Film Directing 113: The Director's Focus
/LEVEL 100 blogs are for film students and first-time directors taking on the directing role for a short film. The series is designed to help and guide new filmmakers through the director’s prep duties, pre-production activities, and principle photography dynamics.
The mind of your audience is the main concern
Focus is binary. A shot is either in focus – or it’s out of focus.
As a film director, the focus in your shot is either something that you want and can use, or it’s something that you don’t want and can’t use.
How do you know if a shot is in focus on set? Well, your camera team should tell you. The director of photography, the camera operator, and the focus puller are all watching – or they should be.
The next line of support is continuity, the assistant director, and the actors who probably know if they hit their mark or not.
It’s best to be assured of the focus before you move on to another camera setup. Checking the playback, if that option is available, can help you decide. And, once you make that decision, you are accountable.
If there’s any doubt, do another take.
Be happy with your shots and takes. Make them the best they can be. Once you’re in post-production, focus issues cannot be resolved.
Before you commit to having a questionable shot in your film, check it on a big screen. If you’re working in 16mm or 35mm film, project it.
If the focus is soft, and that was not your intention – don’t use the shot.
The director has a contract with the audience.
The audience will suspend their disbelief and willingly engage with the world, the story, and the characters you have created if you don’t break the ‘magic’ of their experience.
Putting a mistake in your film, such as a shot that is out of focus, is a breach of your director’s contract.
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Focus can be manipulated with the lens.
You can go from soft focus to sharp focus. Conversely, you can go from sharp focus to a blur.
Focus can be manipulated with movement.
Characters or objects can move into focus. Conversely, they can move out of focus.
If there is enough depth in a shot, you can shift the focus and go from a foreground character to a background character. Or vice-versa. This is known as a ‘rack focus’.
You can be narratively creative with a rack focus. You can:
emphasize what’s important,
direct attention,
assign meaning,
build tension, and
tell more than one story.
It's also fun to watch.
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A screen is two-dimensional, but when you craft a moving image that incorporates depth and focus, the audience will experience it as a three-dimensional event.
Directors achieve the illusion of depth by arranging the elements of the shot in layers or planes: foreground, midground, background.
You can stage, block, light, and focus attention when you have the right lens to emphasize the depth of your frame. More on this later.
You’ve probably watched a wide variety of focus use in countless movies. But as a director, you must ask important questions about the shots you are planning:
Where will your audience look?
What will hold their attention?
What will they focus on?
How does the director guide the attention and focus of the audience? Let’s look at three techniques:
Colour: a splash of colour in a monochrome world attracts attention.
Light: the brightest element in a frame directs the viewer’s focus.
Frame in a frame: seeing through a window, door, or keyhole makes people look.
Adding a camera move, such as following, moving closer, or zooming in, can further elevate the audience’s interest and engagement.
Bottom line...
Focus is a storytelling tool. Use it wisely.
Remember: the mind of the audience is the director's main concern. Nothing is more important.
