Chapter 6 — Quiz

Twenty-five questions to check that composition has moved from something you recognize to something you can do. Mix of multiple choice, true/false (with justification), short answer, and "what's wrong with this shot?" perception questions. Answer from memory first; the key and a review map are at the end.

Multiple choice

1. "Composition is subtraction" means:

  • A. Use fewer camera settings.
  • B. You compose mainly by deciding what to leave out of the frame, not just what to point at.
  • C. Always shoot wide so you can crop later.
  • D. Remove color in the grade.

2. The rule of thirds tells you to place important elements:

  • A. Exactly in the center of the frame.
  • B. Along the lines of a 3×3 grid or on the points where they cross.
  • C. Only in the top half of the frame.
  • D. Wherever the brightest object is.

3. In a medium shot of a person, the professional's rule for vertical placement is:

  • A. Leave a hand's width of headroom above the head.
  • B. Center the whole body.
  • C. Put the eyes on the upper-third line.
  • D. Fill the frame top to bottom with the face.

4. A subject looks toward camera-left. To give correct nose room, you place them on the:

  • A. Left third.
  • B. Right third.
  • C. Dead center.
  • D. Bottom third.

5. Which of these gives an element the most visual weight, regardless of its size?

  • A. Being slightly out of focus.
  • B. Sitting in shadow.
  • C. Being the brightest thing in the frame.
  • D. Being in the background.

6. "Lead room" (as opposed to nose room) specifically refers to space left in front of a subject who is:

  • A. Looking off-screen but stationary.
  • B. Moving, in the direction of travel.
  • C. Speaking to camera.
  • D. Lit from the side.

7. You're delivering a talking-head to YouTube (horizontal). The correct default aspect ratio is:

  • A. 9:16
  • B. 1:1
  • C. 16:9
  • D. 2.39:1

8. The three depth layers, nearest to farthest, are:

  • A. Key, fill, rim.
  • B. Foreground, midground, background.
  • C. Wide, medium, close-up.
  • D. Highlight, midtone, shadow.

9. A "merger" in composition is:

  • A. Two clips joined in the edit.
  • B. A background element that appears to touch or grow out of the subject (e.g., a pole from the head).
  • C. Combining two aspect ratios.
  • D. A gradual dissolve between shots.

10. Why does a video shooter — more than a still photographer — need to leave negative space?

  • A. To save file size.
  • B. Because titles, lower thirds, and captions have to sit somewhere in the edit.
  • C. Because negative space improves audio.
  • D. It doesn't; stills and video are the same.

11. Cropping a 16:9 capture to 2.39:1 in the edit:

  • A. Adds resolution.
  • B. Throws away pixels (top and bottom) and changes your effective framing.
  • C. Is impossible.
  • D. Automatically fixes composition.

12. In a 9:16 vertical frame, composition becomes primarily a ______ game.

  • A. lateral (left-to-right)
  • B. vertical (top-to-bottom)
  • C. color
  • D. audio

True / False — justify your answer in one sentence

13. The rule of thirds is an unbreakable law; a centered subject is always wrong. True or false — and why?

14. Symmetrical, dead-center composition can be a deliberate, powerful choice. True or false — and why?

15. Visual weight is the same as physical size in the frame. True or false — and why?

16. A leading line always helps a composition, no matter where the camera is placed. True or false — and why?

17. You can fully compose a shot for vertical after the fact by cropping a horizontal capture. True or false — and why?

18. Turning on your camera's thirds grid is only useful for beginners. True or false — and why?

Short answer

19. In one sentence each, define headroom and nose room, and say what the difference is between nose room and lead room.

20. Explain, in two or three sentences, why placing a subject on a third generally reads as more "alive" than centering them.

21. Name three things that give an element high visual weight, and give one practical consequence for how you'd frame a subject near a bright window.

22. What is a "safe zone," and name two pieces of platform furniture that crowd the unsafe edges of a vertical video.

What's wrong with this shot? (perception)

23. A subject sits centered; there's a wide band of empty ceiling above their head; the frame is otherwise fine. Name the error and the one-move fix.

24. A person is framed on the right third looking camera-right — but they're jammed against the right edge with the whole empty frame behind them, on the left. Name what's wrong and how to fix it.

25. A walk-in shot: a person enters and immediately reaches the far edge of the frame and walks out; all the empty space is behind them the whole time. Name the composition error from §6.6 and the fix.

More (mixed)

26. "Shooting through" an out-of-focus foreground element (a plant, a shoulder, a mug) mainly serves to:

  • A. Fix the audio.
  • B. Build depth — a near plane against the sharp subject and soft background reads as a three-dimensional space.
  • C. Correct the white balance.
  • D. Reduce the file size.

27. Short answer: In The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson centers his subjects and shoots straight down corridors, breaking the rule of thirds constantly. Name the three conditions that make a broken rule read as a choice rather than a mistake.

28. The film changes its aspect ratio between story layers in order to:

  • A. Save on camera rentals.
  • B. Help the audience feel which time period they're in without a title card.
  • C. Fix exposure problems.
  • D. Make the film longer.

29. What's wrong with this shot? A product shot of a mug: it's on a third, well lit, sharp — but the handle and the opening face away from the open side of the frame, into the empty edge, so the mug looks closed and anonymous. Name the fix.

30. Short answer: Explain what "motivate every choice" means for composition specifically, and give one example of a framing decision and the one-sentence reason you'd give for it.

Answer Key

Show answers and explanations 1. **B** — Composition is the art of exclusion: you subtract everything that isn't the subject. (§6.1) 2. **B** — Elements go on the grid lines or the four intersections ("power points"). (§6.2) 3. **C** — Frame the eyes on the upper-third line; this sets correct headroom automatically. (§6.2) 4. **B** — Right third, so the open space (nose room) is on the left, where they're looking. (§6.2) 5. **C** — Brightness is heavy; the eye goes to the brightest spot first. (§6.4) 6. **B** — Lead room is for *motion* (direction of travel); nose room is for *gaze*. (§6.2, §6.6) 7. **C** — 16:9 is the horizontal widescreen standard for YouTube and most horizontal video. (§6.5) 8. **B** — Foreground, midground (usually the subject), background. (§6.3) 9. **B** — A background element appearing to touch/grow out of the subject (the pole-from-the-head). (§6.4) 10. **B** — On-screen text (titles, lower thirds, captions) must live in reserved negative space. (§6.4) 11. **B** — A 2.39:1 crop discards the top/bottom and re-frames; compose with the crop in mind. (§6.5) 12. **B** — The tall, narrow vertical frame forces top-to-bottom composition. (§6.5) 13. **False** — It's the correct *default*, not a law; symmetry/centering is a legitimate deliberate exception. (§6.2, §6.4) 14. **True** — Symmetry reads as formal, ordered, or tense and is used on purpose (authority, unease); it's powerful *because* it breaks the off-center default. (§6.4) 15. **False** — Weight is about *pull*, not size: a small bright spot or a small face outweighs a large dull wall. (§6.4) 16. **False** — A line points somewhere; placed carelessly it can lead the eye *out* of frame, away from the subject — you must use your feet to aim it at the subject. (§6.3) 17. **False** — Cropping to vertical from a lateral composition usually chops the subject or leaves it centered and cramped; you compose *for* the target ratio (or shoot loosely, action central). (§6.5) 18. **False** — Pros leave the grid on permanently; it converts "point at the thing" into "place the thing" for everyone. (§6.2) 19. **Headroom** = the space between the top of the subject's head and the top edge of the frame. **Nose room** = space left in front of a subject's *gaze* (the way they're looking). **Lead room** is the same idea for *motion* — space in front of a moving subject in the direction of travel. (§6.2) 20. A centered subject with equal space all around is static and directionless; placing them on a third creates a relationship with the surrounding space (somewhere to look/move into), which the eye reads as more alive and natural to scan. (§6.2) 21. Any three of: a face, brightness, sharpness/focus, high contrast, saturated color, hard edges, motion, text. Consequence: a blown-out window will out-weigh the face and steal the eye, so you'd expose to tame it (Ch.5) and/or reframe so it isn't competing. (§6.4) 22. A **safe zone** is the region reliably visible/uncovered after platform cropping and interface overlays. Two of: username, caption box, like/comment/share buttons, progress bar (they crowd the bottom and right of a vertical video). (§6.5) 23. **Too much headroom** — frame the *eyes* on the upper-third line and let the head sit near the top edge. (§6.2) 24. **No nose room** — the space is behind the look instead of in front of it; reframe so the subject is on the *left* third with the open space to their right, in the direction of the gaze. (§6.2) 25. **No lead room** for the moving subject — reframe so they enter with open space *ahead* of them (on the far third) and, for a moving camera, maintain that lead room so they always walk *into* frame. (§6.6) 26. **B** — Three planes at three distances (near/soft, subject/sharp, background/soft) trigger the eye's depth-reading, so a flat frame reads as a deep space. (§6.3) 27. **Total, consistent, and motivated** — the symmetry is complete (nothing half-committed), applied throughout so it reads as a system rather than a slip, and it means something for the story (here, a world of order and formality). Remove any one and the centered frame collapses into the beginner's error. (§6.4, Case Study 1) 28. **B** — The shape of the frame is itself a message; a near-square Academy ratio evokes an older era, so the audience feels the time shift before they can name why. (§6.5) 29. The product has a "face" (its handle and opening) pointing the wrong way — **rotate the mug a few degrees so its handle/opening face into the open side of the frame** (the negative space), exactly like giving a person nose room in the direction they look. (§6.4; Case Study 2) 30. It means every placement, edge, and empty space should have a reason you can say out loud — intention is the difference between a look and an accident. Example: "I put the subject on the right third *because* they're looking camera-left and I wanted the space open in front of their gaze." Any defensible one-sentence reason for a real framing choice earns full credit. (§6.1, §6.4, Summary)

Why the tempting wrong answers are wrong (selected)

  • Q5 (visual weight): "slightly out of focus," "in shadow," and "in the background" all make an element lighter, not heavier — the eye skips soft, dark, distant things. Brightness is the one quality that pulls hardest, which is why a blown highlight is such a thief.
  • Q6 (lead vs. nose room): the trap is "looking off-screen but stationary" — that's nose room. Lead room is specifically for a moving subject; the word "lead" is doing the work.
  • Q11 (cropping to 2.39:1): "adds resolution" is backwards — cropping always discards pixels. The lesson of §6.5 is that a new ratio costs both resolution and your original framing, so compose for the final shape on set.
  • Q15 (rule of thirds is a law): the tempting "True" ignores that centering/symmetry is a legitimate, powerful exception — the rule is the correct default, not a law. (This is the whole point of Case Study 1.)

Topics to review by question

If you missed… Review
1, 23, 30 §6.1 — the frame as a choice; composition is subtraction; motivate every choice
2, 3, 4, 6, 19, 20, 24 §6.2 — thirds, headroom, nose/lead room
8, 16, 26 §6.3 — leading lines, depth, and layers
5, 9, 10, 14, 15, 21, 29 §6.4 — balance, negative space, visual weight (+ Case Study 2)
7, 11, 12, 17, 22, 28 §6.5 — composing for 16:9 / 9:16 / 2.39:1 and safe zones
25 §6.6 — composition on the move (lead room over time)
13, 18, 27 §6.2 + §6.4 — the thirds grid as default, not law (+ Case Study 1)