[nullify88]

Might be related but I'm finding recent TV shows and film to have a really narrow field of focus while the rest of the screen is either blurry like your example or a depth of field effect.

My eyes generally wander to look at the surrounding scene or detail but I get the feeling I'm not supposed to be looking there.

[moron4hire]

It's probably too blur out any imperfections in the background green screen, or to hide any uncanny valley lack of detail in the CG set. It's become basically standard practice to use a CG set of some kind in almost everything, because it's cheaper than shooting on site or on a fully detailed sound stage.

[xuhu]

To some degree the DoF feels like a trend, there will probably be movies in the 50's made in the Netflix style of the 20's.

[JeremyNT]

Is this at least partly due to higher resolution / larger displays? Better quality displays with higher resolution sources will make a difference between out-of-focus and in-focus more apparent.

[staticautomatic]

Maybe, but crazy shallow DoF goes back at least to Kubrick famously shooting parts of Barry Lyndon at f0.7.

[cialowicz]

Barry Lyndon was shot with an f/0.7 lens because Kubrick wanted period-correct lighting: candlelight, which required a super fast lens with the film used. To my knowledge he wasn’t going for shallow DoF.

[gannonburgett]

You are correct. This wonderful article taken from American Cinematographer goes over this very topic in great detail:

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/ac/len/page1.htm

[kwhitefoot]

I just want to say thank you for that link; it was an inspiring read. I think it's time to watch Barry Lyndon again.

[staticautomatic]

Be that as it may, the DoF is unavoidable unless every shot is insanely tight.

[hashingroll]

Not sure about TV shows but for films (especially Netflix originals), that's partly due to the recent trend of films getting shot for TV viewing experience. These films tend to have fewer "wide" shots and more "character" shots compared to the earlier theatre release only films.

[notatoad]

i'n not sure what you're watching, but it's probably at least partly because you're not supposed to be looking there - VFX cost money, and if they can blur or darken a bunch of the frame that makes it cheaper.