Camera Aspects

As a way of being introduced to media, we began our course by defining; 'focus', 'depth', 'framing' and 'composition'. We understood 'focus' as being sharp or soft, which related to 'depth', the distance between the lens and the subject/object; these being techniques used to provide attention on subjects perhaps to create a certain meaning. Similarly, we linked 'composition', the positioning of certain objects in a frame, to 'framing', the angle/placement of the lens.

To help us understand these ideas we attempted to recreate a screenshot from a film, mine being from 'The Shawshank Redemption':

We recognised the focus as being on the person as well as the composition of the shot displaying all of the subjects body in frame, in particular, the arms which take up most of the space; as to draw attention to them. As well as this, the person is slightly to the right of the frame, which give us a glimpse at the surrounding area. In this way, camera aspects work together to create a focus on the person as well as draw attention to their open arms, this creates a feeling of relief for the character in shot as he holds his arms out as if giving in to the weather.