Video Production Misunderstandings

A response to the Misunderstood Activity
created by KristineW (@KristineW)

Number of views: 226


In video production, a difficult concept for some students to understand is that of graphic or visual weight. Graphic or visual weight is a concept that tells the viewers what they can or should look at on-screen during a shot or series of shots. A balanced shot has strong elements on either side of the frame, whereas an unbalanced (but not necessarily bad) shot will have more on one side. As such, things such as lighting, objects, characters, or the absence of these can and do change graphic weight. I use the metaphor of a scale to illustrate how graphic weight works and ask students to imagine them placing them on a scale and giving them a representative weight or mass value and then seeing how each side metaphorically stacks up. IF there are more on one side, the graphic and visual weight is skewed towards one side, which may be the goal. If they are relatively even, the balance of weight is achieved on frame. This gets students to think about how objects may have more or less graphic weight and that all components in the frame contribute to the balance or lack of balance in the frame.

 

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