PLANNING: Framing

When looking at films such as Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive (2011) because of its use of framing. In the tutorial Every Frame A Painting, on Drive- the quadrant system, I learned how narrative complexity is achieved through using the creative use of positioning characters in different quadrants. Here, for instance, attention is focused on Ryan Gosling in the upper left quadrant but also on Carey Mulligan and her boyfriend whom he is gazing at, in the lower right-hand quadrant. We engaged visually to compare the two men and see the long shadow one casts towards the other. the two sides of the frame tell different stories, which enriches the film work.

In my own work, I intend to use this quadrant system when positioning the actors when i am directing a scene. One of the scenes that I directed was the office scene in London. The middle of the the scene that cuts the quadrants up, separates the two rooms of the office where in one half I am walking and in the other half Max is sat down. 

Showing the effect of the different quadrants:

This one here shows the four quadrants that separate the shot from our film.

This next one shows how the way the camera is positioned allows the camera to show the two rooms: the first of which I am on the left and the second with Max sitting down on the right where I am about to walk to. This puts an idea into the viewers head that something is going to happen. The purposeful walk from myself coming into the room on the right suggests that I have something to deliver to Max, the CEO, and this is due to the way the camera is positioned and has framed the image.