One of the best compliments you can give a movie is that it just feels alive

There’s something in there that has a pulse, that's unpredictable.

It’s not just the story or the actors

it’s in the frames themselves.

Consider this short scene from Nicolas Winding Refn’s "Drive"

At first glance, it doesn’t seem all that special.

Check this out. Cover up half the frame. Notice that the right side of frame

tells an entire story about these characters on its own

and the left side tells another complimentary story.

So a shot that could have told one thing actually tells two.

And instead of being bored, our eyes are constantly switching

between the two halves of the screen.

This time, the dynamic isn’t left and right,

but top and bottom.

--Hi --Hi

--Oh you two know each other. --Don't

Up here, we have a beautiful triangle of faces,

and a composition full of vertical and diagonal lines.

But check out what’s happening below.

Even though we’re not consciously thinking about it,

the bottom half of this frame tells an entire story

through the hands of the actors.

--Oh you two know each other. --Don't

--Oh look at that. --We're neighbors.

--Neighbors? Well, we'll try to be neighborly, too.

And when we say a film is alive, this is part of what we mean.

There are subtleties of storytelling and behavior not just where we look,

but where we don’t look. And as you watch Drive you start to see the pattern

Almost every shot has a compositional balance

between left and right, and also top and bottom.

A quadrant.

At first, this might seem restrictive. But using this basic tool,

watch how the director takes a conventional scene

and does unconventional things.

As the Driver enters, he’s up in the top-left

So naturally we assume the next shot will have the other person in top-right

But instead...

Once the shots move closer, we get two characters short-sided like this

with tons of space behind them. Even though they want to talk...

there are other obligations.

Once the two men confront each other, notice they occupy the same quadrant,

with their eyes in the same spot because they’re fighting for the same position.

Meanwhile, Irene is framed top-right or dead-center, the object of

their affections. Even though she’s out of focus watch her performance.

The scene finally pays off in this image,

balanced between top-left and bottom-right, letting us

visually compare the two men and see the long shadow one casts towards the other.

Even though we’ve seen this exit door

since the first shot of the scene, the visual payoff is actually unexpected.

And the director by emphasizing different quadrants, can create shots

that are both tightly-composed

and weirdly unpredictable.

--All these priceless cars.

--One would think you'd have better locks.

If you enjoyed this, feel free to play around with quadrants.

They’re a very old simple tool.

And you shouldn’t copy Refn, just start with the same toolbox

and see what you come up with.

Remember you don't need steadicams, cranes, drones or the latest 4K whatever

You need top, bottom, left, right

and the good sense for how to put them all together.

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