Cats
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Cats in Shallow Focus: A Cautionary Tale
Despite an all-star cast, an Oscar-winning director and source material from one of Broadway’s most well-known composers, Cats managed to become a widespread commercial and critical failure. Because the film should have been a recipe for success, it may seem hard to pin down exactly what went wrong during the process, but one of the primary problems is not that complicated—director Tom Hooper’s misuse of one of the most foundational, fundamental tools in a filmmaker’s toolkit: depth of field. Hooper is famously (or perhaps infamously) a fan of shallow focus. He likes having extremely blurry backgrounds, while the shot focuses […]
by Steven Greenwood on Jan 22, 2020 -
Watch: “Cats Die Funny, Dogs Die Sad”
When a dog dies on screen it is universally portrayed as upsetting. The demise of a cat, meanwhile, is often used as a gag. Over at Fandor Keyframe, Jacob T. Swinney takes a look at the discrepancy in emotional response when an animal dies on screen.
by Marc Nemcik on Jul 26, 2016
