Lesson 1 · Days 1–5 · 5 min read
Composition
Where you put the person in the picture.
Composition just means: what goes inside the rectangle. You don't change a single setting. You only decide where the person sits in the picture and how big they are. This is the fastest way to make video look good, and it's free.
Read out loud, so you can just watch and listen.
Watch it move — that's what you're aiming for.
What you need to know
Eyes near the top
Imagine the screen split into three across, like a tic-tac-toe board. Put the person's eyes on that top line. That one habit fixes most beginner shots straight away.
A little space above the head
Not a big empty gap of ceiling, and not the top of their head chopped off. Just a small strip. That's it.
Three sizes of shot
Wide: you see the whole room. Medium: chest up, the normal talking shot. Close: just the face, for when they say something that matters. Using all three makes a video feel like a real show instead of one long clip.
Camera at their eye height
Put the camera about as high as their eyes while they're sitting. Lower makes it look like you're filming from the floor. Higher makes it look like a security camera.
Keep it straight and check the edges
A crooked picture is really obvious. And before you press record, look at the four edges of the screen — a bag, a cable or someone's elbow sneaking in is the most common beginner mistake.
On the Sony FX3
Exactly where to look
- Turn on grid lines in the menu so the tic-tac-toe lines are drawn on the screen for you.
- Flip the screen out so you can see it without bending down.
- Zoom the lens to go from wide, to medium, to close.
- Use the tripod (the three-legged stand) so the shot stays still while you look at it.
- Raise or lower the tripod until the lens is level with their eyes.
At Aura House
Two chairs, three cameras
Aura House podcast rooms have two chairs and three cameras. One camera sees both people — that's the safe shot that always works. The other two each look at one person. In editing you cut to whoever is talking. That's the whole trick behind a professional-looking podcast, and it's all composition.
Hands on
Try this in real life
- 1Turn on the grid lines on the FX3.
- 2Film someone with their eyes on the top line.
- 3Film the same person three ways: wide, medium, close.
- 4Move the tripod to their eye height and film again — see how much better it looks.
Three things to remember
- Eyes on the top line, small space above the head.
- Wide, medium, close — use all three.
- Camera at their eye height, picture straight, edges clean.
Composition costs nothing. It's just paying attention to the rectangle.