Deep Dof and Camera Movement

[Mindia Chlaidze]

As this is my first ever post on this forum i'd like to first of all kinda say hi and thank all the people involved. This place is extremely interesting and usefull both for amateur filmmakers and pros alike in every aspect.

 

As for my question i'd like to ask how is it possible to have a deep focus in a scene and move camera around? i mean panning little bit of tracking in an interior scene.

 

My question comes from watching this great movie of Woody Allen Manhattan Murder Mistery (1993).

A great cinematographer Dante Di Palma choses this hand held kinda guerilla style that makes a perfect choice in my opinion as it goes perfectly with the story,

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4RBtuuV7fNQ/T5WSlnYjqOI/AAAAAAAAQcU/i1AXduqszuU/s1600/Manhattan%2BMurder%2BMystery%2B11.jpg

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rVwvE9UnHVI/UW-HWZAL7WI/AAAAAAAIGYs/zyHiMa-nLQc/s1600/Manhattan_Murder_Mystery_1993-MSS-068.jpg

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6VyZTSksoM0/UW-FC9EQtlI/AAAAAAAIGQ0/PJa2eBBlE24/s1600/Manhattan_Murder_Mystery_1993-MSS-003.jpg

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3l_qa6M6qYA/UW-FVw6-NMI/AAAAAAAIGSE/aaM5F9Ke7Ww/s1600/Manhattan_Murder_Mystery_1993-MSS-014.jpg

 

 

So in this movie we see scenes in the appartments where there are characters free to move within certain logical range but camera moves at the same time it pans zooms in and out.

 

 

 

basically this is what i would like to know how is this done what kind of lenses etc.

 

 

and another question comes from the scene of surveillance. Diane and Woody are in their car while watching something bit far away so camera is on this hotel building away, then it pans to them in the car and everything is in focus this far away hotel and characters which are clearly much closer to the camera. Simple guess is Deep Focusing but how do you move camera in this case?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nFjkh6oREWw/T5WSclrLg6I/AAAAAAAAQbk/tJT2dkI_aCk/s1600/Manhattan%2BMurder%2BMystery%2B7.jpg

 

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I wouldn't say that the focus was super deep in that shot of them in the car, the car in the background is not sharp and the shot is not the close on the actors. But it's not shallow-focus either. Being an outdoor shot but overcast, it could have been shot at f/5.6 or deeper and the lens is a medium focal length.

 

I'm not sure why the depth of field would affect your ability to move the camera...

[Mindia Chlaidze]

Thank you very much for a reply. I saw some article that said that deep DOF makes it hard to move along with the camera. I had my doughts about that idea and that's what i really love about this forum that you'll always getting the respond from a well experienced professional. As i'm unable to experiment at this point and try different lenses and etc. myself such an information comes really handy. Thank you again Mr. Mullen.