Blue is the Warmest Color-Long lens photography

[Micheal Del Castillo]

I just watched Blue is the Warmest Color and noticed that the entire film was shot on a longer lens. It looked somewhere around a 75mm to 100mm.
I thought it was a beautifully shot film almost entirely in close ups.

I'm trying to put together a list of films that are shot this way, entirely on 75mm+ lens, because I'm considering shooting a short this way.

Does anyone know of other movies shot this way?

 

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I had read that this film "Blue is the Warmest Color" was shot with Canon EF 24-70 f2.8 lens. Instead of renting, to save money they had bought two Canon C300 cameras with two EF24-70 f2.8 lenses and shot the film with it.

 

[Nick Morrison]

Looks like glass may also have included Angy zooms, at least according to this article:
http://www.fdtimes.com/2013/06/11/angenieux-zooms-on-cannes-films/

 

[Peter Granqvist]

hi michael,

actually "La vie d'Adèle" was shot on a Canon EOS C300, using various Angenieux Optimo Lenses (to my knowledge it wasn't just the Angie 28-76)...

you can check out "Aruitemo, aruitemo" (Still Walking, 2008) by Hirokazu Kore-eda...

if I'm not completely mistaken he used a good amount of long shots too... is a wonderful film anyway...

the works of Asghar Farhadi come to mind too... Susanne Bier used Angies on "Hævnen" (In a Better World, 2010) doing very tight shots at crucial moments of the film...

hope this helps a little...

best,

p.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Kurosawa movies are famous for their use of long lenses, especially by the late 1950's. Take a look at "Red Beard", amazing long-lens anamorphic photography -- but not tight and shallow-focus, but wide and deep focus:

Early Tony and Ridley Scott movies are also great examples of long-lensed photography.

 

[A. Clint Litton]

Back in the early Red One days, there was a film shot predominately on a 300mm lens with NYC as a backdrop: The Exploding Girl.

Here's an old thread discussing it:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-41167.html

Mostly available light, canon 300mm lens and some zeiss supers/standards in the mix.

Definitely worth taking a look if you're interested in shooting something entirely on longer focal lengths.

 

[Mark Wilkinson]

Crimson Tide and just in general a lot of Tony Scott's work.

 

[Micheal Del Castillo]

This is a great list! Thank you for your time, guys.

 

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Kurosawa movies are famous for their use of long lenses, especially by the late 1950's. Take a look at "Red Beard", amazing long-lens anamorphic photography -- but not tight and shallow-focus, but wide and deep focus:

Early Tony and Ridley Scott movies are also great examples of long-lensed photography.

Thanks David for reminding!

"Red Beard" is an amazing movie. In this scene, Kurosawa has played with shadow of this man's hand lengthening upwards when he says that his dead wife is coming to take him. In one scene, the shadows of three people forming a repeated pattern was nice. I had loved the play of shadows in that movie.

Kurosawa used to use long lenses along with wide shots to juxtapose. I remember some of the shots from The Seven Samurai as well where he had used super telephotos and then immediately wide angle shot of the village or people. Kurosawa's High and Low as well as Yojimbo are the other films that are in the top of my mind.

 

[Linda Barzini]

Personally I thought this was an abuse of the close up. I kept wanting to see some wide establishing shots for a frame of reference. It was very distracting to me and took away from the story telling.

I thought the acting of the two girls was fantastic, especially the younger one.