Blog 5

 

1)  This is a still from Toy Story 3. In this image deep focus is being used to convey conflict. The shot keeps both the toys and fiery environment around them in clear focus. The toys terrified facial expressions and wide eyes exaggerate their shared conflict in their overwhelming environment, which adds to the tension. 

This picture is from Toy story 4. This still shows shallow focus being used to convey character development. Bo peep is in focus while her background is completely blurred, drawing the viewers attention to her and her expression. This scene shows how Woody views her, symbolizing that the whole world fades out and she's the only one he's focused on. By isolating her in this way, the scene highlights their bond and emphasizes her significance in Woody’s emotional journey.

 

This is a still from Toy Story 2. This still shows how soft focus is being used to convey character. Woody is isolated from his friends and appears very small in comparison to his surroundings. This scene shows how soft focus makes the landfill environment feel overwhelming, highlighting woody's vulnerability. The burring edges of the world, shows the immense threating space he's trapped in. 

2)  This is a  picture of Legos that I took. The image uses deep focus to convey development. All three figures remain clearly visible, but the cheese-head Lego is infront of the others, creating the sense that he's walking away. This can indicate his growing importance while other remain the same.

This is a picture of three Legos that I took. This picture uses shallow focus to convey character. The cheese head Lego looks isolated and emphasized. He becomes main-character of this shot because he's right infront of the camera making him the main focus. 

This is a picture of three Legos that I took. In this picture soft focus is being used to convey conflict. The blur suggest instability or uncertainty, which can be interpreted as the character feeling unsure of what to do because of recent high tension events. The motion blur emphasizes the sense of hesitation. 

3)   Creating my still photos presented a variety of challenges, each unique to the type of focus I chose. For the first question, I selected deep focus to convey development. This proved to be the most difficult because positioning the three Lego figures at the perfect distance so that none appeared blurry was extremely difficult. I spent a lot of time adjusting their placement and changing the lighting, trying to ensure that the figures in the back remained just as sharp as the one in the front. After many attempts and repositioning, I finally captured a shot where all three figures were clearly in focus, successfully showing development in the scene. For the second question, I chose shallow focus to convey character. Compared to deep focus, this was much easier because the adjustments I had made in the previous question helped me understand how distance and focus affected clarity. My main task was to refine the setup so that the subject stood out without losing the effect, which required less trials and adjustments. For the last question. I chose soft focus to convey conflict, and this was an entirely different challenge. Initially, I tried shaking the camera to create a blur, but the result looked messy and uncontrolled. After experimenting, I surprisingly found out that applying Vaseline to the camera lens worked very well. It created a soft, fuzzy, almost fairy-like filter that suggested instability and uncertainty, aligning perfectly with the sense of conflict I wanted to convey. Overall, these challenges pushed me to think about how technical choices like distance, lighting, and focus techniques all interact with storytelling. The trial-and-error process was annoying at times but it ended out being rewarding, as it taught me how small adjustments can communicate conflict, character, and development visually.