Variable Framing

Joseph Ruwe

Variable Framing

            Film directors use many different techniques with the camera to engage the audience. Variable framing is a method in which the camera moves or is positioned in order to ensure that the audience is paying attention to what the director intends for them to focus on. It is a great way for the director to connect the audience to aspects of the film that are important to the plot. In a play, it is up to the audience to watch the stage and catch everything that is going on. In film, the director has the power to focus and move the camera showcase what he or she thinks is important for the audience to watch for.  

            There are three types of variable framing: indexing, scaling, and bracketing. Indexing is when the camera points something out to the audience. It acts as a pointer to make sure that the audience catches  something that the director things is important to make sure that they see. This can be done by bringing the camera closer to the thing being indexed, by a cut, zoom, or by movement of the camera. The moving camera hints to the audience to look in the direction that the camera is pointing, and then they see what they need to focus on.

            Bracketing is another tool that the director can use in junction with the camera. Like indexing, this technique also draws the audience's attention to a certain subject. This is when the camera zooms towards an object or the subject moves towards the camera until it is the sole focus of the lens and everything else is bracketed out, forcing the audience to concentrate on the bracketed object. The bracketing tells the audience what is important, and not to pay too much attention to what is outside of the bracketing, because the important stuff is inside of the bracketing. Everything within that cinematic frame is what the viewers need to watch for.

            The third element of variable framing is scaling. This technique magnifies objects to signify to the audience of their importance. By making something that is small take up an exorbitantly large space on the movie screen, the object does not escape the attention of the audience and it give the object status and importance. Scaling can also be used to make objects that are unimportant to the plot smaller on the screen, and thereby give the hint to the audience that it is not really worth them paying a lot of attention to, or placing a lot of importance on.

            All three of these variable framing techniques are somewhat similar, and often go hand in hand. For example, it is common to see a camera shot employ both scaling and indexing by having a fast shift of the camera change the screen so that a small object takes up more space than it should. Or indexing and bracketing could team up to point to an object and zoom in on it until it brackets out what is unimportant on the screen. These techniques are useful for directors to use as guides for the viewers. They bring the viewer from what is important in one scene to what is important in the next, and keep the viewer mentally on track while watching the movie.