Why do a lot of filmmakers seem to hate deep focus cinematography?

[Ryan Elder]

Well the script is not high budget like a comic book, but I was told it was in it's tone though.

[Josh Bass]

Is that what you INTENDED? Is that the movie you want to make? If not you should change it.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh well it's just I was told by some that the villains are comic-bookish in their criminal motives, and I should make them more realistic. But then others who read it told me that that's okay, and there is nothing wrong with that kind of tone.

So intended the script to be what it is, whether it's realistic, or a comic, or whichever. Perhaps I don't know the name of the exact genre, but I know what I intended in terms of story.

[Brian Drysdale]

The villains can be comic bookish in their motives, a whole range of such characters exist in films, It's how interesting they are and if they're doing good - in their own eyes.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, so maybe it's not a realistic crime thriller if they are comic book-ish in their motives then...

[Brian Drysdale]

An article on deep focus and thoughts on a possible return.

https://www.redsharknews.com/product...t-the-only-way

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Brian Drysdale

An article on deep focus and thoughts on a possible return.

https://www.redsharknews.com/product...t-the-only-way

Thanks for sharing. A welcome respite from having to hear about breaking the you know what rule.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay thanks. I don't have to do the project in deep focus, it's just that I thought it would look better to have three characters for example all in focus while talking instead of just one at a time, and taking turns wrack focusing.

Unless taking turns wrack focusing is better, if the locations do not have the most cinematic backgrounds?

[Josh Bass]

I literally just finished watching Unsane, which is a 2018 horror-adjacent movie shot on a freakin’ iPhone. The cinematography is cool as hell and there is not a single shallow focus shot to be found. Deep focus can look fantastic. They did what they did with blocking, angle choice, color, lighting and location/set design.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay thanks, I will check that one out. Since I am not allowed to paint locations normally, I thought I would just color grade them in Da Vinci and use the qualifier to separate the skin tones, like tutorials show. But every time I try to separate the skin tones, there is more noise on the footage, cause I keep failing to get it to separate correctly it seems. Is it possible to do this in Da Vinci resolve? Cause if I could control the color of the backgrounds, it will look better for deep focus of course.

I watched the trailer for Unsane. The deep focus looks good in wide shots, but I wouldn't want it in close ups. If it's a close up of just one actor who need to be in focus I might as well make the background shallow and only have deep focus on wider shots with multiple actors in them I figure, if that's a good idea?

[Brian Drysdale]

That choice is up to up you; but deep focus works with CUs as well, however, you have to think about the cheacters' relationships, framing etc. You don't need a shallow depth of field to direct attention, as you would in a still photograph, since there is movement etc in a film

.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh well it's just I guess I am worried it's a toss up. One the hand a lot of filmmakers and some cinematographers think that deep focus looks like 'home video', or at least they do based on conversations in the past.

On the flip side of that, master shots with more than one person in might look bad, if it keeps wrack focusing from person to person rather than allowing to the viewer to look at who they choose. So I thought maybe it was best to compromise and have deep focus for the wide shots, and shallow focus for the close ups. But it was just a thought.

[Brian Drysdale]

Deep focus will look like home movies if you make a film that's shot like a home movie,

[Ryan Elder]

Okay got ya. So what is the advantage of deep focus in a CU, of just one actor then?

[Brian Drysdale]

it will match in more if the rest of the film is deep focus, however, you do need to think more about the background and what it's saying about the character.