a. The Photographic Aspects of the Shot
The camera does what a human eye does. That is, it creates perspective and spatial relations with the rest of the world. However, unlike ones eye, a
cinematographer can select different lenses for different purposes. Variation in focal length is one of the chief benefits of such an advantage. The focal length of
the lens in particular, determines the angle of view and, therefore, the field of view. Bordwell 1993 said that there are three sorts of lenses on the basis of their
effects on perspective: the short-focal-length wide-angle lens; the middle-focal- length normal lens; and the long-focal-length telephoto lens.
14
There is one sort of lens that offers the director a chance to manipulate focal length and to
transform perspective relations during a single shot. A zoom shot is a single shot
taken with a lens that has a variable focal length, thereby permitting the cinematographer to change the distance between the camera and the object being
filmed, and rapidly move from a wide-angle shot to a telephoto shot in one continuous movement; this camera technique makes an object in the frame appear
larger; movement towards a subject to magnify it is known as zoom in or forward zoom, or reversed to reduce its size is known as zoom outback or
backward zoom.
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Focal length not only affects how shape and scale are magnified distorted.
It also determines the lens’s depth of field. Depth of field the depth of composition of a shot, i.e., where there are several planes vertical spaces in a
frame: 1 a foreground, 2 a middle-ground, and 3 a background; depth of
14
Ibid. p. 191-192
15
Tim Dirks, Cinematic Terms, A Film-Making Glossary: Zoom 1996. Accessed on November 10, 2008.
http:www.filmsite.orgfilmterms20.html .
field specifically refers to the area, range of distance, or field between the closest and farthest planes in which the elements captured in a camera image appear in
sharp or acceptable focus; as a rule of thumb, the area 13 in front of and 23 behind the subject is the actual distance in focus; depth of field is directly
connected, but not to be confused with focus.
16
Depth of field should not be
confused with the concept of deep space. Bordwell 1993 explained that deep space is a term for the way the filmmaker has staged the action on several
different planes, regardless of whether or not all of these planes are in focus.
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Like deep space, deep focus involves staging an event on film such that significant elements occupy widely separated planes in the image. Unlike deep
space, deep focus related to depth of field—refers to an adjustment made
technically to insure that a camera shot retains its deep focus throughout all the various planes fore, middle, and back.
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Most cameras, including still cameras, are designed to focus on objects at different distances from the lens. Because the
eye is ordinarily drawn to what it can see best—that is, to the object in sharpest focus—the cinematographer can create a kind of three-dimensionality by using
rack focus—in one continuous shot focusing the camera lens, in turn, on objects
in different planes of depth different distances from the camera.
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Special effects artists make things happen in films that might not normally occur in real life. When the real thing is too expensive, too dangerous or
impossible to shoot, special effects artists are bought in. The first special effects in
16
Tim Dirks, Cinematic Terms, A Film-Making Glossary: Deep of focus 1996. Accessed on November 10, 2008.
http:www.filmsite.orgfilmterms7.html
17
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson 1993, op.cit. p. 194.
18
Tim Dirks 1996, op.cit. http:www.filmsite.orgfilmterms7.html
19
Joseph M. Boggs and Dennis W. Petrie 2005, op.cit. p. 131.
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