Datasheet

Core Concepts  21

In the design lexicon, form means anything you can see; it has some sort of shape,

color, or texture that distinguishes it from its frame. How your scene’s objects lie in the

frame deﬁnes your composition. The space behind and between what is rendered out is

the ground, or background plane. Objects become positive space, and the background

becomes negative space. Playing with the position of positive and negative space greatly

affects the dynamics of your frame.

Design a static frame in which the objects are all centered and evenly spaced, and your

viewers will wonder why they’re looking at your composition. Arrange the composition

so that your subjects occupy more interesting areas of the frame in which they play with

negative space, and the eye is drawn all over the frame, creating a dynamic composition.

This principle applies to still images as well as to animation. Figure 1.6 illustrates the dif-

ference between a centered, static frame and a frame with a more dynamic negative space.

In the tutorial in Chapter 10, you’ll use light and shadow to turn a still life of fruit into

a dynamic and interestingly composed frame.

Balance and Symmetry

Balance in a frame suggests an even amount of positive space from one side of the frame

to the other. A frame that is heavier on one side can create a more dynamic composition.

Symmetrical objects in a frame are mirrored from one side to another and create a

certain static balance in the frame. An asymmetrical composition, therefore, denotes

movement in the composition.

A popular technique used by painters, photographers, and cinematographers is called

framing in thirds. With this technique, the frame is divided into a grid of thirds verti-

cally and horizontally. Interesting parts of the frame, or focal points of the subjects, are

placed at strategic locations in the grid. Placing your subject in the lower third makes it

seem small or insigniﬁcant, static, or even boring. Placing it in the upper third makes the

image more dynamic, magnifying its perceived scale or importance, and even tells a bet-

ter story.

Figure 1.6

A purely centered

frame looks static;

the boy seems still

with nowhere to

go. More interest-

ing framing helps

create or heighten

a sense of motion,

giving space for the

boy to run.

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