When
preparing to produce a film, there is a close relationship between the screenwriter, the
director and the principal cinematographer, with the final product most closely reflecting the
interests of the director. Historically, before committing a great deal of money to filming
scenes, directors often work with artists who draw up what is known as a story board, basically
a long series of drawings that reflect the directors vision of how each shot in the film should
appear. The story board process helps the director and his cinematographer to plan on what type
of camera techniques will be used for each days shooting. Those drawings, then, help to
determine ahead of time which type of lens the cinematographer will use for each shot.
As principle shooting or filming begins (and take into account the enormous changes
that have taken place in the film industry with the advent of digital and computer-generated
imaging), the story board is used by the film crews managers and the director to set up the
cameras so that they capture precisely the desired images. This is where choices in types of
lenses comes into play. The lens that is chosen for each shot is determined by the directors
(and, perhaps, the screenwriters and cinematographers) vision of how each scene in a film will
look.
Three common lenses used in filming are wide-angle lenses, used for
establishing setting and scale; standard or normal lenses, which capture mid-range images; and
telephoto lenses, the longest focal lengths used to capture individuals or objects central to
the scene or story. The choice of lens depends on the type of scene and the directors
vision.
There is perhaps no better example of a directors vision being
realized through close collaboration with the cinematographer than when the late British
director David Lean was filming Lawrence of Arabia. As with all great
films, certain scenes remain with the viewer forever. In the case of Lawrence of
Arabia, one of those scenes is the footage of the expansive Arabian desert with the
enormous image of the Sun in the sky above the endless sand dunes. It is a beautiful shot and
occurs in one of film historys greatest cuts or transitions from one scene to another.
Lawrence, portrayed by Peter OToole, is a young British Army officer laboring in a
basement office in Cairo during the Great War. As the character of Lawrence blows out a match
Lean immediately cuts to that panoramic shot of the desert. Such use of a wide-angle lens was
used to capture the enormity of this vast empty expanse.
Standard lenses are
used for mid-range shots. Rather than capturing the enormity of space, these lenses are used to
depict isolated settings like farms, city streets, large interior rooms, etc. In another classic
example of beautiful cinematography of cinema, director John Fords The
Searchers, the opening scene employs both standard and telephoto lenses to capture
the intimacy of the familys cabin but transitions to a different focal length for the films
iconic image of John Wayne appearing in the doorway of the cabin, his first appearance in the
film.
Winton Hochs cinematography in The Searchers is
legendary, and this opening image represents his finest work in addition to his use of mid- and
short-range focal lengths to capture Fords vision of the Old West and the solitary hero figure
portrayed by Fords favorite leading man, Wayne.
Telephoto lenses are used for
close-ups and particularly sharp images at a distance. Footage of actors facial expressions
(e.g., Gene Hackmans character maniacally driving through New York City traffic in The
French Connection and Orson Welless close-ups of key characters in Citizen
Kane). Telephoto lenses have a long focal length that is also used to capture sharp,
detailed images from far away, as when a character is scanning the horizon and spots that for
which he or she is searching.
Choice of lens, as noted, depends on the
directors vision of how a particular scene or shot should look. Many scenes involve use of
multiple focal length lenses, as when the director cuts between action scenes in a distance and
close-ups of a main characters face (see director Franklin Schaffners filming of the battle
scenes in Patton). The right cinematographer can make the film experience
much more enjoyable. Beautiful cinematography can vastly improve an otherwise mediocre film, as
was the case, in this individuals mind, with Steven Spielbergs 1941,
wherein the cinematography by William Fraker was far more memorable than the
story.
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