Hello, I am Seokwon Park
Staging is a very important element in visual storytelling
So, this time
Let’s take a closer look at staging
The most important element in movies or animations is
The 'Frame'
It's a box horizontally and vertically
It may be a wide frame of 16:9
Or a 4:3 frame
Staging is making an object or character visible
Within such a frame
Let's do staging an apple
Look at the apple on the left at the very beginning
The apple is cut in half
So, is this good staging?
Of course not
Why is that so?
Because it's hard to know whether that's an apple or not
Now, let's look at second staging
How is this?
The apple fills the whole screen, right?
So, is this good staging?
Of course not
Because it fills the screen too much
It can be difficult to figure out what it is
Then, how about the third staging?
The apple is clearly visible
And there is someone in front of the apple
What can you imagine?
Maybe that person will pick that apple
Let me explain staging very simply
For example, in painting, there is something called still life
Let's take still life painting as an example
Let's look at what objects should be staged
And how they look good when painting a still life
There is a bottle, two apples, and a plate
How about this first staging?
How does it look?
There's no touching
That may be the case for this case
This error can occur
When none of the objects overlap each other
It's difficult to know
What's in front
And what's in the background
Also, because everything is spaced apart
The audience must
Read everything individually
To put it simply, it is visually very inconvenient staging
Now, let's take a look at the second staging
How is it?
Everything is slightly stuck to the surface
This is the staging to look like it
How does it feel?
It seems as if an apple is stuck to a bottle
And a plate is stuck to a bottle
It creates such illusions and errors
If it is vaguely attached
It can give a strange feeling
Then, how about this staging number 1?
Everything is lined up in a straight line
Very strange, right?
It's not natural
In the case of apples on a plate
They are not even visible because the bottle covers them
An apple in front of a bottle
Covers the bottle
So, it is difficult to determine whether the bottle is stuck to the bottom.
Now, let's look at the second staging
Moving an apple and a plate to the side
It looks a little better
You can clearly see the apple behind it
However, since the apple in front is still lined up like this
It seems as if the apple and the bottle have become one
Which is unique and strange to see
Moving the apple a little to the right, like no. 3
It looks more natural and better
Staging is actually not something
You think is complicated and difficult
Just like this, it just needs to be
Comfortable and natural to look at
Let’s take a look at staging number 2
There is a large land
With a house, tree, and a well
Let's take a look at how staging is done
What about case 1?
Staging is done in a straight line
But think about it
Is there a place where house, tree, and well are
Lined up in a straight line like that?
It looks very unnatural
Even if a person comes out of the house and tries to go to the shade of a tree
Something is blocking the way, making it uncomfortable
You'll need to take a slight detour to the well
Then, look at the second picture
If you look at the second one, the same distance is
Created and maintained like this
This also looks very awkward
It's not ba but it looks awkward
The route looks very vague
Take a look at picture number 3
This picture's staging is very natural
They overlap slightly and slightly apart
When a person passes through a certain space
Certain movement lines can be easily drawn and seen
This natural thing
And has a well-drawn movement line that allows the character
To move comfortably back and forth
Good staging is something like them
Here are three characters
Let's look at staging three characters
Look at picture number 1
Three people are standing in a line
How does it feel?
Here's not the military, but looks unnatural
The men on either side probably
Can't see each other very well
Because the woman in the middle is covering them
How about picture number 2?
The angle is slightly changed
But they are standing on the same line
It's very unnatural
Take a look at picture number 3's staging
It's very natural
If three people gather in a certain place
Wouldn't there be staging like that?
With that kind of staging, it's easy for the woman to talk to two men
And the men also talk to each other
Make eye contact, and communicate so it looks very natural
Look at this staging
How does it feel?
You can understand the situation very easily
It appears to be two polic officers arresting
A suspect and taking him away
For example, if three friends were actually walking
They wouldn't walk closely together like that
Seeing her walking so closely together
Looks like she is a suspect
Like this, with the staging and things like that
We need to do staging for audiences to read the message easily
Here, a character is at home
In front of a mirror and wardrobe
So, how should we do staging?
How about picture number 1?
Staging itself is no problem
But what is the pose like?
The way the character is standing is a bit awkward
If you look at picture number 2, how about putting the arm on the closet
Like that?
The pose is a bit more natural
Then, take a look at picture number 3, 4, and 5
In front of the closet and mirror
The character is wearing a tie and clothes
How do you see the staging in picture number 3, 4, and 5?
Picture number 3 is, in a way, a profile
Picture number 4 is also a profile, right?
From our perspective as an audience, we are shown a side view
But take a look at picture number 5
It's fun
Where is the man's body looking at?
It's toward us, right?
But where's the face looking at?
It's looking in the mirror
Strictly speaking, staging of picture number 5 is
The preferred staging in movies
First, considering the audience, the upper body and body are
Turned towards the audience
That is, towards the camera, to be more visible
That's cinematic staging
But what about the face?
Of course, the character must look in the mirror to put on a tie or adjust the clothes
So, what's the character's gaze like?
It should be, of course, looking in the mirror
Staging Element
There are several factors in staging
We will learn from what perspective
And what kind of element staging is created
First, there are emphasis, balance, rhythm, and silhouette
Let's look at them one by one
Take a look
It's emphasis
What does this picture emphasize?
Look at the visual element
Where do you think this picture is telling you to look?
All the sticks in the middle are
Focused on one place, right?
There are four little boxes
Right there
To highlight that point
In other words, what is also important in staging is
To make everything look natural
Clearly determine where the audience's gaze should be directed
And set it up well
Because in the case of movies, as I said before
Each shot is usually cut in a very short time, on average 2 or 3 seconds
In that cut
There is not enough time for the audience to read
Understand, and view everything on the screen
Therefore, there is a certain point that the audience
Should pay most attention to when watching a certain movie scene
When directing a movie, you must emphasize that
And draw the eye straight to that point
That's an important element of emphasis
How about in here?
Everyone is holding a service at the church
Who catches your eye?
Church members attending a general worship service?
Or the pastor delivering a message?
Or a man standing at the door
Coming in and opening the door?
Of course, since all church members are grouped
It is difficult for the audience to recognize each individually
The crowd is just perceived as a crowd
And because the pastor is standing compared to the congregation
He is more visible, but we cannot see his face
We're looking at the back
It also overlaps with the church members in staging like this
So, he doesn't stand out as much
But what about the person standing at the door?
There is a box-shaped door
And he's inside
The silhouette is visible with a bright background behind
So when the audience sees that scene
The first thing their eyes will look at
Will be the person in front of that door
Who do you see first in this scene?
There are so many people standing
Where is everyone's eye directed?
All eyes will be on that woman who appears to be dancing
As she comes down the stairs
Why?
Because everyone is looking at that woman
And also because she's close to the middle of the screen
This is a scene from a movie
So many people are overlapped
But who catches your eye the most?
First, the people in the background are so close together that they are just a crowd
The crowd is not visible one by one like this
There are three people in the foreground
Which of the three people will be the most visible?
The two people on the far right
We can't see their faces right now
But what about the person standing third from the right?
He's facing the opposite direction from the two people in front
And he's facing the screen
So we can see the face
That's why that man catches our eyes
What do you see here?
What do you see first?
It's probably a couple
And the first thing you'll see in focus is the couple hugging
Why?
Everyone around them is looking at the couple
And everyone is surrounding them
That's why all eyes can't help but
Focus on the couple's hug
There are three characters here
Who catches your eye first?
If you look at it, the police and that store owner
Who are they looking at?
They are looking at the child
So that child catches our eyes first
And if you look closely
The police officer is slightly blended with the black background behind
So things like silhouettes are
Slightly blended with the background
So it doesn't stand out
But when you look at that child, you can clearly see
The shape of the face with the bright background behind
Then, let's take a look at the balance
What is balance?
Balance is symmetry
Symmetry means that
There is weight in both
Visual and visual elements
What if the weight is balanced between the left and the right sides?
It's pretty and nice
However, a symmetric balance with the same left and right sides is
A rare case actually
So, the most used balance generally is
An asymmetric balance
The asymmetric balance
So, what if we tried to get the center weight
When we saw this a little while ago?
The axis of the central tripod below must be shifted toward the heavier side
To ensure the left and right balance
In fact, asymmetric is used a lot in movies
Take a look
Who on the left does your eye go to first?
Of course, the emphasis is on that female character
Everyone is surrounding that female character
It's probably like a jury meeting
The jury system basically requires everyone
To come to the same conclusion
However, in my opinion, it seems like a female character is
Giving opposing opinion compared to the majority
So, she is getting persuaded
So, that female character catches eye
And if you look at the group gathered around that female character
As one mass
There is a very large mass on the left
And one person on the right is sleeping, looking tired
This is a screen composition with an asymmetric balance
This is also the same
On the right, a group of two adults
Holds some visual weight
A girl is sitting across from them
This is also a case that is balanced by left and right asymmetric
Next is rhythm
What rhythm is
Any visual element has a certain weight
As I mentioned before
There is a mass
Some are big, some are small
Some are emphasized
Some are less emphasized
What rhythm means is that
It is very good when arranged interestingly
Conversely, if everything is arranged
The same way with the same weight, it's boring
The one on the left right now is boring
Because the rhythm is the same
On the other hand, on the right, some things are small
And some things are emphasized and have a rhythm
So, for example
Think about staging a tree
And if you think about creating a rhythm
There is no element of rhythm at all in the first case
Identical trees appear equally spaced and sized
It can be seen as very boring staging
How about the second picture?
Some are emphasized, and it's a bit forward
What goes into the background is what gets less emphasis
In the second picture, some rhythm was expressed
The same goes for picture number 3
Also the picture number 4
The emphasis on rhythm is not that something is good or bad
But that the rhythm can be created acording to a certain movie's
Storytelling, tone atmosphere, and purpose
Here, too, people are lining up
And voting for an election
Look at the people standing here, too
Some places are crowded
Others are alone
And there's a rhythm
Next, let's look at the silhouette
What is a silhouette?
Silhouette is an outline shape
If there's a character
And you paint it in black
If you only take the outline of that character, it is called a silhouette
Let's take a look at the bottle
There's a bottle
Let's rotate this bottle 360 degrees
What do you think of this silhouette?
It's the same
In the case of bottles, the silhouette is the same no matter where you look
But what about a person?
When looking from the front, from the side
Or the middle between the front and side
A person's silhouette feels different
The silhouettes are different
Even if you do the same movement
The silhouette differs depending on the angle you look at
So, why is silhouette important?
As I said
Movie shots are generally
2 or 3 seconds, and it is shown as one shot
And then moves on to the next shot
Therefore, it is necesasary to convey
The character's pose stagic, etc. to the audience
In such a short period
The most important thing
In conveying that message is the silhouette
Silhouette plays a huge role in reading
Any visual storytelling
In other words, when doing pose or staging
You can look at thet silhouette if ou want to judge whether it is good or bad
By looking at the silhouette
You can tell whether it is good or bad by looking at the silhouette
One is shown in the profile to the side
And the other in the front
So, when you look at the two people on the bottom right
Which silhouette looks better?
In the case of the person shown in the profile
The other side, the left arm, is not visible
So, I can't tell what action the left arm is doing
They even seem to be
In the same pose
However, if you look at the profile, you can't tell what the movement is because
The silhouette of the left arm is not visible
But look at the picture on the right
You can see that what pose he's doing
In movie number 1 and 2
When looking at action, staging, or acting
The audience can easily and quickly recognize
The clear action, staging, and acting of silhouette number 2
This is also the same
Which staging looks better between picture number 1 and 2?
What about picture number 2?
You wouldn't know it by looking at the silhouette
You can't see the person's face
And its not clear what the arm pose is
Picture number 1 is clear
Negative space and positive space are seen clearly
This is a scene where a cowboy falls while riding a horse
Let's take a look at the silhouette
Looking at silhouettes 1 and 2
Which pose look clearer?
If you look at picture number 2, the cowboy and horse silhouettes overlap so completely
That you might not even know there are people
It just doesn't seem that clear
However, in picture number 1
There is a negative space between the cowboy and the horse
And it is visible
Let's look at another staging development process
What kind of situation does this symbolize?
The father has passed away, and it seems like he has a lot of children
He has six sons
I think it express the feeling of
Waiting for the father's death
While looking forward to father's legacy
Let's take a brief look at the process
To see what staging can be done
It is done staging in a row
As you probably know
If you have heard the story of good staging mentioned above
Staging that is lined up like this is
Very bad staging
And the expressions on sons' faces
Can't be read properly
They all have similar poses, so it's not even fun
Also, I can't quite read father, whether he's lying down
Or what kind of situation he's in
Let's take a look at the following
How is this staging?
It's better than previous staging
The emphasis is clearly well done
Where is the emphasis?
It is done on the father who passed away
How about polls on the bed?
It is toward the father
What about a monkey or some other animal?
It's looking at the father
The glass bottle underneath
Also faces the father
What about sons?
They also look at the father
It's better than before
However, the staging of these sons
Poses and other things are all very similar
No variety or fun at all
In that aspect, I think it needs revision and development
It has developed a lot
First, there is a bed, the sons are
In various poses, both in
The far background and foreground
Some are grouped, and some are separate
The staging seems to have been
Completed much better than before
So, in the last illustration
The picture finished with staging is like this
Like this, staging
Does not simply refer to a certain position but also
To a variety of things
Including thet pose of a certain character
I also think props in the background
Should be arranged well
To suit the storytelling
I will finish the lecture with this
Thank you for your effort
1. Staging concept What is Staging? Placing an object or character within a frame
Good staging It must be easy to see and natural Character movements must be well drawn The message must be easily understandable
2. Staging element Emphasis Must clearly determine where the gaze should be directed Balance There's also a sense of weight in the visual elements Asymmetrical balance is often used in movies
Rhythm Arrange visual elements in a fun way The rhythm is created according to the tone, atmosphere, and purpose of the film
Silhouette A clear silhouette allows the audience to quickly and easily perceive the situation It serves as a basis for judging whether a pose is good or bad