Depth of Field: Gregg Toland, Citizen Kane and Beyond

Depth of Field: Gregg Toland, Citizen Kane and Beyond

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Tim Wilson April 23, 2021

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Whenever somebody equates shallow depth of field and cinematic look, it's good to remember that the opposite is sometimes true. Gregg Toland, ASC was the first master of extreme depth of field, and movies like Citizen Kane and The Grapes of Wrath forever changed what it is possible for humans to do with cameras. Here's a look at what that means for YOUR shooting.

Whenever somebody equates shallow depth of field and cinematic, somebody else brings up cinematographer Gregg Toland, the first master of deep depth of field.

He is most known today for 1942's Citizen Kane, but his first big year was 1940, when he was both nominated for an Oscar (Intermezzo: A Love Story) and WON for Wuthering Heights, both in the Cinematography: Black and White category! This was also the year that he lensed Grapes of Wrath for John Ford.

However, Toland's work on Citizen Kane put him in a new kind of spotlight: Orson Welles shared his own card in the credits with Toland.

data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004914/KANECREDITS.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408251 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004914/KANECREDITS.jpg 640w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004914/KANECREDITS-300x225.jpg 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004914/KANECREDITS-624x468.jpg 624w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004914/KANECREDITS-50x38.jpg 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004914/KANECREDITS-100x75.jpg 100w data-sizes=(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px />It was entirely unprecedented, and entirely deserved. His work in Citizen Kane was every bit as daring as anything else in this daring picture. Depth of field is only one part of it, but a really, really big part, and redefined what was possible for humans to do with movie cameras.

When you see them on a proper screen in Blu-ray, or heck, VHS on an improper one, you can see all of this more clearly than in these skanky web pictures, but here's one of the pivotal scenes from Citizen Kane. There are the three people in the foreground, with young Charles Foster Kane playing outside the window, but there's much more to this than just foreground and background. Look at the extra layers provided by the sheet of paper, the doorway, each the beams of the ceiling, and the chair before we even get to young Kane in the window!

data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004942/agnes2.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408252 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004942/agnes2.jpg 720w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004942/agnes2-300x225.jpg 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004942/agnes2-624x468.jpg 624w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004942/agnes2-50x38.jpg 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17004942/agnes2-100x75.jpg 100w data-sizes=(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px />This is another of my favorites shots, which is also an example of the use of ceilings in the movie. That's a discussion of its own (largely because movie studios didn't, and still often don't, have ceilings at all) but look again at depth. There's the rail, the speakers, and, perhaps most dramatic to me, the ceiling lamps. I'm trying to sound calm, but I remember nearly falling out of my chair the first time I saw this one:

data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005007/kane.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408253 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005007/kane.jpg 490w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005007/kane-300x184.jpg 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005007/kane-50x31.jpg 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005007/kane-100x61.jpg 100w data-sizes=(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px />(This is one of the examples that illustrates, if we're going to talk about Toland's cinematography, we have to talk about lighting and you do, but I'm not. This got started with a talk about depth of focus, not the way to achieve it.)

I have some other great examples from Citizen Kane, but I wanted to jump to Grapes of Wrath. I first SAW Toland's work in Citizen Kane, but I truly fell head over heels in love with it in Grapes of Wrath. I guarantee that it's been too long since you watched this movie, and I guarantee you'll be floored by it.

Not an iconic frame like the ones from Kane, or others from Grapes, but a bizarrely effective example of deep focus. Even in a shot as simple as this one first appears, start peeling back the layers and see how many individual focal points he could have chosen. (If this was school, I'd ask you which one you think he chose, and ask you if you think I just asked the right question.)

data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005031/joad.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408254 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005031/joad.jpg 580w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005031/joad-300x216.jpg 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005031/joad-50x36.jpg 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17005031/joad-100x72.jpg 100w data-sizes=(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px />When we're

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