My first Look into classic Composition starting with Art from the realism Era

The first step i took on my search for my further knowledge into cinematography was to do some research into the different era's of painting and classical art. As creations from this era have inspired the world of art and film we see today.

The first Era i choose to look into was the era of realism which stemmed from the impressionism and post impressionism era between the later 1860's to about 1879. The artist that painting during this era choose to create paintings that were direct observations of the modern world as opposed to creating art with exotic or unnatural themes previously seen in era's before such as romanticism and the medieval era's.

The first painting i choose to study was The Angelus by Jean-Francois Millet

One of the first things i noticed about this painting was how both of the characters were looking down towards the Basket on the floor. I then began to realise how the painting has been composed to a central triangle inbetween each of the characters.
To me this painting holds a lot of emotion within it as it forces the viewer to see more than just the image but the emotional content of the characters involved. This painting is a great inspiration for my work and as i feel that scene depiction is a lot better when the viewer has to piece subtle informational clues within a scene to make up there on idea of what the scene is about.

The second painting i choose to evaluate on was Recollections of Mortefontaine by Jean Baptiste Camille Corot.

Again in this painting there is a clear triangle between the three human figures. (which i have highlighted below). As well as the uses of the golden ratio in each significant area of the painting.

This picture caught my interest for a number of reasons. One being the scale and size of the shapes used. On the right we see a large looming tree possibly swaying in the wind above a group of people in the bottom left. Possibly a mother and her two infant children collecting resources from a smaller tree.
The Contrast of the human figures really makes them stand out against the more natural colours used within the rest of the photo. This contrast drew my eyes instantly to the bottom left of the imge before then exploring the rest.
This Painting inspires me by the way it depicts the natural size and scale of a nature against the relatively small size of the human figures. Subtly reminding us all of the importance of nature for its natural beauty as well as mans need for nature in order to live.

This painting also inspired me to involve nature and size and scale within my initial Ideas of my cinematography Project.

The Third Painting i chose to study was 'The Dancing club' By Edgar Degas. Degus is said to be the main founder of the 'Impressionism' Movement within the art world.  His most famous paintings were mainly focussed on the aesthetics of naturalism within situations and many his works were of people in situations behind the scenes almost in a 'Fly on the wall style'.

This painting appeals to me for a number of reasons. One of the first Things that caught my eye in this painting was the central line in the middle of the painting that goes through the eyes of the dance teacher (Highlighted Below)

Nearly all of the People with in this painting are along a central point. I feel this is a perfect example of using a straight line to capture the viewers attention to the depicted scene.

The next compositional detail i noticed was the form in which the ballet dancers are standing in. To me the curvature conveys the feelings of unity between the dancers and also the more feminine theme of the overall photo. Although i wont use this idea with in my piece think the compositional aspect of using curves in a shot can add to make a shot a lot more feminine.