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Film & Television vocabulary · Shots and Camera Movements

Rack focus

Meaning in film & television, with examples

nounCommon term

In film & television, rack focus means: A deliberate change of focus from one subject to another within the same shot.

In Turkish: netlik kaydırma

How it is used

Directors use a rack focus to guide attention without cutting to another shot.

Example sentences

  1. A rack focus reveals the stranger behind the woman at the window.

    Attention moves from the foreground to a new threat.

  2. We delayed the rack focus until the actor put down the letter.

    The focus change is timed to a specific action.

Common collocations

  • perform a rack focus
  • slow rack focus
  • shotOne continuous piece of film recorded from the moment the camera starts until it stops, or the piece of it that appears between two cuts.
  • cinematographerThe head of the camera and lighting departments, who decides with the director how the film will look: framing, lenses, camera movement and light.

More terms: Shots and Camera Movements

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