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Maintaining Focus

kalari Jack

kalari Jack

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Hi,

I was looking for some advice. I'm doing a shoot soon that involved a scene where the camera tracks from a FS straight down to the characters eyes. Although we have a follow focus kit I'm imagining that this would be a tough shot to pull off.

If I could get some pointers on how to approach this it would be of great help.

Cheers,
 
How about doing it reverse? That way the characters eye will be in focus. Of course it depends on the scene/shot.
 
Cheapo answer, but:
Get a good good focuspuller...

and/or
Test, mark, re-test, re-mark, shoot...

Reverse can be a good idea, too...

And if you don't have to shoot at t1.3, you'll make life easier for yourself...

I would BTW much rather shoot at a higher F-stop, than crop the image (to 3k/2k) to get deeper focus...
 
Thanks Jesper, it might be a possibility!

Gunleik Groven said:
Cheapo answer, but:
I would BTW much rather shoot at a higher F-stop, than crop the image (to 3k/2k) to get deeper focus...
Click to expand...

Gunleik, I understand shooting at the higher F-stop but could you explain a bit more about the cropping method?

Cheers,
 
I agree with Gunleik. Test and mark thoroughly, use a fatter stop, and also direct your talent not to sway as that close inches are critical. Shooting in reverse depends on the ability of the actors to perform in reverse, and the complexity of the scene. As to your crop question what Gunleik is referring to is the extra depth of field that occurs by making your "film size" smaller by cropping into the sensor size by shooting at 3K or 2K. But you are lowering your resolution, so a fatter stop is more desirable.
 
Or more exactly:
You don't get the shot...

It is fully possible to shoot a lot of images without a focus-puller...

As long as you don't do shot you cannot handle without a focus-puller... :-))
 
Hey, Been thinking about this in a bit more detail.

If the follow focus doesnt work then I'm thinking that I should probably use a wide lens (18mm) and track the camera into the lenses hyperfocus line (1.5m) and then potentially track in the rest on post. This is simply a backup plan if the follow focus turns out to be nightmare (working on a very tight schedule for the day).

This is purely theory so if someone could confirm if this can be applied in practice?
 
Stop down

Stop down

Its much easer to hold good enough follow focus on close shots if you can stop down.

I don't know if you can ramp the shutter angle and adjust the f/ ring at the same time, but going to f/22 when you are closer than 20cm would be a big help, even if you can't get full 4K res you make up more in the DOF.

We have an old 28mm Cooke from the late 1930' that is marked down to f/32 and probably goes to f/44 if you push the iris ring.

Its better to shoot with a 28mm for very close shots than an 18mm because you can get the "insane" look that the 14mm or 9.8mm if there is any tilt to the camera off level, and you don't need to get so close that the lens casts a shadow on what you are trying to get a close up of.

Another method used in the move "The Swimmer (1968). Burt Lancaster" was to do a zoom in rather than dolly all the way into the eyesocket as that would cause a shadow, then I think the put an optical zoom in an optical printer on top of that, you can get the CD and see how they did it, in several places in the film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063663/

Anyway, with digital you can make 100 takes at little cost, unlike shooting film, and you can playback and look at each frame to see if you go soft, unlike film where you had to wait and pay to get the bad news...
 
kalari Jack said:
Hi,

I was looking for some advice. I'm doing a shoot soon that involved a scene where the camera tracks from a FS straight down to the characters eyes. Although we have a follow focus kit I'm imagining that this would be a tough shot to pull off.

If I could get some pointers on how to approach this it would be of great help.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Do you know how to pull focus?

If not, start at pos1 and measure from focal plane to subject. Mark wheel. Repeat for each camera pos and subject. Do a rehearsal for marks. Shoot and get it.

The shot doesn't sound difficult at all. If you find it to be hard, hire a good focus puller. These are the 2 easiest methods. Anything else is...
 
Francesco Bonomo said:
Amen to that. "Saving" money by not hiring a good 1st AC when needed, 9 times out of 10 results in losing money exactly because you didn't hire him/her.
Click to expand...

100% true - as is the case when trying to "save" money by hiring ANY substandard crew.

However, I'd also suggest a remote controlled focus - it's way easier when doing extreme motions.
 
Yes, got myself a focus puller so it should be okay. Might just be more worried about it that I should be.

Thank you all for the help. It is very much appreciated!
 
Dan Hudgins said:
Anyway, with digital you can make 100 takes at little cost, unlike shooting film, (...)
Click to expand...

Just have to comment on this myth, which is fully untrue if you are on a set with actors and crew...

OK. The recording costs goes towards super cheap.

But the most expensive thing on set is the concentration of your actors and crew...


Gunleik (all for digital) Groven
 
I've done such shots several times.

Do it reverse. It's vital that the shot is dead sharp when close on the eye. Naturally this is the part where the focus has the most shallow DOF in the whole scene. The end shot, which is your beginning later, has to be in focus as well. But this is much easier to archive because the DOF is now much less shallow, due to the wider FOV. Good for the focus puller. The frames between can bare some softness.

Also you may zoom digitally into the footage in post to get even closer. When shooting 4k a 50% crop will be possible if 1080p is your final format without a significant loss of quality. Please bare in mind that only modern lenses deliver the full sharp resolution you need for that.

And thirdly, consider a zoom lens because you can add to the track an optical zoom which will then match better with the digital zoom done in post which again leeds to less problems with parallaxes shifting. Plus the changes of the distance is less challenging for the focus puller. And yes, of course, a t-stop of 4-5.6 is meaningful.

Hans
 
digital zoom

digital zoom

I just want to add a warning that what looks very sharp and in focus at wide might get softer when zoomed in digitally unless it was in perfect focus to begin with, so watch out if digital zoom is planned.
 
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