One thing’s for sure, without a lens to take in the world there would be no cinema.
In this video I’ll be going over the basics of lenses, discussing focal lengths and explaining
the creative applications of choosing a lens, using examples from popular films to describe
how that has a profound impact on how we, as an audience, interpret a story.
There are 3 basic components that every cinema lens must have: a focal length, a stop, and
focus.
There are also two kinds of lenses available to choose from, a zoom or a prime lens. A
prime lens has a fixed focal length meaning that the image produced by the lens cannot
be optically magnified. Primes are typically preferred by cinematographers for their faster
apertures and perceived better image characteristics. Some popular contemporary cinema prime lenses
include Arri Signature Primes, Cooke S4s, Leica Summilux-Cs and Panavision Primos.
Zooms on the other hand allow the operator to alter the focal length of a lens. This
can be done during a shot for a zoom effect or zoom lenses can be shot at fixed focal
lengths. Zooms are often used in situations where the framing needs to be adjusted quickly
or to minimise the time taken between changing lenses, such as when shooting cars or action
sequences. Popular contemporary cinema zooms include the Angenieux Optimo 24-290, the Fujinon
Premista 80-250mm, or the Panavision Primo 19-90 Zoom.
Cinematographers are also able to choose between spherical and anamorphic lenses. I’ll explain
the difference between these two in a future video, but the most prominent characteristic
of these two types of lenses is the aspect ratio it gives: the anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect
ratio vs the taller spherical 1.85:1.
Let’s take a closer look at focal lengths now to see exactly why the focal length that
the cinematographer chooses is so important.
Focal length is a number that is associated with the optical power of the lens describing
how magnified it is. For example, a 16mm lens is considered wide or less magnified and a
100mm lens is considered tight or more magnified.
Certain fixed focal lengths have become standard and often appear in many lens sets. Common
wide focal lengths include 18mm, 24mm and 35mm. A 50mm is usually considered a standard
lens ‘equal to the human eye’. Yasujirō Ozu notably shot all his films on a 50mm for
its naturalistic ability to render everyday, ordinary experience. Common tight or long
focal lengths include an 85mm, 100mm and a 135mm.
Wider lenses allow us to see more of the background with a deeper focus. They tend to distort
images more, particularly when used close to a subject.
Longer lenses compress the background and have more out of focus areas or a shallower
depth of field. This means that longer focal lengths can be used to effectively isolate
subjects in a frame.
Traditionally, cinematographers use wider focal lengths to shoot long shots or wides
of a scene, such as a 24mm, and use tighter lenses, such as a 100mm lens, for close ups.
However cinematography is a creative occupation so rules are made to be broken.
Cinematographers such as Emmanuel Lubezki or Christopher Doyle are famous for breaking
cinematic conventions by shooting close ups of actors very close to them with very wide
lenses.
On the Revenant for instance Lubezki shot most of the film on a 12mm prime lens. “We
wanted to make a movie that was immersive and visceral."
By shooting on a wide lens the audience is able to see a lot of the wilderness background
and how the character realistically interacts with it. Just as human eyes view the world
with a panoramic width where most of our vision is in focus, so are the images that Lubezki
creates through his lens choice.
However immersion is not the only psychological effect which shooting with wide lenses can
have. Films such as Fallen Angels, shot by Christopher Doyle, include a bunch of characters
living out of the mainstream world of Hong Kong who are all bound by loneliness and detachment.
Shooting most of the film on a 6.5mm fisheye lens gives the movie a hugely distorted look.
Faces in close ups are contorted by the lens and there is always the illusion of lots of
space around the characters even if they are in a cramped location. In this film then a
wide lens is used to convey the characters as isolated outcasts in a lonely world.
Another film with outcasts in a lonely world is Heaven Knows What shot by Sean Price Williams.
However the creative choice of lenses in this film is vastly different. Instead of using
wide lenses, Williams chose to shoot the film with extremely long focal length lenses usually
reserved for wildlife photography.
Heaven Knows What is a film with lonely characters totally obsessed and bound to drugs and love.
Using long lenses isolates these characters. We are so focused on these individual characters
visually that we barely see that the world is continuing on around them. The lens conveys
the same ideas of obsession and isolation as the actors and screenplay does.
Another use of long lenses is creating a voyeuristic effect. The camera becomes objective and omniscient,
the eye through which we as the audience see the world. For example in the opening scene
of The Conversation, a film about surveillance, the use of a long zoom lens gives a sense
that we are spying on the characters from a vantage point.
Comedy is another effect that lenses can have. Robert Yeoman employs this technique, especially
when shooting for director Wes Anderson. His use of wide anamorphic lenses distort the
characters in an unrealistic way, like a caricature, and, in the context of a comedy, provide a
humorous effect.
These are just some examples of why the lens that cinematographers choose to shoot on has
such profound psychological effects on the viewer. I think that for people interested
in the art of cinematography, lens choice, especially the choice of focal lengths, is
crucial. It’s important to be aware of this choice and how it affects your viewing experience.
I think if lenses are a way of capturing the world, then which lens you choose says a lot
about the kind of world that you’re trying to capture.
Thanks for watching this breakdown of the concept of focal lengths in cinematography.
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If you have any ideas about future filmmaking concepts you’d like to see explored then
please list them in the comments and I’d be happy to make a future video on them.
Until next time, thanks for watching and goodbye.