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As mentioned in an earlier list, I am about to shoot my final diploma film. We are in a process of finalizing the visual form of the film and using anamorphic lenses is one of the ideas.

We have Kowa Prominar lenses available at the institute which got serviced yesterday. With few students along I took few shots just to see how they are performing post servicing.

 

Although I intend to shoot my diploma film on 35mm Film, these few shots were taken on an Arri Alexa XT. Prores HQ. Rec 709. In available light. ND filters were used in exterior shots.

It is not a test but I would like to have a feedback on it from the members, not only with respect to technical elements like distortion and flaring but also using these lenses and format as an aesthetic choice.

 

 

Would be sharing detailed test on film as well as digital soon.

 

Regards

Shashank Walia

Class of 2011

Cinematography

www.ftiindia.com

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I think that many cinematographers use anamorphic lenses because of the "flaws" that they have and because they bring something different to the narrative of the project that you are shooting.

 

Obviously, bokeh and flare are two of those things that many people are looking for when using anamorphic lenses.

 

However, you might want to take into consideration some other things, such as breathing and aberration too.

Maybe the breathing of the lens when pulling focus from one character in the foreground to the other one in the background could be distracting.

Or perhaps the camera has to be invisible and you can't have a flare!

 

Let's say that you have to shoot really really tight shots of one actor and then dolly back to a medium shot of him / her for the project, then you already know that anamorphic lenses are not going to give you that because of the close focus that they have, which is not enough for a really tight shot.

 

Imagine that you are going to shoot your project in a very small room (1.5 meters x 1.5 meters), you might want to use spherical lenses because of the viewing angle that they have as opposed as using anamorphic lenses.

 

Said that, you are the one who has to visualise the story and think about what is what the story asks for in terms of lenses and how those lenses will affect the aesthetics of the project, discuss that with your director and then you will get an answer very easily.

 

By the way, 40mm and the 50mm look lovely!

 

Have a good day.

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Miguel

 

We might actually be shooting in a small room, but again I have realized in past few days thinking about anamorphic aesthetic that one has to embrace these aberrations or characteristics to fulfill a language for the narrative.

 

To think of it in a different manner, why should wider aspecr ratio be always thought of to be used with wide landscapes. 2.35 can also be used as a minimalist device to use negative space. To create a sense of emptiness.

 

Just a thought.

 

Thanks for replying. Shall share more tests soon.

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I agree with you completely.

 

I am currently shooting a project where we are using anamorphic lenses in a 3.20:1 aspect ratio to create isolation and emptiness and we are shooting super tight details of things with diopters.

We are also introducing as many aberrations and flares as we can, to show that there is a human hand behind the narrative :D

 

Again, we are switching to spherical lenses and 1.85:1 for a different part which needs to be shot with tight shots and focus puling from foreground to background as per the director's requirement.

 

I also shot a project in Ireland back in February where we used anamorphic lenses to shot wide landscapes but rather than focusing on the landscape, we focused on 1 character who is always in the foreground and close to the camera and that creates a very intimate feeling as you see the really pretty landscapes behind him almost in focus (I shot those shots at T8) but he is the central part of the image, even though sometimes he is either in one side of the frame or in the other one.

 

Have a good day!

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