What Is ‘Cinematic Visual Depth’ & How Can We Achieve It?

What is the difference between an amateur video and a cinematic-looking video? Apart from the video resolution, bitrate, dynamic range, and all such technical variables, what, in my opinion, truly separates an amateur-looking video from a cinematic video is the ‘Visual Depth’. The more the visual depth the more cinematic the visuals look.

But what is Visual Depth? Let me explain.

We see the physical world in three dimensions: 1. Length, 2. Width, and 3. Height. The downward measurement of height is called depth.

The physical world contains three visible dimensions, namely Length (X), Width (Y), and Height (Z). The Downward Measurement Of Height Is Called Depth.

However, in movies, we only get to operate on a two-dimensional plane that has length and width but no depth.

Cinema is an emulation of reality, if not replication of it. Cinematographers use various tools to emulate how we perceive the real world with our eyes. To give you an example, I want you to raise your forehand and place it a foot away in front of your face. As you look at the hand, observe how the background goes into blur. Cinematographers emulate this effect, using lensing, to make the audience feel a sense of natural immersion.

Using this example, I hope I’ve also demonstrated why it is important to emulate a sense of the third dimension, aka depth, in our movies. Cinematographers artificially separate the foreground from background to create an illusion of depth by using tools such as Composition, Lighting, Lensing, Blocking, Color, and Texture.

1. COMPOSITION

A. Lines: Cinematographers aim to compose the frame in a way that creates lines in an imaginary Z axis.

Here are some examples:

In These Shots Observe How The Lines Are Used To Create The Illusionary Third Dimension. In The Absence Of These Lines, These Visuals Would Have Looked Pretty Two-dimensional Without Any Depth.

B. Frame Inside The Frame: Using this composition technique cinematographers create an illusionary division of the Spatial fields a.k.a. the foreground and background on the 2D plane.

Here are some examples:

In These Shots Objects In Front Of The Actors Are Used To Frame Them In. ‘The Frame’ Separates The Actors From The Foreground.

C. Shooting Through Foreground Objects: Cinematographers shoot their subject by having something in the foreground in order to avoid making the shots look flat.

Here are some examples:

In These Shots The Actors Are Shot Through Foreground Objects To Create Depth.

D. Having A Foreground, Mid-ground & Back-ground: By having a clearly defined foreground, mid-ground & background in the frame, Cinematographers emulate the three-dimensional space.

Here are some examples:

The Green Box Shows The Background While The White Box And The Orange Box Show The Mid-ground And Foreground Respectively. Covering The Three Planes In One Frame Creates A Sense Of Depth.

2. LIGHTING

A. Low-Key Lighting:

Take a look at the following two circles. Which one do you think has a sense of depth?

On The Left Side Is A Plain, Two-dimensional Circle. The Same Circle Obtains An Illusionary Third Dimension A.K.A. Depth, On The Image Right Side.

Cinematographers use contrast, also known as low-key lighting to create a sense of three dimensionality.

Here are some examples:

The Difference Between Light And Shadow On Human Faces Creates An Illusionary Sense Of Depth Just The Way It Did To The Circle In My Previous Demonstration.

B. Separating The Foreground & Background Using Lighting:

Cinematographers use this technique to create depth in two ways:

i. They illuminate the background right behind the subject separating the foreground subject from its background.

Here are some examples:

The Edge Portion Of The Actor’s Hair Has Been Separated From The Background With The Help Of Light.

See How The Subject’s Edge Is Separated From The Background Due To Lighting.

Imagine these shots with no background illumination. The subject would have been blended in the background which would have killed the foreground — background separation.

ii. They illuminate the background regardless of the subject’s position in the shot. Here is an example:

Background Is Lit To Enable The Foreground — Background Separation.

iii. Having Practical Sources Of Light In The Background:

Placing the light sources in the background or in the foreground is a technique that creates the illusion of depth.

Here are some examples:

In The Absence Of The Practical Lights, These Shots Would Have Looked Super Flat Without Any Depth.

iv. Back-lighting the subject: Backlight the subject creates a clear separation between the foreground and background.

Here are some examples:

Backlighting An Actor Separates The Actor From The Background Resulting In Illusionary Depth.

3. LENSING

As I mentioned earlier in the article creating a background blur (or shallow depth of field) is the easiest way to separate foreground from the background.

Here are some examples:

A Simple Background Blur Helps Separate The Actor From Background Creating A Sense Of Depth.

4. BLOCKING:

The process of positioning actors on the set is called Blocking. Sometimes the placement of actors helps create depth.

Here are some examples:

In These Shots, Instead Of Using Objects From The Environment The Placement Of The Actors Is Used To Create Illusionary Depth By Creating Lines.

In These Two Shots Observe How The Placement Of The Actors Has Created A Sense Of Depth By Clearly Defining The Foreground, Midground And Background.

5. COLOR

Color is a powerful tool that the cinematographers (with the help of production designers and digital colorists) use to separate the subject from the background. Using a complementary color scheme (cold colored background against the orange human skin tone) is one way to separate the subject from its background.

Here are some examples:

By Having A Cold Colored Background Against The Orange Colored Human Skin-tone Helps Create Foreground — Background Separation.

6. TEXTURE

Here is what James Friend, the cinematographer of All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), has to say about texture in movies:

Just the way cinematographers use shadows to create three dimensionality they sometimes make use of specular highlights (brightest parts of an image) resulted from texture to create a sense of three dimensionality.

Here are some examples:

The Specular Highlights In These Shots Help Create A Sense Of Poppiness Creating Depth.

Cinema has no rules. Every shot doesn’t have to have cinematic depth. One needs to understand how depth helps them tell their story better. Also thank you for reading my blog so far. I’ll meet you on my upcoming YouTube Channel where I talk about movies in-depth. I’ll make the announcement soon. Until then, farewell.