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