Focus question

A

Angelshare1

Well-known member
How do you focus two characters walking towards the camera?

I have a scene in which two characters are walking slowly through a hanging garden. It's supposed to be a dream sequence where one is leading another. How do I focus? Or rather what do I focus? The scene will have the camera holding still while the characters walk from lower left to right about 30 feet back. So they start out small, walk towards a spot a few feet to the right of the camera and off screen they go.

I don't have a follow focus and I'm a pretty low budget kind of guy. The camera is an HPX-170 and we'll be filming outdoors.

Where would I focus? Would I choose an area where the chacaters are simply close to the camera?

We're about 75% done with our film and this issue hasn't really come up yet so I feel kind of stupid asking it.
 
It's all up to you, you can focus on the leading character, or the follower or try and split the difference. Or you could just lock the focus and have them walk in and out of focus. You have a lot of options. What do YOU want to see?
 
Personally I'd follow the person who is doing the talking and shift/rack focus to the other person to highlight their facial response.. If that is the situation. I don't even know if the HPX170 can do what I'm talking about, I don't know anything about it.

Why not watch a number of movies that have similar situations and see what you like/dislike about them and choose what would work best?
 
Here is a DOF calculator, that requires you know your camera+viewing size 'circle of confusion', as well as the focal length of the lens used.


http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm

By using the calculator, you can see if the distances involved match what you are trying to do, if you do not want to 'follow focus' while your subjects are moving. The idea would be find the 'hyperfocal distance', and have the talent end their 'walk' at that hyperfocal distance point.

If you can't keep that distance, because you wanted them 'larger' in the frame, or what have you, then you'll have to change the focus during the motion of the talent.
 
hello Angel
hello everyone

you have to keep in focus the characters with focus ring, moving focus ring in sync with moving characters
or, by measuring the characters' average distance between the farthest and closest, you keep in focus that point, close iris for a deeper DoP so you have in focus the characters during all their walking and shoot!

(sorry my english, i'm using Google traslate, damn babel!!!)
 
If time permits shoot several different options if you can't determine the one shot you want. Who is the focus point of the scene? Is one character carrying the weight of the scene or are they both equal in their weight? If one character starts out as the lead then it shifts to the other character then you want to shift the focus in the same manner.
 
Since you'll be outside during the day I assume and you are using a camera with a fixed lens like the 170, you'll probably have a pretty deep depth of field unless you purposely throw some ND filters on the camera and open up your f-stop to almost wide open. Even then, you kinda have to force it by say putting the camera close to the main subject, zooming into a longer part of the lens and grabbing focuns on them, then placing your second subject farther away in frame. This works OK in close ups or the like but for a wider shot you won't really be able to achieve this.
 
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