Shooting an Entire Film With One Lens?

[Nils J. Nesse]

What lens would you take to the set/location - if you could only have one?

I could take a guess and say a 35mm (in 35mm) because it's moderately wide-angle but you can get close to a face without too much distortion.

I agree if we're talking 35mm still (or Vistavision); for Red (or S35mm) I'd take something like a 24mm.

Yes I really like the idea of shooting an entire film with one lens. Maybe because I believe in the idea of (self imposed) limitations in the creative process.

Maybe we could have a reduser competition of "Best short film shot entirely with the Red 300mm".

 

[P Andersson]

Nice. Love the way it's cut. IBloom

Very cool. I love the bubble in the bedroom. By the way, what exact lens was it? Also what format, etc.

thanks guys

Lens was a 10mm, Camera was Arri 16mm, Tri X pushed one stop

we brought a zoom, but didn't use it for the reasons discussed above, to bring restrictions to the shoot
(after the first day, the generator broke so the old house is only lit with one light, another interesting restriction that has been talked about a lot, it was an HMI 2K)

 

[Ash Bolland]

The fastest zoom I could find.

Otherwise, the question is unanswerable. I could take a guess and say a 35mm (in 35mm) because it's moderately wide-angle but you can get close to a face without too much distortion, but someone else would say a 27mm or a 40mm depending on their tastes.

Someone might even say an 18mm because they prefer wide-angle shots, whereas someone else (like Ozu) may say that's unacceptable and would rather deal with the limitations of a 50mm in terms of view because they like that perspective.

And it also depends on if this is an exterior location or an interior one.

And all of that is ignoring the visual intent of the project.

Remember that a 50mm is not as wide vertically in widescreen formats like 1.85 as it used to be on 1.37 Academy. Hence why the 40mm and 35mm have become more common as the "neutral" focal lengths in standard 1.85.

Thats interesting - about 40 -35mm - thanks

 

[Manfred Lopez]

thanks guys

Lens was a 10mm, Camera was Arri 16mm, Tri X pushed one stop

Cool. Thanks for the info. So that's an equivalent of a 20mm in the 35mm world, right? So I see a pattern here with people favoring the 18mm range on the wide side. Interesting...

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Unless the director and I decide we want a wide-angle look to the movie, I naturally gravitate towards the medium focal lengths, generally trying not to go wider-angle than 24mm or 27mm, and trying to stage masters with a 35mm if I can.

 

[Jozo Zovko]

On shooting entire films with one focal length...

Watch the films of

Robert Bresson
and
Yasujiro Ozu

With them its really not just a single film shot with one lens - but an entire career usually at 50mm - and at 1:33

Have a good day
Jozo Zovko

 

[Rudi Herbert]

Unless the director and I decide we want a wide-angle look to the movie, I naturally gravitate towards the medium focal lengths, generally trying not to go wider-angle than 24mm or 27mm, and trying to stage masters with a 35mm if I can.

Agreed (heck, I find myself agreeing with David far too often, which could be minsconstrued as brown nosing instead of professional affinity anyway, that's a risk I'm willing to take) for most work I would try and stay with the medium lenghts which yield the most natural looking results. And I got my first start in professional imaging underwater, which means no lens was ever wide enough for me, for as you know, underwater, the wider the better. But when I started filming topside I realized that unless you're set set to project your work on a big screen, wide angle lenses don't always look all that great on a TV screen or anything smaller than 30-60 feet wide...

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Wide-angles and telephotos can look beautiful, of course, very graphic or stylized -- the only reason I gravitate towards the middle focal lengths is that they look the most "natural" in terms of perspective. They are subtle, they don't distort reality.

Sometimes you don't want naturalism or subtlety of course, you want stylization.

 

[Roberto B]

ozu rules..

 

[Sanjin Jukic]

If you are interested in which lenses were most used by Kaminski and Spielberg, this text below must have read:

"Initially, Kaminski says they were thinking about shooting the entire movie with just 35mm and 85mm lenses. They decided to add 14mm, 25mm, and 50mm Primo lenses to the package. Kaminski observes that 50mm is often the long lens of choice for Spielberg. The cinematographer explains that he prefers the optical qualities of the prime lenses, partially because they give him the option of using filters to soften the look without degrading the images."

Quote from

Smooth Criminal: Janusz Kaminski, ASC covers his tracks in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can by Bob Fisher

LINK>>>

 

[Noel Evans]

There are many features that have been shot on just one lens but for an object lesson in how the choice of lens can add to the drama of a film watch Twelve Angry Men - as the tension builds the focal lengths get longer and compositions tighter, creating a sense of claustrophobia.
QUOTE]

And in addition the camera started around actor eye level and as the tension built through out the movie it became lower and lower until the ceiling was in shot. Further adding to that feeling of entrapment and claustrophobia.

I love how lenses so greatly effect the image perception, even if the viewer has no idea of whats technically ocurring.

 

[Kholi Hicks]

This thread is nice. I had some questions about this on the other forum, but the posts here cleared up and reaffirmed thoughts that I already had.

 

[Manfred Lopez]

This thread is nice. I had some questions about this on the other forum, but the posts here cleared up and reaffirmed thoughts that I already had.

Thanks! As the thread-starter may I suggest using the 'rate-this-thread' thingy on top of this page... :innocent: It would be my first star-rated thread.

 

[dracul]

Wide-angles and telephotos can look beautiful, of course, very graphic or stylized -- the only reason I gravitate towards the middle focal lengths is that they look the most "natural" in terms of perspective. They are subtle, they don't distort reality.

Sometimes you don't want naturalism or subtlety of course, you want stylization.

I love the 24mm for 35. its a normal perspective good for wide shots as well as when you push in on faces. If you go wider, medium closeups distort the face at close range, if you go longer your push in from a wide is no longer dynamic, weak perspective change. Same if actors walk into a medium closeup, no dynamic on longer FL.

 

[Andrew McCarrick]

Arghh... Yes more silly headline... The edit only created a subtitle but left the main thread title intact. I give up.

Don't mean to stray from the topic, but once you post a new topic you can change the name out in the list of threads by clicking just next to the name of it.... You have only got about 10 minutes after the original post to do so though.

i.e; if you went out into the Cinematography forum and clicked next to the title of a thread you just posted, it will go into an edit mode for that title.

 

[chadliebenguth]

I own the 300mm Red Prime and have wondered what it would be like to try and shoot a whole movie (short movie, 10 min or less) using only it.

That is something that never ceases to amaze me; that sciencefiction always attracts the wrong people, people who come flying at something shiny like a magpie. Something like: gee, there is technology in this movie so let’s use a flying car. Whilst the exciting thing about people in the future doesn’t lie in their environment. So I am very surprised when people say something like that is based upon books from William Gibson. When I finally read his work, I thought: this is not at all an inspiration-source for that type of movies. His books are so rich in atmosphere, they run so deep. It is NOT the futuristic technology that makes his books so interesting. I am crazy about the idea of once filming a sciencefiction-movie using only a 200mm lens, so that you never get to see the backgrounds.”

Chris Cunningham