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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Looking for features shot (largely) with a stationary camera

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jpp

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I'm looking for features shot largely with a stationary camera. Tilts and pans allowed, but generally no or few dollies and tracking.

Any period or nationality is fine, but I'm not looking for films shot largely or entirely with wide masters, or early sound films.

This is harder than you think.... Titles?
 
JPP, you might want to look at Pedro Costa's Colossal Youth. Shot in the Lisbon slums on DV. As far as I can remember, the camera never moves once. The movie is a total masterpiece. Come to think of it, I think all of his DV shot films are done with stationary camera.

Also, if you haven't seen anything by Tsai Ming Liang, you might want to check him out, too. Goodbye Dragon Inn is his best, IMO, and The River and What Time Is It There? are must-sees. Almost completely static camera, and they're excellent.

Come to think of it, there was a great Swedish film by Roy Andersson that came out a few years ago called Songs from the Second Floor. One tracking shot in the entire film, otherwise completely static camera. It's either the funniest depressing movie or the bleakest comedy I've ever seen.

EDIT: Upon brief reflection, some of these films would probably fall into the category of wide masters, though Colossal Youth is less so.

EDIT 2: Also most late Ozu.
 
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Jason,

Thanks, but what I'm looking for are films which effectively conceal lack of motion with shot structure and cutting.

All your suggestions are grand, but not for my purposes. As I remember, and as you note, they're all pretty much shot in masters.

Keep thinking....
 
Yep, back to the drawing board. Though I'd actually still recommend Ozu, but maybe a little earlier in his career. Late Spring in particular has a few tracking shots, but is largely static, and not shot in long master takes. Also exceptionally edited.

EDIT: Seems like there's a Bresson film that would work here, but can't for the life of me think of one in particular right now that I'm sure is shot with a stationary camera. Maybe Trial of Joan of Arc, but it's been awhile since I've seen it. You probably know better than I.

EDIT 2: Where do you stand on zooms? I would assume not the effect you're looking for, but figured it's worth asking.
 
Check out "Tokyo Story" 1957. Probably one of the most stationary films ever made. It's japanese and has really interesting shot compositions.
 
Jonathan Stevenson said:
Check out "Tokyo Story" 1957. Probably one of the most stationary films ever made. It's japanese and has really interesting shot compositions.
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That would be one of the late Ozu films I referred to in my first post - great movie.

EDIT: Again with the Japanese film side of things, you might also want to look at Mikio Naruse's work. When A Woman Ascends the Stairs and Flowing are good places to start. Very little camera movement, nor are his films shot only in long master takes.
 
JPP, any more luck finding such movies elsewhere? Would be interested to see what else you come up with.
 
Napoleon Dynamite. It may not be considered a masterwork of cinematography, but the fact that the camera never moves somehow adds to the humor. It's as if the operator were standing behind the camera, thinking: Uh, seriously?
 
Jason Murphy said:
JPP, any more luck finding such movies elsewhere? Would be interested to see what else you come up with.
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There seem to be a fair amount which are predominantly stationary, from the 30s and 40s, with the occasional track with character movement. So they're instructive, to that extent. And I guess any classically shot film, like Godfather I and II, might be helpful.

The only strictly stationary film I can think of, but haven't seen for a couple of years, is Tony Richardson's "Mademoiselle". I believe much of "Reds" is stationary, but have to check it out again.

As somebody noted above, there are the early Zhang period films, but as I recall there are a lot of masters in those films, as well.

There must be quite a few, for budgetary reasons, maybe forgotten B-pictures.... Trouble is, the older we go, the more removed they are from contemporary editing standards.

And as you note, Naruse is good source of largely stationary camera work, but not much of his stuff is available. BTW, A Woman Ascends the Stairs is a great film, if anyone here hasn't seen it, sensibility....
 
Alan Dague-Greene said:
Napoleon Dynamite. It may not be considered a masterwork of cinematography, but the fact that the camera never moves somehow adds to the humor. It's as if the operator were standing behind the camera, thinking: Uh, seriously?
Click to expand...

I agree completely. A lot of people hate this movie. I think it was just one of those gems that popped out of the indy world. And the stationary style certainly lends itself to the tone. Great example.

Jason Murphy said:
That would be one of the late Ozu films I referred to in my first post - great movie.
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Funny thing about Ozu in Tokyo Story is that when he shoots closeups, he has no 180. The actors are addressing the camera directly as if the camera was the other person in the scene. With each edit, the camera is doing an about-face and looking straight at each actor. That's really hard to get used to, I think.
 
Alan Dague-Greene said:
Napoleon Dynamite. It may not be considered a masterwork of cinematography, but the fact that the camera never moves somehow adds to the humor.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but Napoleon Dynamite violates the "no masters" rule. This deadpan comic style *was* interesting the first time around ("Stranger than Paradise", etc., 30+ years ago). Don't know about now, though.
 
"L'Aventurra" by Antonioni.
"Persona" by Bergman.
"Man With A Movie Camera" by Dziga Vertov.
 
Brandon Kraemer said:
"L'Aventurra" by Antonioni.
"Persona" by Bergman.
"Man With A Movie Camera" by Dziga Vertov.
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Come on, guys, keep it honest. L'Aventurra is full of tracks and moves. Persona is a bit more settled, but there's also frequent tracking and adjusting the frame.

Haven't see the Vertov for a long time, but that's non-dramatic in any case.

Liam Hall said:
Hitchcock's "Rope" was pretty static since it all took place in one room. "Twelve Angry Men" would be another.
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"Rope" is full of moves. The thread becomes meaningless if we expand the definition this broadly.
 
Liam Hall said:
Hitchcock's "Rope" was pretty static since it all took place in one room. "Twelve Angry Men" would be another.
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Rope has lots of dolly moves, I think the whole thing is a dolly move more or less. That was part of the metaphor for Hitchcock, he wanted the camera to move like a rope.

I think L'Aventurra has less tracking than you remember. It has lot's of panning and some subtle zooming, but the whole feel is very deep focus and static.

Look at the Vertov again. Sure it's not "narrative" in the dramatic sense, but it tells a story all the same and while it's full of panning, the only tracking shots within are where he uses natural moving objects as his platform, no "dolly shots". What always struck me about that film was how he used reflections and shadows to keep things moving in a way that made the action feel like it was wrapping around you, but the tripod was static.
 
Have you checked on any of the works of Peter Greenway? If memory serves, verticle features remake and A Zed and two Naughts were pretty "static" films - as was his The Draughtsmans Contract.
 
"In the Company of Men"
"Millenium Mambo"

Mambo starts with a famous steadicam shot, but the vast majority of the film is on planted sticks.
 
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