Extending on this embodiment of emotion within the camerawork, I believe technical choices around focus of the lens, and off-speed recording can further create add to the subjectivity of the camera's perspective.
Beyond shallow depth of field isolating a character from its background, placement and movement of the focal point help guide the audiences gaze within the image, but can embed another layer of emotional point of view through context and contrast with the subjects of a frame. This is especially true in relation to time, “focus can be used as a way of delaying or propelling time, by accelerating pulling focus before the actors move, or the converse” (Greenhalgh, 2005).
Beyond shallow depth of field isolating a character from its background, placement and movement of the focal point help guide the audiences gaze within the image, but can embed another layer of emotional point of view through context and contrast with the subjects of a frame. This is especially true in relation to time, “focus can be used as a way of delaying or propelling time, by accelerating pulling focus before the actors move, or the converse” (Greenhalgh, 2005).
Its something I want to experiment with more deliberately in Death Doula, to help visualise moments of internal thought, by further separating Annie from the world around her through shallower and more selective focus, potentially even pairing with off-speed motion, similar to that used in ‘Fish Tank’.
I resonate deeply with Christopher Doyle’s use of slow motion, seen here in ‘In the Mood for Love’. As Chris describes, he changes speed at 'decisive', 'epiphanal' or ‘revelatory' moments (Doyle, 1998). In combination with its camera movement and movement within the frame (and that beautiful score), the slow motion stirs emotions in my watching that are difficult to define.
Time and focus are perhaps the most subjective and intuitively based techniques and aesthetic qualities within this research, as such, there is far more for me to discover about their use through practice. So, I’ll conclude this section with another quote from Christopher Doyle:
“Focus is not a technical detail. It is a feeling, an intuition, a perception, a direction, a drama. The most irritating of film compromises is ‘racking’ (adjusting focus) back and forth between characters in a conversational two-shot” (Doyle, 1998)