The Phongraphic Image r69 The lens of a photographic camera does roughly what your eye does. It gath- ers light from the scene and transmits that light onto the flat surface of the film to form an image that represents size, depth, and other dimensions of the scene. One difference between the eye and the camera,, though, is that photographic lenses may be changed, and each type of lens will render perspective in different ways. If two different lenses photograph the same scene, the perspective relations in the result- ing images could be drastically different. A wide-angle lens could exaggerate the depth you see down the track or could make the foreground trees and buildings seem to bulge; atelephoto lens could drastically reduce the depth, making the trees seem very close together and nearly the same size. The Lens: Focal Length Control of perspective in the image is very impor- 5.21 Wide-angle distortion in Mikhail tant to the filmmaker. The chief variable in the process is the focal length of the Kalatozov's The Cranes Are Flyipg. lens. In technical terms, the focal length is the distance from the center of the lens to the point where light rays converge to a point of focus on the film. The focal length alters the perceived magnification, depth, and scale of things in the image. We usually distinguish three sorts of lenses on the basis of their effects on perspective: 1. The short-focal-length (wide-angle) lens. In 35mm-gauge cinematography, a lens of less than 35mm in focal length is considered a wide-angle lens. Such lenses tend to distort straight lines lying near the edges of the frame, bulging them outward. Note the distortion in two frames from a shot in Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now (5.19, 5.20). When a wide-angle lens is used for a medium shot or close-up, the distortion of shape may become very evident (5.21). 5.22 In this scene from The Little Fo-res, The lens of short focal length has the property of exaggerating depth (5.22). the lens makes the characters seem farther Because distances between foreground and background seem greater, the wide- from one another than we would expect in angle lens also makes figures moving to or from the camera seem to cover ground so relatively tight a grolrping. more rapidly. 2. The middle-focal-length (normal) lens. A lens of medium focal length is 35 to 50mm. This normal lens seeks to avoid noticeable perspective distortion. With a normal lens , horizontal and vertical lines are rendered as straight and perpendicular. (Compare the bulging effect of the wide- angle lens.) Parallel lines should recede to distant vanishing points, as in our rail- road tracks example. Foreground and background should seem neither stretched apart (as with the wide-angle lens) nor squashed together (as with the telephoto lens). A normal lens was used for 5.23; contrast the sense of distance among the fig- ures achieved in 5.22. 3. The long-focal-length (telephoto) lens. 5.23 A shot made with a nonnal lens in Whereas wide-angle lenses distort space laterally, longer lenses flatten the His Girl Friday. space along the camera axis. Cues for depth and volume are reduced. The planes seem squashed together, much as when you look through a telescope or binoculars. In 5,24, from Chen Kaige's Ltfe on a String, the long lens pushes the crowd mem- "l'm standing around waiting to see bers almost to the same plane. It also makes the rapids behind the men virtually a where the 50mm is going to be, or two-dimensional backdrop. what size lens they're putting on, and Today, the focal length of long lenses typically ranges from around 7 5 to in that unwritten book in my brain, I 250mm or more. They are commonly used in the filming or televising of sports said, 'Don't ever let them shoot you events, since they allow the cinematographer to magnify action at a distance. (For full face, on a wide-angle lens, you'll this reason, long lenses are also called telephoto lenses.) In a base-ball game there end up looking like Dumbo."' will invariably be shots taken from almost directly behind the umpire. You have - Tony Curtis, actor probably noticed that such shots make catcher, batter, and pitcher look unnaturally close to one another. What a very long lens can do to space is dramatically illus- trated throughout Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi (5.25). A long-focal-length lens also affects subject movement. Because it flattens depth, a figure moving toward the camera takes more time to cover what seems to 170 CHAPTER 5 The Shot: Ciueuratogrz-rprhy "/n New York, New York, we shot be a small distance. The rurulirtg-in-ploce shots inThe Grucluute and other films of only with a 32mm lens, the whole the 1960s and 1970s were produced by lenses of very long focal len-eth. In Tootsie, movie. We tried to equate the old the introduction of Michael Dorsey disguised as Dorothy Michaels occurs in a style of framing, the old style lengthy telephoto shot in order for Lls to recognize his altered appearance and to meaning 1946-53." notice that none of the people around hirn finds "her" unusuell (5.26-5.28). - Martin Scorsese, director Lens length can distinctly affbct the spectator's experience. For example, ex- pressive qualities can be sr-rggested by lenses that distort objects or characters. We tend to see the ntan in 5.29 as loorning' even a.-q.-qressive. Moreover, choice of the lens can merke a character or object blend into the settin.-e 6.26) or stand out in sharp relief (5.29). Fihnrnakers may exploit the flattenin-e effects of the lon-e-focal- len.-eth lens to create solid rnasses of space (5.30)', as in etn abstract paintin'9. A director can use lens length to surprise us, as Kurosatwa does in Retl Beurcl. When the rnad patient conres into the intern's roorn, a long-tocal-length lens filtttin-Q from behind hirn initially makes her seern to be quite close to him (5.31).But a cut to a ntore perpendicular angle shows that the patient and the intern are actr"rerlly sev- eral feet apart and that he is not yet in danger (5.32). There is one sort of lens thart ofters the director a chance to ntanipr"rlate focal length and to transfonn perspective relations during a single shot. A zoom lens "l tend to rely on only two kinds of is optically designed to permit the continLroLls varying of focal len,_eth. Ori-einally lenses to compose my frames: very crearted for aerial and l'econnaissance photography, zootlt lenses gratdually becal't'te wide angle and extreme telephoto. I a statndard tool for newsreel filnring. It was not, however, tl-re getleral practice ttl use the wide angle because when I zooln dr,rrin.-9 shootirrg. The canrera operator vetried the tocal len-gth as desired artd want to see something, I want to see then starrted filrnin-g. In the late 1950s, however, the increitsed portability of catrl- it completely, with the most detail eras led to a trend toward zoolniu.-9 while filrning. possible. As for the telephoto, I use it Since then, the zooln has sometilnes been used to substitute for tttovitt.-e the for close-ups because I find it creates can-rera forwarrd or backward. Although the zoom shot presents it nrobile fratnin-e, a real "encounter" with the actor. lf the carnera remarins fixed. Dr-rring a zoom, the carnera retnains stittiottelry. atnd the you shoot someone's face with a lens sirnply increarses or decreases its focerl length. Onscreelt. the zooln shot ttlag- 200-millimeter lens, the audience will nifies or deuragnifies the obiects filrned, excluding or includin-g sLlrroundilt-s space, feel like the actor is really standing in as in 5.33 and 5.34, from Francis Ford Coppola's The Convensutiort The zoottt can front of them. lt gives presence to the produce interestin-9 and pecLlliar transformations of scale and depth. as we shall see shot. So I like extremes. Anything in when we examine Michael Sttow's Wavelertgth. between is of no interest to me." The intpact that tocal len-eth can have on the image's perspective qualities is illustrated in Ernie Gehr's abstract experirnental fihn Sererte Velocin'. - John Woo, director dramatically The scene is an ernpty corridor. Gehr shot the film with a zootn lens. but he did rlot zoolrr while fihning the shot. Instead, the zoorn permitted him to change the letts's tocal length between takes. As Gehr explaitrs, 5.24 The long lens in Chen Kai-ee's Li.fe ott u Srrirlg. 5.25 ln Kot'cturti.sclutsi, aln airport is filmecl from a great clistance, and the long leus rnakes it appear that a plarre is lartclirr-u tln a crowdecl hi-uhway. Thc Phok sg'ulthic lrnc,qc 17 1 5.26 In Trtrfisie, Dorothy becortres visible au'non_g the crowcl at a considerable distance fronr the carnterir . 5.27 . and afier takin-u 20 steps seents only sli-ehtly closer until . 5.28 "she" finally grows sontewhat larger. arfter a total of abor"rt 36 steps. 5.30 In Eterrtitt'urtd u D(t\', a long Ielrs ltrakes the beach and sea appeal' as two vertical blocks. 5.29 In Ilya Trauber'_u's C/rirttt E-rpt?.s.T, il wide-angle lens creartes fclre_ur'ound distortiorr.