Independent Filmmaker Mistakes: Lack of Depth

Welcome to our second installment of “5 Common Mistakes Made by Independent Filmmakers”. Today we’re going to discuss the topic of depth as it relates to films and documentaries.

There is a sense of flatness and 2 dimensionality in many independent films that hurts the perceived production value of the film. This is caused not only by the safe choice of “fronty” lighting, but also by poor production design.

This blog post won’t explore how to use light to help mould shadows around your subjects to create the illusion of three dimensions (as this subject deserves a blog post onto itself), but we will discuss how you can incorporate a strong sense of depth by being aware of your foreground, middle-ground and background.

Many independent filmmakers (to their own demise) hyper-focus on one layer of depth within their composition. For instance, they may place their subjects in the middle of a room and put all of their attention into the middle-ground of the frame with no attention to the placement or design of their background or foreground.

Our previous blog post discussed the issue of designing your background, and now this blog post will discuss background and foreground placement.

Don’t forget that film (like photography) is a two dimensional medium. Filmmakers need to incorporate depth and shadow to help create the illusion of three dimensions. This way audiences forget they are watching a 2 dimensional interpretation of reality on a flat screen, and instead trick themselves into thinking they are looking at a real environment with normal spatial qualities.

A strong foreground element helps give the audience the feeling of “being there”. An object in the foreground helps the audience position themselves in the frame. For example, look at the use of a strong foreground in the following image. Notice how it brings you into the frame?

Even if your main focus is in the middleground you can always use a shallow depth of field to help isolate that layer in paticular. In many films, foreground and background elements are in soft focus while the middle-ground (if that’s where the actors are) is in sharp focus.

In order to get this soft quality to your image, it’s helpful to use a long lens and position your camera far away from your subjects. This will allow you to zoom in and slightly and blur your background without loosing the context of the environment.

When people focus on something, our eyes naturally become selective. For example, while you look at this screen right now, your eyes have adjusted themselves to slightly blur whatever is behind your screen. The more space there is behind your screen the softer your focus will be.

Slightly softening the sharpness of your background helps you isolate the area you want your audience to focus on. However, many filmmakers don’t want to use extremely shallow depth of field because they want their background to provide context and important environmental information. If your background was completely blurred then your audience wouldn’t have a sense of the environment.

Watch the following  Nuri Bilge Ceylan trailer for his film “Three Monkeys”. Pay attention to his use of shots with a strong foreground, middle-ground and background.

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