A note on the underuse of deep focus photography in contemporary cinema and why it matters.

Deep focus, which Orson Welles and Gregg Toland pioneered in Citizen Kane, allows objects in both the foreground and background of a shot to be simultaneously in focus. The result is that the camera can present spatial relationships between characters without cutting — the viewer can choose where to look.

The technique went out of fashion partly because it required very wide lenses and powerful lighting — both technically demanding — and partly because editing became the primary tool for controlling audience attention.

What's lost when you cut rather than compose is the ambiguity of what the viewer is supposed to be watching. A cut tells the viewer: look here. A deep focus composition says: the important thing might be in the background. Or in the foreground. Or both simultaneously.

PTA uses it. Wes Anderson uses it in a more theatrical way. Nolan doesn't use it because his films are about controlling information, not creating space for ambiguity. The technique you choose is also an argument about what cinema is for.