This is Rule of Thumb. The series where I detail tiny, seemingly insignificant details in animation, SFM and post-production that can end up going a long way in making your videos look just a little bit better. On today's episode, field of view, rule of thirds, depth of field, and letterbox. This is a lot to cover, so let's get right into it. Field of view is essentially how much of the scene the camera can see. A wider field of view means that more can be seen while distorting the image in higher ranges. Lowering the field of view will make faraway objects seem bigger and closer, as well as decrease the total visible space into a tiny cone. The rule of thumb is that the average field of view used in Hollywood movies is between 35 and 85 million. You can get to these exact numbers in SFM's camera F.O.V. Sliders. I often use the higher ranges because it's what I feel is best for that cinematic look. Though a wider field of view can be used to great effect to make objects appear larger, from a low angle, or to simply fit more in the screen at once. The rule of thirds is a principle where characters, objects, horizon lines, eyelines, and etc, should fall on the third line of a frame. There are plenty of material overlay textures you can apply to your SFM projects in the workshop. It's very important to keep the rule of thirds in mind constantly because it can go a long way in making your movies look way more cinematic. Just remember that if the aspect ratio of your video changes, so do the third lines. The wider the frame, the closer the horizontal lines will be to each other, while vertical lines will stay the same. The opposite is true for videos with a more square aspect ratio. Depth of Field is when objects that are far away or close up are blurry, putting more focus on what's in focus. Depth of Field is best practice in moderation, avoid going overboard with the blur and less under specific circumstances, which will be up to your discretion. Depth of Field is one of the most powerful focusing tools you have. Alright, seriously? Someone get me a new script. Depth of Field can draw the viewer's focus to whatever you want in the scene. Use it to do just that, and you'll think me later. You can force the viewer to look from one character to another by animating the focal distance. Focal distance is just where the camera's focus is, how far away that point is from the camera. You can use it to keep a moving object in focus, or change focus from one object to another. Can you please stop keeping track of how many times it's a focus? Stop! I can't describe this as anything more than a cheap trick. A letterbox is essentially when the frame of the movie is thinner than the usual 16x9. My favorite resolution is 1920x804, or more commonly referred to as 235x1. There is a simple material overlay you can apply to your videos that will limit your viewport to this resolution. You must make the video in this resolution the whole way through. This includes the final render. Don't be me and render a video with the black bars baked in, though there are some things that you should know. YouTube doesn't currently support end screens for videos in any resolution that isn't 16x9. And to that, I just have one thing to say. You give up a few things. Change in a dream. Source filmmaker won't actually render the video in 235x1, so you can render it in 16x9 instead, and then in Premiere or whatever editing programming you use, bring the resolution down to the 235x1. I will say that a baked in letterbox is acceptable if your video changes resolution throughout. Like this video. As a quick tip, rendering in 16x9 can make post processing easier if you have lens flares and whatnot that come in and out of the frame. And that should cover it for this episode of Rulathum. I hope you enjoyed.