After doing some research into types of Focus used in film, I thought I would experiment with a camera and try a couple of them out myself.
Obviously I knew I wouldn’t be able to do the split diopter focus and a tilt shift focus, as they require specialised lenses, and I was only using a basic DSLR lens.
Rack Focus:
The first shot I wanted to try was the rack focus, as this was one of my favourite techniques used in The Lion King. I wanted to experiment with both big racks and subtle ones. A rack focus involves transitioning a shallow depth of field between different points of focus within a shot.
Shot #1:
The first attempt I tried at a rack shot was embarrassing because it didn’t work at all. I shot it outside, using my hands to hold up the camera as I had no tripod. Due to this, the shot is a bit shaky and I forgot which way to turn the lens so it didn’t even change focus throughout the shot.
The shot is a good example of a Shallow Focus though.
Shot #1, No tripod, Forgot which way to turn the ring, Fail.
Before I carried on taking videos, I decided to take photos to see which way I had to turn the focus ring to get the effect I wanted. Because the rack focus is a technique controlled by the camera operator/focus puller themselves, I switched my cameras focus settings from Auto to Manual.
These photos in itself show examples of different ways of using Shallow Focus.
Photos showing a Shallow focus, 1st with the background out of focus, 2nd with the foreground out of focus.
Shot #2:
The second attempt I shot I just practiced moving the focus ring left and right to get the feel of changing the depth of field.
The camera is really shaky again, as I wasn’t using a tripod but at least this shot actually created an effect I wanted it to.
Shot #2, No Tripod, Really shaky, Rack focus achieved.
Shot #3:
Now that I had got the idea of how to actually do a rack shot, I decided to use a makeshift tripod to stop the shakiness of the camera, and capture an actual scene to be used in a film.
Rack focuses are most commonly used to direct the audience’s attention to a certain detail with pin point precision. The effect also allows an entire sequence to play out without having to cut between scenes.
I found that after I set the camera down, I could adjust the focus ring so much easier as I didn’t have to focus on how steady my hand was. However I still feel like the focus at the start wasn’t as good as it could have been.
Because the shot was pointing towards the light from outside, the shot was to bright outside but it’s okay because I was focusing on making sure the rack shot worked
Shot #3, Makeshift tripod, no shakiness, and rack kind of worked but too bright.
Shot #4, Final:
I wanted to do a final shot pointing the camera away from the light so the brightness of the camera wouldn’t be affected.
I also wanted to add a bit of discordance in the shot as well, to draw my audiences eyes to the apple in the scene. The rack focus also helped to do that.
Final shot, worked the best out of all shots.
Soft Focus:
I also wanted to attempt to try a soft focus shot, as I had never heard of it before I did research, let alone tried it, so I thought it would be fun to experiment. A soft focus shot is when no portion of the frame is 100% sharp, and is achieved by:
-imperfections built into the lens
-diffusion filters
-stretching a stocking over the lens
-smearing vaseline on the lens
I don’t have a diffusion filter nor does the lens I was using have an imperfections built into it so I thought I would try to use vaseline.
I obviously couldn’t smear it directly onto the lens, as I borrowed the camera from UCA, and the vaseline probably wouldn’t wipe off. So instead I thought of using cling film wrapped over the top of the lens instead. That way it would still have the clear effect, but I would be able to smear vaseline over it as well.
Behind the Scenes:
The below time-lapse shows the process of me attaching the cling film to the lens and smearing vaseline on it.
Behind the scenes of applying the ‘soft focus lens’
I decided to take some photos to test out how well the effect looked and I liked how it turned out. The only problem I found was the fact I couldn't zoom in or use the manual focus with the cling film wrapped around the lens, so I had to rely on auto focus which didn’t really help. However, this did make the shot blurry at times, which I guess is the whole point of a soft focus, so it wasn’t too much of a problem.
Photos taken using the ’soft focus lens’.
I decided to film the shots outside because I thought that this effect would look better in nature. I liked how the shot gave a feeling of being disorientated outside and trying to find the way through the trees and bushes.
Shot #1, My cat running down the garden
Shot #2, Shots of a plant. Disorientated, lost feeling.
Conclusion:
Overall, it was really fun experimenting with different effects that I would have never tried if it wasn’t for this research. The end products didn’t turn out quite Hollywood standard but learning new technical processes was fun to do.
I will continue to try new things throughout this project, and implement research into practice.
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