Space, or the illusion of space, is incredibly important in filmmaking. With it, you control not only what the audience sees, but how you want them to see it.
There are a few simple ways of controlling space, the easiest to explain is the frame.
The Frame
Simply put, stuff happens in the frame, it’s the space you have to work with. We’ve also briefly touched on how to compose your subjects in your frame in my previous posts on composition (parts one and two), but using space effectively with composition is a powerful tool.
Inside the frame, I like to break space down to 2 basic kinds of space, positive and negative.
Positive and Negative Space
The concepts of positive and negative space are really easy to grasp and yet extremely powerful. Negative space, also called white space, is the space around your subject while positive space is the space your object inhabits on screen. The larger your subject is in frame, the less negative space there is.
One of the better known examples of using negative space in the last few years is Apple’s Mac vs. PC ads. In it you have your two subjects, the Mac and the PC being the positive space in the frame and a simple white background as the negative space.
Another famous example is the “Beyond the Infinite” portion of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. When Dave Bowman finds himself in that creepy white room, the color scheme Kubrick chose was white and neutrals making the background washed out compared to the subject.
There are several illusions based on positive and negative space, one of the better known being Rubins Vase where the negative and positive space are switched depending on whether you see two faces or a vase. Many of M.C. Escher’s work is based on manipulating negative and positive space.
Depth of Field and Negative Space
Having a background of only a single color or analogous colors is one way to create negative space but a simpler and far more used tool is using a shallow depth of field.
Depth of field is used extensively in film for close ups and medium shots. By reducing the depth of field (using a shallow depth of field) the background blurs. The opposite of a shallow depth of field is known as deep space.
By using shallow depth of field you focus in on your subject while the background is blurred. This blurring makes your subject pop out of the scene and creates a negative space around it.
In the next part we’ll explore more ways of controlling space in the frame! As always, if you have some feedback, comments or questions, leave them below!
About Danny F. Santos
I wouldn’t say he’s only ‘trying’ to educate – he ‘is’ successfully educating, and i wouldn’t even say this info is just for ‘young’ directors either.
You’re never too old or experienced to be reminded of things you already know – it keeps it all fresh.
Well, its encouraging that your trying to educate the young directors on the language of film. Believe you me, there are a lot of them out there that have no idea what they are doing.
Speaking of space, you forgot to mention the four basic types of space: deep space, flat space, limited space and ambiguous space. Each of these types of space is visually unique and thus suggests a variety of moods and meanings.
Thanks for the kind words! Actually, I’ll be touching on those a little later on the series!