6 Rules of Video Composition (and Why Not to Break Them)

lol

Break them at your own risk. I highly recommend studying the psychology of seeing. Great artists discovered these rules intuitively and quickly learned that people have expectations that influence their reactions to images. One of my favorite examples was an experiment in which a glowing circle was positioned dead center in a glowing rectangle in a dark room. Everyone who viewed the "composition" (literally every one) reported that the circle was slightly off center. The psychology at play in this example is that the circles position in the exact center of the rectangle was interpreted as balance of all forces pulling or pushing at the circle and the mind simply won't accept this. Thus, each viewer's mind allowed one force or another to dominate and they saw the circle pushed or pulled to one side or corner or another. More importantly, the experience left the viewers feeling dissatisfied or uncomfortable or, in other words, they didn't like the composition as presented.

I learned the rules of composition studying fine art and applied them to photography. A well composed image is good art regardless of the medium