Although this exercise is unfinished, I did want to talk a little about the abstract shots we went out and filmed for it, which I have compiled together in this video:
I’ll start with the obvious: one of the shots is out of focus, and some are incorrectly exposed. I can put the exposure down to filming with a coloured viewfinder instead of black and white and not using zebra patterns. I have no excuse for the shot which is out of focus…
What I do want to talk about a little is the composition of the shots though. I’ll talk about the ones I was in charge of, which are the two fountain shots and the shot of pipes/wires on a wall. I think its pretty obvious that for the fountain shots, I was interested in creating symmetry. Although I’m really happy with the first shot, if you look to the bottom of the frame, the line created by the ledge slopes down to the left – something that I didn’t notice at the time – and I think that if only that could be fixed up, it would be a near-perfect shot. I also think the exposure is off here, but that’s beside the point. I am completely happy with the second fountain shot. It’s simple, and there’s not a lot going on, but I think it looks pretty great. I’m not sure if this is because it works with the rule of thirds, to be honest I think the shot works more in quarters (the line cutting horizontally through the middle of the frame, and the streams of water being symmetric across a central point), but perhaps some of the lines of the concrete work within thirds. I’m not really sure. I think the movement in this shot is really great though. And then the pipes. I am pretty happy with this shot too. This one definitely works with thirds, the edge of the white box and the vertically running pipes/wires running along the lines. Personally though, what I like about it is how cluttered the shot is. It’s quite close in, and yet there’s still so much going on. I also think its interesting how everything works as a line, with no real start or end. It’s chaotic but somehow nice to look at.
