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Visualizing/designing/composing in Widescreen.
Designing video in a Widescreen, 16:9 aspect ratio is special, as we know.
I’m 47 and grew up for decades looking at 4:3 on TV. This is a remnant of the day when you had Walter Cronkite addressing the nation in a head-and-shoulders. 4:3 was all that you needed for that purpose. How to design media for 4:3 was kind of…obvious, beacuse there wasn’t a lot of choice.
Now we have Widescreen, and basically it is like having three times that width.
When feature films are shown in Widescreen, the beauty of this becomes obvious– no need to Letterbox. Showing nature landscapes, too, you can’t beat it for conveying the feeling of a wide landscape.
What if, though, you are making a commercial which includes ALL generated media and no live action video… How do you “break up” your Widescreen “canvas” into attractive, usable media layout.
How to creatively, artistically compose/design in Widescreen, is my question.
Any books or videos you know which offer wise advice on this subject?
Thanks, DAVE
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1 Reply
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Think of the widescreen canvas as stage where a play is being performed. You have things going on stage left, other things going on stage right. Use all that room to your advantage. If you are recording a talking head, place them off center (never in the middle) and frame something interesting on the other side even if it’s just an interesting background. This is also a great place to have text talking points.
If you ever plan to deliver in 4:3 make sure that important action doesn’t take place too far off to the sides. It’s a different way of approaching composition but the “rule of thirds” still applies. Use the extra space to frame things in a more interesting way but don’t distract from your mail subject.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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