Only One Prime?

[martinnoweck]

hi everyone,

out of curiocity i am doing some research - is there a feature film which was shot with a single prime lens, for example 18mm as the only lens for the whole film?

regards,
martin

[Erik Bien]

I believe several of Ozu Yasujiro (http://www.a2pcinema.com/ozu-san/home.htm)'s movies were shot entirely on a 50mm.

[gdv]

As much as I now Rosemary's Baby by Roman Polansky was shot with a 25mm but that could be only a legend.

[filip kovcin]

i cannot confirm this with appropriate quote, but some of miklos jancso's films were made in that manner.

filip

[Nils J. Nesse]

There's a thread about this here (http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=24157)


We did a short film with only the Cooke 14 recently, that was fun.

[Gabe S.]

I believe Emmanuel Lubezki said the majority of Children of Men was shot with an 18mm and a little bit of either a 21mm or 22mm.

[Kenneth Elkington]

Wes Anderson uses a 40mm prime almost exclusively for all his films.

[Michael Ragen]

A History of Violence was almost all shot with a 27mm prime.

[Zakaree Sandberg]

28mm would be a good choice

[kidrobot]

A History of Violence was almost all shot with a 27mm prime.

..and what a great movie it is.

[Nils J. Nesse]

All the films mentioned are brilliant.

Any crap movies shot on a single prime?

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

All the films mentioned are brilliant.

Any crap movies shot on a single prime?

There's probably a ton of them but they would all be obscure indie films that you may never hear about.

[Nathan Beaman]

There's probably a ton of them but they would all be obscure indie films that you may never hear about.

and probably for budgetary reasons not artistic choices

[Gabe S.]

Here's the link where Chivo talks about Children of Men, in case anyone was interested.

http://www.collider.com/entertainment/archive_detail.asp/aid/4020/cid/13/tcid/1

[Emmanuel Cambier]

Orson Welles Touch Of Evil was shot entierly with an 18 mm lens.

Emmanuel

[Alex Carr]

I just finished pulling focus on a 25mm Cooke S4, entire film was shot on 25mm. A Romantic Comedy, Cast was 11 women, 2 men. We used quite a bit of Slider, Dolly, Steadicam, & Technocrane moves. Very few shots were on Sticks...

For Shallow DOF, we were wide open on every shot, Even Day ext (w/Heavy ND).

It had nothing to do with Budget, even though it was low budget.

[Jason Murphy]

Almost all of Robert Bresson's films were shot entirely with a 50mm lens. And as someone above mentioned, a good many of Ozu's films, particularly his later ones, were also shot with 50mm lenses. Since they're two of the greatest filmmakers in the history of cinema, it's a pretty good indication that it can be done, and done well. Nor is it necessarily a sign of budgetary restrictions.

Edit: which is not to say anything bad about Cronenberg, Welles, and all the other brilliant filmmakers who have made great films with single primes.

[Frank Weeks]

I believe this was discussed a while back.

Alfred Hitchcock's Rope was shot with a single lens except for a couple at the beginning and end. It used only one take per film reel blended in creative ways. Not sure what lens it was but if Dave Mullins chimes in, I'll bet he does.

[Roberto Lequeux]

Children of Men was a phenomenal movie.

Found this on the History of Violence page, also a great movie. Is that the DP with the smurk on his face standing behind the Director? That and the tape that reads 35 makes me thing it is an inside joke type photo.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4162361344/tt0399146

Is 40mm that is the closest to the human eye? I keep hearing different things.

[kidrobot]

Children of Men was a phenomenal movie.

Found this on the History of Violence page, also a great movie. Is that the DP with the smurk on his face standing behind the Director? That and the tape that reads 35 makes me thing it is an inside joke type photo.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4162361344/tt0399146

Is 40mm that is the closest to the human eye? I keep hearing different things.

"Human vision is much different from that of a camera. The horizontal angle of view is about 120 to 140 degrees, which translates to 13 mm to 9 mm focal length with a 35 mm camera. However, we don't see very sharp over this entire field of view but only at the center. This part of our retina has an angle of view of about 60 degrees, which translates to 35 mm focal length. The area with the sharpest vision, the one that you use right now to read these lines, is even smaller. Its angle of view is only 2 degrees, equivalent to 1100 mm focal length."

from http://mhohner.de/essays/myths.php

So, yeah 40mm is pretty close to one part of our vision.

[Nils J. Nesse]

So, yeah 40mm is pretty close to one part of our vision.


40mm on Super 35 has 34.8 degrees horizontal field of view...

If you want 60 degrees, that would be something like a 22mm.

[Harry Clark]

Wasn't Stranger Than Paradise shot largely with one lens? Or Down By Law? Can't remember...
USlatin, The "35" sticker looks like a Brother P-Touch label. It's very common on movies and TV shows to conspicuously mark lenses this way during the camera prep; often the manufacturer's engraving is too small to read at great distances. The ACs can spot the lens that's on the finder sitting on the cart, the 2nd AC may have been off set during a quick lens change and can spot what's on the camera. Even a savvy script supervisor can look over at the camera and jot down the focal length and that's one less thing that has to be discussed with ACs.
Stealth and quiet are crucial camera department traits, as you likely already know...
Cheers,
Harry

[Roberto Lequeux]

Kid, THANKS... that is by far the most comprehensive explanation I've been given so far!

An other question would be, which is the focal lenght that would best mimic the lens in our eyes? Match that with a sensor that would best mimic the retina's "60mm area" and double it up for stereo... then this should be the closest we could get to the real deal... well... I digress from the topic.

Harry, yes, I understand now. Big schedules, quiet sets, long days. I never knew why that was done. I guess that's why some lenses like digi primes seem to have neon signs engraved, visible from miles and miles. (not very pretty, but same goes for gaffer tape)

[Brandon Fraley]

Kid, THANKS... that is by far the most comprehensive explanation I've been given so far!

An other question would be, which is the focal lenght that would best mimic the lens in our eyes? Match that with a sensor that would best mimic the retina's "60mm area" and double it up for stereo... then this should be the closest we could get to the real deal... well... I digress from the topic.

The problem about comparing camera lenses with our eyes has more to do with the size of the screen than anything else.

I believe the closest lens to the human eye would probably be 6mm or 8mm, however you'd have to project that image onto a screen that encompassed your entire vision for it to work, otherwise it would be too distorted. As the screen gets smaller, you start using longer lenses, because it's taking up less of your vision.

My point being that I personally think the comparison is moot, however if you're going for theatrical with a larger screen, i think something like 28mm-35mm spherical is probably what your looking for.

[Roberto Lequeux]

Yes, I realized that it was the case. And expected something much wider to match the lens in the eye. Do you know for sure it would be about 6-8mm? (just curious)


My point being that I personally think the comparison is moot, however if you're going for theatrical with a larger screen, i think something like 28mm-35mm spherical is probably what your looking for.

It seems that would be the range everyone seems to use for that effect, but you now made me realize that it was with theatrical in mind... but I don't think I understand how much of the equation is attributed to the wrap around effect or lack thereof...

My main concern would be creating the same effect on an "average" large HDTV? Say something like 42"... what would be best there?

[Filipo]

I believe several of Ozu Yasujiro (http://www.a2pcinema.com/ozu-san/home.htm)'s movies were shot entirely on a 50mm.

Correct.

[Robert Berger]

Correct.

22 of March this year will show a 52 documentary i shot with the RED ONE using only a 50mm Arri-zeiss f2.1 on the Dutch Broadcast Television by the AVRO. 95% handheld and 95% with avaliable light. Its about a great Dutch still fotographer. For the Dutch/Belgian viewers its on Sinday 22 at 18.15u on your tv screen. Beautiful still pictures in black and white! Filmed in colour and because this photographer is 75 years old and shot in his begin of his career only with 1 or 2 lenses i, give me the reasen and the challenge to use only 1 lens and pulling focus my self in 4K.

It was heavy, but came out very beautiful!

Robert

[Eric.T]

i think the wrestler was also just shot with one prime.but im not exactly sure wich focal lenght.

[Brandon Fraley]

My main concern would be creating the same effect on an "average" large HDTV? Say something like 42"... what would be best there?

ok, here's the test: Set up your camera in front of a 42" tv, about the distance your head would be if you were sitting there watching it and then find the right lens where the TV screen just fills to the edge of the frame in your camera.

There you go. Again, I've personally never understood this discussion and the theory that certain lenses more closely match the human eye. Like we've said, to match the field of view of your eye you'd have to use something ridiculously wide and would look completely inappropriate on the screen.

But that's just my own personal gripe. If you want to shoot a whole flick with one lens, anything from 18-70 is will look fine, they'll each look different, but none of them is the "wrong" choice, just go with what works for you.

EDIT: I just took my nikon d50 (sensor size very similar to the RED ONE's) and sat down in front of my tv, 58" panny from I think about 8 feet away, and the right focal length cam out to be about 55mm. So there ya go.

[Jim McKinney]

I recall reading sometime ago that "The Last Picture Show" was almost all shot on a
28mm lens.

[martinnoweck]

thank you very much for all your input!

best wishes,
martin

[Erik Bien]

i think the wrestler was also just shot with one prime.but im not exactly sure wich focal lenght.

Not entirely but mostly with a 12mm (on 16mm film).