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Lenses and composition


LINGTIAN KONG

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Hello peeps! 

I am currently working on the shot list of my next short film, and I try utilize my lenses and composition to show the loneliness of the protagonist. I attached two reference as below, I just wondering whats the focal length and lenses should I choose in order to tell the character internal's emotion? I want something wider focal length but not too much distortion, I basically want to emphasis character's internal fear of the reality world around him. 

mr-robot.jpg

DMBg4dWWAAEYaQA.jpg

Edited by LINGTIAN KONG
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  • 2 weeks later...

I like the dark one.

Do you have a zoom? Try different lengths and see what works best. The dark example also looks good to me for a lens. But what are you after super close up?

You mentioned loneliness. The negative space and off center comp of the dark photo pulls it off for me.

Good luck!

 

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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It's up to the actor to create the look of fear or lonliness, etc. In this case I see more confusion or shock than lonliness or fear. I don't think changing the focal length or composition would change that.DMBg4dWWAAEYaQA.jpg.f8842340e5c4a18a0d524fad6a5dfa30-2.jpg.03a7c2a617ae809ecd0fea446cd1690d.jpg

Edited by Bob Speziale
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Having nothing to do with photography, if I were to make a character look "lonely", I would place him in a crowded location, but by himself.

In other words, it's not the lens that creates the image of loneliness, but the situation.

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  • 4 weeks later...

This morning I saw a video related to this. Newton Thomas Siegel explains how he uses different focal lengths to get different emotions across.

A wide angle up close is generally more intimate with the viewer while a telephoto is more voyeuristic and disconnected.

A clean medium shot of a character in conversation with another, OTS style (clean not dirty), if shot on a wide angle lens, will exaggerate the sense of space between the two characters. The style of the wide angle enhances the separation that a normal lenses wouldn’t get across.

A telephoto lens could be used to show 2 characters, who are standing far apart, as the same size on the screen (with telephoto compression and all that).

 

 

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