How to Achieve a Cinematic Film Look [Sidney Lumet Making Movies]

[00:01] Today we're going to look at one of the most useful filmmaking strategies I've ever encountered

[00:08] It's a strategy that I first read about in Sidney Lumet's amazing book, 'Making Movies." Sidney Lumet calls it a 'Lens Plot'

[00:19] A Lens Plot is kind of like a stylesheet for your shots and lighting. It's a way to make sure that your shots all serve

[00:25] your story, as a whole.

[00:28] Many filmmakers take a moment-by-moment approach when creating a shot list.

[00:34] This line is dramatic, so let's cut to a close-up. This beat is funny, so let's keep the shot wide this moment is energetic

[00:41] So let's go handheld. The trouble is all this careful application of film grammar can amount to a whole lot of nothing.

[00:52] What we're going to look at is a strategy to help you make sure that your shot choices serve your overall story.

[00:59] So let's define exactly what we're creating here.

[01:04] There are three ways to approach the lens pot. There's the static lens plot.

[01:08] There's the narrative lens plot and last the elemental lens plot. So let's start with a static lens plot.

[01:17] This is the simplest lens pot a set of requirements or parameters that apply to your entire film.

[01:23] And sometimes it's referred to as the "look of a film."

[01:26] Wes Anderson for example has a specific look characters tend to be shot straight on or in perfect profile

[01:33] "Congratulations with Mr. Gustave."

[01:34] "They're gonna fight me for the son of a bitch.." And there's a lot of symmetry in the framing

[01:39] These rules are part of Anderson's static lens plot. They're consistent from one scene to the next.

[01:45] "Roosevelt, how's that lanyard coming."

[01:48] "Horrible."

[01:50] There are lots of elements that you can consider when you develop your static lens plot.

[01:54] Things like aspect ratio, color palette. Will you limit your shooting to only certain lenses?

[02:00] But the key to selecting them is to make sure that they serve the story you're trying to tell

[02:05] Here's an example

[02:08] When Spielberg made Schindler's List

[02:10] He made some critical creative decisions. One of the subtle choices that most people don't notice

[02:16] Is that Spielberg denied himself one of his favorite tools. The techno crane.

[02:23] There are no big crane shots in Schindler's List because it literally grounds the film you really

[02:33] Spielberg wanted to tell a story that felt grounded visceral and real

[02:37] Large mechanical camera moves would have gotten in the way. It was a storytelling choice. Not just an aesthetic one

[02:44] The static lens plot is a great starting point but there's more you can do.

[02:49] This brings us to the Narrative Lens Plot

[02:52] The key to the narrative lens plot is gradual change over time to reflect or support the narrative

[02:58] My favorite example of this comes from Sidney Lumet's classic 12 Angry Men. Pretty much, the entire film takes place in a jury room.

[03:05] "Say I would like to get started." Lumet wanted to emphasize the growing sense of entrapment

[03:10] So the earliest scenes in the film are shot with what he calls normal lenses 28 to 40 millimeters

[03:17] As the story progresses he shifts gears and uses longer lenses

[03:21] 50, 75 and eventually 100 millimeters. As your lenses get longer the background appears to come closer and closer

[03:28] The subtle effect over the course of an entire movie is that the walls seem to close in.

[03:33] The room seems to get smaller and smaller.

[03:38] That brings me to the final lens plot. The Elemental Lens Plot.

[03:44] Where you assign specific visual rules to individual elements such as a character or a location

[03:51] The clearest example I've seen is in Soderbergh's film Traffic.

[03:55] Where a complicated story unfolds in three different places with three sets of characters

[04:00] To help us keep them all sorted out Soderbergh gives each of the three locations its own unique

[04:05] look

[04:06] This wasn't just a color grading decision different locations in the story were shot on

[04:10] different film stock to ensure that they would have a distinct look when the film was cut together

[04:15] The elemental lens plot is really about making things clear

[04:19] Especially when you have similar characters lots of locations or a potentially complicated storyline

[04:27] So to figure out the look of your film create a lens plot ask yourself if your

[04:31] films look is static or if it evolves along with the story ask yourself if certain

[04:36] Characters locations or even trucks should have their own looks

[04:39] Jot down your notes and then connect it to your gear requirements

[04:42] Once you do that, they're ready to turn your lens plot into a shot list. Be sure to check out StudioBinder for that

[04:47] We have an entire shotlisting solution where you can breakdown your shots with lens info the equipment specs to make sure you're well

[04:54] Prepared for your production. When you're done, you can share your shot list with your team. So check it out

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[05:07] And if you're out there filming something, break a lens!