Composition Studies

It was recommended by my Midpoint Review Committee that I revisit my copy of Hans Bacher's Dream Worlds (an excellent book on composition and design from a true talent) and pay particular attention to the page that lists all the movies he recommends studying compositions from.  A lot of movies on there, and they've all been added to my Netflix queue.  The basic idea is to draw small thumbnails of not only great compositions but also basic shots, paying attention to cutting, scene planning, etc.  In doing so, it should teach me more about film making and therefore make me a better storyboard artist.  Yay!

I stumbled upon some screen grabs from Hitchcock's To Catch A Thief on a blog and decided that it would be a great place to start:

Just a few simple shots.  I did these in pencil.  Then I got the new True Grit Blu-Ray combo pack in the mail--which is simply a fantastic movie, especially for cinematography--so I decided to go ahead and draw some composition studies from the entirety of that movie:

This proved to be a multi-day, too-many-hour, exhausting task!  They're each about 1.75 x 4" in size.  I decided to go with pen and marker on this one.  Black, 30% Warm Grey, 60% Warm Grey, and a dash of brush pen for emphasis.  I ended up getting too caught up in the details, so I will definitely change my methods for the next go 'round.  Still, it was very informative and actually pretty fun.

Alright, now back to my actual thesis work.  I should have some things to post soon, so stay tuned! :^)