unimportant object now “steals focus.” It’s like our homes and apartments. They’re fine until we remember that guests are coming over and now we see the unnoticed clutter and mess that had been there in the background the whole time.
If they don’t steal focus they could distract enough from the center of interest to make the whole shot dull.
Uncluttered frame where focus is drawn to the cup in the center.
Cluttered frame. What do we look at?
Light and Contrast
We can guide focus with light. The most obvious is the spotlight in a theater that makes it clear to look at this.
We can create the same effect but more subtly.
Before: Image is flat.
After: Spot of light on the typewriter draws focus to it.
If a frame is flat lacking contrast, it can be hard to tell what the center of interest is. Contrast can help guide the eye. These are visual ways to guide focus. It can also be done with movement in the frame, movement of the camera.
Before: Lack of contrast. They is drawn to me but barely.
After: Contrast. The only change is the shirt. They eye is clearly drawn to me.
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