From American Cinematographer, Paging Machiavelli by Eric Rudolph (March 1998)
While the lighting in The Spanish Prisoner is unconventional, Beristain's choice of optics was not. He did not want his lenses to telegraph anything about the characters.
"We used 40mm through 75mm lenses for close-ups. We had thought about using 200mm and 300mm lenses for a lot of the close-ups, but we were afraid that might provide clues about the characters' true natures. If you use a very wide or very long lens on a character, the audience knows that something is up with that person. We wanted the audience to be as unsure as the hero was."
- Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC
I read, discuss, and discover new things about cinematography everyday. Most of it, I consider incredibly interesting. Everyday I will share one of those things, maybe more if I have time.
Showing posts with label selection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label selection. Show all posts
14.5.09
Emmanuel Lubezki: Lens Selection
From American Cinematographer, Galloping Ghost by Stephen Pizzello (December 1999)
"We didn't use a lot of lenses to shoot the movie. The 40mm was our long lens; sometimes, when we just couldn't get the shots that we wanted with the 40mm, we used the 50mm, and once or twice the 75mm. In general, though, the 40mm was our longest lens and the 21mm was our widest. The 27mm was our normal lens, and we also used the 35mm. In my opinion, when you start combining a lot of lenses, the look becomes a bit too rococo or baroque-- there are too many different variations, and you lose something intangible. We wanted to keep the look of the film consistent.
I definitely like using wider lenses, because they immediately put the actors in a context. I don't like looking at anamorphic movies where they shoot the actors with a 180mm lens and the backgrounds go soft-- you don't know where you are. I like to show the characters in their environments; I think that enhances the story."
- Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC
"We didn't use a lot of lenses to shoot the movie. The 40mm was our long lens; sometimes, when we just couldn't get the shots that we wanted with the 40mm, we used the 50mm, and once or twice the 75mm. In general, though, the 40mm was our longest lens and the 21mm was our widest. The 27mm was our normal lens, and we also used the 35mm. In my opinion, when you start combining a lot of lenses, the look becomes a bit too rococo or baroque-- there are too many different variations, and you lose something intangible. We wanted to keep the look of the film consistent.
I definitely like using wider lenses, because they immediately put the actors in a context. I don't like looking at anamorphic movies where they shoot the actors with a 180mm lens and the backgrounds go soft-- you don't know where you are. I like to show the characters in their environments; I think that enhances the story."
- Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC
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