How does a filmmaker decide which aspect ratio to shoot in?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

I go away for a couple weeks and I mis out on another Ryan thread. Interesting topic but I’m curious about the progress and stage of this film. At one time it sounded like he was editing, then filming, distributing... The questions seem all over the place. Wouldn’t you have determined the aspect ratio before filming? You could re crop but nothing too dramatic otherwise it mess up the composition/quality. I can’t imagine the aspect ratio making or breaking his movie.

[Josh Bass]

Pretty sure the film is still in preproduction.

[Chris Hurd]

I thought he was in pre-production.

[Ryan Elder]

Yeah I'm planning it all out, raising money and in pre-pre-production I guess you could say. I want to wait till spring for actual production cause more time for nicer weather.

[Ryan Elder]

Originally Posted by Brian Drysdale

The viewer is being directed, but not by the shallow DOF, but by the composition, the action of the actors and the lighting. Humans are attracted by movement and whoever is speaking in a scene.

A number of films still use deep focus in some shots, if not the entire film; https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/de...ovement-angle/

However, you seem to be using deep focus for utilitarian reasons (not needing to pull focus), rather than for creative reasons.

Yep that's true, the DP/focus puller was not available that day so I decided on deep focus so I could still get the shoot done. I will go for more shallow DOF from now on, in close up shots. Is deep focus during action shots, where there is a lot of movement between the actors okay though, as long as it's for the artistry of seeing action in focus without having to pull?

[Brian Drysdale]

It's whatever works, just don't change the ISO of the camera for more DOF. Usually you tend to keep the same stop for a scene for a consistent look.

The focus puller should be able to follow the fast action as long as they've got a reasonable stop on the lens. Often action is in a wider shot, so it's not usually a problem, unless you're dealing with tight shots

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, but I thought the the aperture does change in a lot of movies, cause in a lot of movies, the aperture will be very deep for the master shots, but then shallow for the close ups. So don't a lot of movies change it in that sense?

[Brian Drysdale]

Check your depth of field tables, look at the relationship between focus distance and focal length of the lens plus the stops. For wide shots you commonly have a shorter focal length and/or film at a greater distance, while for the CU a slightly longer one and/or move in to be closer.

For practical reasons, you don't want to do a major change of lighting levels when shooting interiors, Higher lighting levels add to your costs, so you wish to keep that down. plus in the past, it increased the heat on the set. The stop used will vary, but f2.8/f3.5 is traditionally a good one because you can use a zoom lens, although with primes f2.0 - f 2.8 can be used. These stops also gave the focus puller a bit of a chance to keep focus, however, they'll need to be on the ball, Although I know one DP who was always f5.6.

Note they will be using T stops on cine lenses, but the difference won't be much with modern lenses, plus we're talking abut DOF.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay. What you mean is, is that the closer you put the camera to the actors, the more the background will go out of focus right?

How come the background is still in deep focus on the actresses close up in mine though? Why didn't it go out of focus more, as I got closer?

[Chris Hurd]

What was your aperture setting for that shot, Ryan?

[Ryan Elder]

Well since the focus puller couldn't make it that day and I didn't want the actors to go out of focus I think I set it around f11 to be safe. To deep to get shallow DOF in a close up?

[Brian Drysdale]

There's your answer, with that stop you'll be into deep focus territory.

Here's a DOF calculator, so you can see the difference changing the aperture makes. https://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html.

[Chris Hurd]

Yes, at f/11 your depth of field easily extended all the way to the background.

[Paul R Johnson]

The focus puller was absent, so you just changed the iris setting to prevent you having to focus while shooting? Come on Ryan - we are not talking about shooting on a Panavision camera, we have viewfinders and a ring to rotate - any cameraman worth his salt should be able to focus. The TV guys do it all the time, and they don't have somebody to focus for them. If you don't have a focus puller it's hardly the end of the shoot!

[Josh Bass]

In his defense pulling focus on small sensor cams yourself is no easy feat. Unless it’s something you’ve practiced repeatedly I wouldn't think you'd able to do it accurately.