Depth of Field Explained: Ultimate Guide to Camera Focus [Shot List Ep. 4]

Chapters:
00:00 Intro — Depth of Field Explained
01:35 Deep Focus
03:32 Shallow Focus
05:42 Soft Focus
07:42 Rack Focus
09:53 Split Diopter Lens
12:10 Tilt Shift Lens
13:36 Final Takeaways
14:12 In the Next Ep: Camera Gear

Depth of field might be one of the last considerations filmmakers make when creating a shot list. But that doesn’t mean it should be ignored. In this video essay, we’re going to look at camera basics like depth of field and how camera focus is used in visual storytelling. With deep depth of field, shallow depth of field, soft focus, rack focus, split diopter lens, and tilt shift lens, each brings a different perspective to your shots. This is Episode 4 of The Shot List: Depth of Field Explained.

Deep depth of field allows for action in the foreground, middle ground, and background; perfect for blocking and staging chaotic scenes like the opening shot of Gravity. Shallow depth of field helps to isolate subjects and guides the viewer’s eye with purpose and meaning — it’s also a great way to get that bokeh effect. Moonlight is full of shallow depth of field cinematography, bringing an extreme level of intimacy to the Chiron’s emotional journey. Soft focus can be used in dream sequences or flashbacks to give the cinematography a nostalgic glow, like Spielberg did throughout A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

A rack focus is a great way to use shallow depth of field to make connections between subjects without needing to cut. Often using a follow focus controller, the focus puller can achieve even the most complicated shots, like in Bong Joon-ho’s The Host. The split diopter lens is ideal when you want to isolate foreground and background subjects simultaneously. Auteurs like Brian De Palma and Quentin Tarantino use split diopter shots all the time, including some stellar examples in The Hateful Eight.

And, finally, we have the tilt shift lens. Tilt shift shots are rarely used in filmmaking because they can produce pretty radical images. In the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man, cinematographer Roger Deakins was able to shoot the bar mitzvah scene by visualizing Danny’s marijuana-influenced perspective.
Directing and cinematography are all about using images to tell a story. With camera focus and depth of field in your bag of tricks, there’s no limit to how much “depth” you can bring to your shot list.

#FilmTheory #VideoEssay #Filmmaking

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00:00 Intro — Depth of Field Explained
01:35 Deep Focus
03:32 Shallow Focus
05:42 Soft Focus
07:42 Rack Focus
09:53 Split Diopter Lens
12:10 Tilt Shift Lens
13:36 Final Takeaways
14:12 In the Next Ep: Camera Gear

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[sindibadali]

This is definitely one of the best filmmaking videos on Youtube. The graphics, narration, and scene examples are all outstanding.

[kinzokuweeb]

I only learned shallow, deep, and rack focus at my college. I surprised that there more type of camera focus. Watching your video makes me learn more and more about filmmaking. Thank you for giving us this knowledge. 🙏🙏🙏

[dilipbhardwaj]

You may not earning much with these videos but trust me you are inspring, teaching and helping whole lots of young and budding filmmakers in this world.

[JonathanDavisKookaburra]

Split diopter can be done using two takes and the invisible split-screen method AKA split comping, no need for specialised lens.

[codydillard]

I'm so glad you're covering Camera Gear next, always found that to be intimidating but your videos are always easy to understand while going over specific details. Can't wait!

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I learned more from this shot list series than my entire media university. I wish StudioBinder was an online film school. I would happily join. The amount of value we are getting free is huge.

[brettturner]

Just bought a $30 split diopter, had no idea it was such a simple effect to achieve. Think I first saw it in a Hitchcock film then saw it at the cinema in Cape Fear, the shot in the video above. It was amazing to see on the big screen, Nick Nolte's face absolutely huge in closeup with Jessica Lange sharp in the background. Like they say used sparingly it's such a great device. Thanks for the tip!!!

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This episode was really "worth it", great job guys.

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Out of all channels this dives deepest into filmmaking and it is really good. Thank you. It helps out my channel a lot

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