Watch: All 15 Split Diopter Shots in Brian DePalma’s ‘Blow Out’

Los Angeles-based film editor Vashi Nedomansky writes about visual effects, low budget filmmaking and editing techniques on his blog. Recently, he wrote about how filmmakers split the focus in a shot by using a split focus diopter, a half convex glass that attaches in front of the camera’s main lens, enabling the lens to focus on something in the background while the diopter captures the foreground. A split diopter creates an illusion of deep focus. Brian DePalma was one of the first American directors to experiment with a split focus diopter. Nedomansky wrote about the director’s use of the split focus diopter, specifically in “Blow Out.” He created a video which features all 15 split diopter shots in the film. Check it out below: