Blog Post #21- Depth of Field Usage in Films

Within films there are many elements from scene to scene. There are times where some elements may be more important then others and other times there are many elements within a film that are all vital to the plot. There are times when producers try to film certain scenes with different depths of field for the purpose of putting emphasis on these important elements so that the audience's attention is focused on the important element rather than elements that are not as vital to the film.

One common form of depth of field usage in films is a shallow depth of field. A shallow depth of field is when the shot has a focus on usually one element of the shot. Everything else within the shot is usually blurred for the purpose of directing the audiences attention to the important element of the film. When the shot is focused on one element such as a person, a shallow depth of focus can also put an emphasis on emotions being experienced such as love, anger, and sadness. 

Another form of depth of field that is common within many films is a deep depth of field. A deep depth of field if when the shot does not only have focus on one element and encompasses all the elements of the shot within the focus of the camera. This shot is used for the purpose of showing all the elements within a scene, usually because there is more than 1 important element that needs to be shown within the shot. A deep depth of field could also show other characters doing something that effects the main character of the film by having both the main character and the other characters within the depth of field. 

Within my film I plan to use both shallow depth of field and deep depth of field. For shallow depth of field, I want to use it for my scenes that will contain the main character of my film thinking about his actions. This will be paired with close up shots to grab the audiences attention to the character and to not show elements that do not have significance to the film. Deep depth of field will be used in my scenes where the main character is around friends for the purpose of not drawing the viewers attention towards 1 element and showing the audience the surroundings of the characters.