N.25 | "Us" (the split diopter: telling a story that unfolds at different focal points), Rodriguez on film school vs my experience plus more

JOURNAL ENTRY

Feb 02, 2025: we’ve started working on the 10-min film at film school. We posted a casting call on StarNow and some Facebook groups. We had auditions yesterday. All went well. We have the two lead characters and the extras. We’ll shoot the entire film (six scenes) through next weekend and the following Monday.

Besides that, I’ve been busy shooting a nano film. It’s almost done. I’m impressed by the amount I learn every time I do these little shitty things by myself.

FILM STORYTELLING

Us (the split diopter: telling a story that unfolds at different focal points)

In the film Us (2019), director Jordan Peele decides to use the split diopter to convey a sense of depth in the scene: watch 1 min 4 sec clip here.

The split diopter shot captures two separate focal points in sharp focus. This is achieved through a special lens able to independently focus on two different focal points — while leaving the middle area blurred.

Peele uses this device to show a story that is unfolding in both the foreground and the background. The director does that without using deep focus or without racking focus. In the scene, you have two characters doing different things at different focal distances. They both look crisp on camera.

The split diopter is used rarely though. That’s because the effect is unnatural. The human eye can see with either deep focus or shallow focus — not both at the same time. The impossible perspective of the split diopter can easily pull the audience out if used too often or in the wrong way.

A director that really loves this storytelling device is Quentin Tarantino.

Tarantino used the split diopter in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and The Hateful Eight.

TIDBIT I’M PONDERING

Rodriguez on attending film school vs my experience

In the book Rebel Without a Crew, Robert Rodriguez makes a point against film school. I’m in the middle of a A$3,300 film-school investment that is lasting 5 months (till March 2025).

I’m highlighting a few points by Rodriguez and making a parallelism with my experience.

Rodriguez says that:

• “You don’t really learn storytelling in film school anyway.” → true: up until this point, I’ve been shown a lot of technical stuff but not much about storytelling. Nothing wrong with the course. Storytelling is something you learn by doing.

• “Even when they teach you storytelling, you’ll learn to tell stories like everybody else.” → true: I was shown how to do over-the-shoulder shots and things like that. Again, nothing wrong with the course, but they don’t really teach you how to be different and think critically. That’s because you can only learn that by doing.

• “They won’t teach you how to make a movie with no money and no crew.” → kind of true: I’m learning that there are ways to get locations for free, actors that work for free, friends and family as extras, props from the crew etc. That is the way to make a film “for free” these days.

We’re about to shoot a 10-min short film. That’s what I really signed up for in the first place. I want to get experience on set. Plus, I got to network with fellow filmmakers.

Rodriguez says at some point:

Source: From Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez (paraphrased and/or quoted).

FILM STORYTELLING

Hot Fuzz (crowd shot example)

When you have two people in a shot, that is called a two-shot. When more than two characters are added to the frame, you have a three-shot, and then you have a four-shot and so on.

When there’s a group of people together in the frame, you have a crowd shot. No matter the number of people in the shot — you're creating a relationship between them.