MovieChat Forums > Kaze no naka no mendori (1948) Discussion > Focus and depth of field

Focus and depth of field

posted 16 years ago by olivermaynard
4 replies | jump to latest

OK, technical type of question here.

I saw this move last night and enjoyed it, but found focus to be a bit problematic - it was often quite unfocussed (I mean the whole image, not just parts unfocussed due to depth of field). Did other people notice this?

In addition, I noticed that the depth of field was very low for all shots (other than those of the gas containers). Was this used as tool to give the film a particular character? Is this typical of the director? Or of (maybe) Japanese movies of the time? Was this die to camera or lighting limitations?

Any (sensible) thoughts or responses on the subject would be thankfully received!

[–] overseer-3 13 years ago

Almost 3 years later and I am responding to your post.

Yes, director Ozu most often used low to the floor camera shots. Reason being that Japanese people spend so much time on the floor in their homes that Ozu felt this was a more realistic way to shoot films focusing on Japanese families. After awhile you don't even think about it anymore while watching multiple Ozu films.

The print that is floating around is too dark and has some problems, yes. This wasn't the fault of the original film, it probably looked beautiful on 35mm in the small theaters of the time. But the transfer might have been made using a poorer 16mm dupe. For my own copy I converted it with subtitles and used gamma correction and contrast to improve the image.

Maybe someday Criterion will restore it and give us better image and sound for this incredible picture.

[–] olivermaynard 13 years ago

thanks for the reply!!

Yes, I noticed the low to the floor camera angles, and understood it at the time.

I was actually referring to very low depth of field, where even the close background and even parts of the body were out of focus. That must be at filming.

Maybe when the whole shot was out of focus it was due to poor transfers from the original film.

[–] overseer-3 13 years ago

Very likely. We don't always get the best prints of Ozu films, most are locked up in archives. Even many of Criterion's releases have print problems.

[–] TangLong 9 years ago

Six years later from your post,I saw this great movie and it was a nice remastered copy where all the visual problems you mentioned didn't exist,so
as someone answered before could be that the copy you watched was poorly transferred.
My copy was published in 2006, but I verified that the company domaine doesn't operate anymore.