The Life Aquatic

[kristian andersen]

Hey.

 

It seems to me that many straight lines in The Life Aquatic are bended, creating a slight curve, is this an artefact of anamorphic that is unavoidable? To be honest, I found it quite distracting at times.

 

Thanks.

[Chris Keth]

Hey.

 

It seems to me that many straight lines in The Life Aquatic are bended, creating a slight curve, is this an artefact of anamorphic that is unavoidable? To be honest, I found it quite distracting at times.

 

Thanks.

 

 

It's barrel distortion caused by a very wide-angle lens.

[Max Jacoby]

Like Wes Anderson's previous film, they shot a lot of this one with a 40mm Primo anamorphic lens, which is a pretty wide-angle for anamorphic, especially when used inside, where lots of lines are. Barrel distortion is unavoidable in this case, but they were going for that look. With the 50mm things start looking better and with the 75mm distortion us no longer a problem.

[John Holland]

I love that look wider the better for me , wish i could have shot a few movies in D-150 [ 65mm] with their 8.5 mm lens . now that is wide .

[Leo Anthony Vale]

Like Wes Anderson's previous film, they shot a lot of this one with a 40mm Primo anamorphic lens, which is a pretty wide-angle for anamorphic, especially when used inside, where lots of lines are. Barrel distortion is unavoidable in this case, but they were going for that look. With the 50mm things start looking better and with the 75mm distortion us no longer a problem.

 

The DVD commentary mentions that they also used a 25mm or 28mm, specifically on the raid on the pirates and probably on full shots of the cross sectioned ship.

 

'Logan's Run' used an 18mm Todd-AO 35 prototype on the mini-arena scene. Since the image was a full shot of an "oval", the barrel distortion was hidden.

[Max Jacoby]

There is a 28mm E-series and a 24mm High Speed lens. Not to forget a 20mm C-Series, build for 'Pearl Harbor'.

[Leo Anthony Vale]

There is a 28mm E-series and a 24mm High Speed lens. Not to forget a 20mm C-Series, build for 'Pearl Harbor'.

 

They do have a 25mm Wide Angle Distortion which predates the C-series, 'Hud' was possibly first movie to use it.

 

Now I'm thinking it's probably not availiable in Europe and likely is too big for steadicam.

[Brad Grimmett]

There is a 28mm E-series and a 24mm High Speed lens.

I used the 28mm for a music video recently, but I assumed it was a C-series since it wasn't that big. It was big, but still usable for steadicam. Is that the only 28mm available or could I have possibly been using a different lens? Sorry to stray off topic.

[Max Jacoby]

There is only a 28mm E-Series in all the Panavision catalogues that are available to me.

[Brad Grimmett]

There is only a 28mm E-Series in all the Panavision catalogues that are available to me.

Yeah, after checking panavisions web site I see that it must have been an E series. I saw the part about it needing a "special matte box" and knew that was the lens. Pain in the butt that matte box. It reminded me of the matte box used with the Z series sphericals.

[Patrick Cooper]

I enjoy wide angle photography too - I especially like the dramatic, imposing look when shooting from a low angle with a short focal length lens.

 

Going back to The Life Aquatic and it's visual look, I do recall reading that an Ektachrome film stock was used for all the mock vintage documentary footage in the film. Clever use of reversal in a feature film.