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Only One Prime?

M

martinnoweck

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hi everyone,

out of curiocity i am doing some research - is there a feature film which was shot with a single prime lens, for example 18mm as the only lens for the whole film?

regards,
martin
 
As much as I now Rosemary's Baby by Roman Polansky was shot with a 25mm but that could be only a legend.
 
i cannot confirm this with appropriate quote, but some of miklos jancso's films were made in that manner.

filip
 
There's a thread about this here


We did a short film with only the Cooke 14 recently, that was fun.
 
All the films mentioned are brilliant.

Any crap movies shot on a single prime?
 
Orson Welles Touch Of Evil was shot entierly with an 18 mm lens.

Emmanuel
 
I just finished pulling focus on a 25mm Cooke S4, entire film was shot on 25mm. A Romantic Comedy, Cast was 11 women, 2 men. We used quite a bit of Slider, Dolly, Steadicam, & Technocrane moves. Very few shots were on Sticks...

For Shallow DOF, we were wide open on every shot, Even Day ext (w/Heavy ND).

It had nothing to do with Budget, even though it was low budget.
 
Almost all of Robert Bresson's films were shot entirely with a 50mm lens. And as someone above mentioned, a good many of Ozu's films, particularly his later ones, were also shot with 50mm lenses. Since they're two of the greatest filmmakers in the history of cinema, it's a pretty good indication that it can be done, and done well. Nor is it necessarily a sign of budgetary restrictions.

Edit: which is not to say anything bad about Cronenberg, Welles, and all the other brilliant filmmakers who have made great films with single primes.
 
I believe this was discussed a while back.

Alfred Hitchcock's Rope was shot with a single lens except for a couple at the beginning and end. It used only one take per film reel blended in creative ways. Not sure what lens it was but if Dave Mullins chimes in, I'll bet he does.
 
Children of Men was a phenomenal movie.

Found this on the History of Violence page, also a great movie. Is that the DP with the smurk on his face standing behind the Director? That and the tape that reads 35 makes me thing it is an inside joke type photo.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4162361344/tt0399146

Is 40mm that is the closest to the human eye? I keep hearing different things.
 
USlatin said:
Children of Men was a phenomenal movie.

Found this on the History of Violence page, also a great movie. Is that the DP with the smurk on his face standing behind the Director? That and the tape that reads 35 makes me thing it is an inside joke type photo.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4162361344/tt0399146

Is 40mm that is the closest to the human eye? I keep hearing different things.
Click to expand...

"Human vision is much different from that of a camera. The horizontal angle of view is about 120 to 140 degrees, which translates to 13 mm to 9 mm focal length with a 35 mm camera. However, we don't see very sharp over this entire field of view but only at the center. This part of our retina has an angle of view of about 60 degrees, which translates to 35 mm focal length. The area with the sharpest vision, the one that you use right now to read these lines, is even smaller. Its angle of view is only 2 degrees, equivalent to 1100 mm focal length."

from http://mhohner.de/essays/myths.php

So, yeah 40mm is pretty close to one part of our vision.
 
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