You probably know that, in a film, understanding the reason a character is doing or saying something - his or her "motivation" - helps an actor to express the role more convincingly. What you may not know is that every element in the production of a film needs to have its own motivation too. From lighting to lens selection, a well-thought-out production will have just as many motivated decisions behind the camera as in front of it.

I remember a particular moment during a History of Film class in college. The professor showed us a scene from a movie in which a character sat on a bench outside the White House. In one shot, the White House was fairly small in the background. In a subsequent shot, taken with a longer lens, the White House was much larger and more prominent behind the character. The professor explained to us that this was intentional, symbolic, and supported the content of the scene. The class was quite skeptical. One of my friends commented that he could probably find similar visual symbolism in "Porky's."

While humorous, I know now that our skepticism betrayed our ignorance. At the time, we were shooting everything on video cameras with robust zoom lenses. To change a shot, we'd just zoom in or out. As long as there was nothing "wrong" with the background, it was fine. Ditto props, lighting, camera position, etc., etc. At the introductory level of filmmaking, everyone's first concern is just to make sure that everything works, and it's difficult to imagine a level in which more subtle considerations become important.

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