What is a long lens? What is the use of a long lens? What are the classic long shots in film history?

Long shot is a shooting technique, which is relative to montage shooting method.

First of all, the long lens

(1) A long shot refers to shooting a scene or a scene continuously for a long time (some of them are as long as 10 minutes) to form a relatively complete lens paragraph. As the name implies, it is a shot that takes up a long film for a period of time. This naming is mainly symmetrical with respect to short shots. The content of the camera from the first turn-on to the turn-off is a shot. Generally, a shot that lasts more than 10 second is called a long shot. A long shot can contain more needed content, or it can be a montage sentence (unlike montage sentences composed of several short shots). There is no clear and uniform regulation on its length. It is relative to the "short shot".

(2) The "long lens" here does not refer to the length or focal length of the physical lens appearance, nor to the distance between the photographic lens and the shooting object, but to the time distance between the starting point and the ending point of shooting, that is, the length of the film segment. There is no absolute standard for a long lens, which is a relatively long single lens. It is usually used to express the director's specific ideas and aesthetic interests, such as the inner description of actors in literary scenes and the real kung fu in martial arts scenes.

Second, the types of long lenses

1. Fixed long lens: a lens formed by shooting a scene continuously in a fixed position, which is called a fixed long lens. The earliest filming method was to record the reality or stage performance process with a fixed long lens. Almost all of the 358 films released in Lumiere 1897 were shot in one shot.

2. Long lens with depth of field: Use a lens with large depth of field to make the scene in different positions (from foreground to background) clear. Such a lens is called a long lens and has a depth of field. For example, take a picture of a train whizzing by, and with a large depth-of-field lens, you can clearly see the train in the distance (equivalent to a distant view) and approaching (equivalent to a panoramic view, a middle view, a close-up view and a close-up). A long shot with depth of field is actually equivalent to the contents of a set of distant view, panoramic view, middle view, close view and close-up shot.

3. Moving long lens: By pushing, pulling, shaking, moving and following the camera, a moving long lens with different shooting angles (azimuth and height) is formed, which is called moving long lens. A long moving lens can play the role of a montage lens composed of different scenes and different angles.

Third, the characteristics of long lens shooting

The time and space recorded in (1) are continuous and practical. The long shot does not interrupt the natural process of time, maintaining the uninterrupted process of time-consistent with the actual time and process, and excluding the possibility of montage compressing or extending the actual time through lens cutting. The space represented by the long lens is the real space of real existence. The natural transformation of space is realized in the movement of the lens, and the connection between the part and the whole is realized, which eliminates the possibility of montage lens splicing to piece together a new space.

(2) The progress of the situation is continuous. A scene, a scene (a process) is shot continuously with a long lens, which reproduces the real process of event development and the real scene atmosphere. For example, when the China Art Troupe visited three Latin American countries, the passage showing the popularity of Zhu Fengbo singing Guiana songs in Guyana could only be done once, but it also showed actors, audiences and scenes. The author uses a long lens to express it, and completes the performance task of cutting the lens through the movement of the lens. This long-shot paragraph is like this, Zhu Fengbo features and sings; After singing the short section, the camera opens to form a panoramic view and pauses for three seconds. With the rhythm of the music, the camera slowly shakes to the right, clearly showing the cheerful scene of the audience; Then the camera moves and sweeps across the audience. During the exercise, I found that a black audience was particularly absorbed and fascinated. The camera pushes him into the close-up and turns around him 180o O, when the singing is almost over, then the camera moves back to the audience from the close-up side, and the panoramic view passes through the actors on the audience stage until the audience cheers and applauds and the actors take a curtain call. A long shot ***3 minutes and 20 seconds, the song is uninterrupted. In the process of movement, the lens suddenly highlights the details, emphasizes the atmosphere, maintains the integrity of the whole content, and produces a real, natural and vivid effect.

(3) Its authenticity is beyond doubt. The long lens is real in time, space, process, atmosphere and fact, which excludes all the possibility of falsification and physical body double, and has unquestionable authenticity.

(4) The difference with the short lens function. In movies, long shots and short shots are two kinds of shots that play completely different roles, and the difference between them mainly lies in the duration. The length of the camera from power on to power off determines the length of the lens, that is, the long lens often lasts for a long time, while the short lens is the opposite. Long shots are mostly used in documentaries, because long shots continuously record one thing, which is the process of the audience feeling the truth, while short shots may connect unrelated shots for a short time, thus generating new meanings, so short shots are suitable for the creation of narrative montages of feature films.

Fourth, the long lens theory.

The theoretical school (1) thinks that the artistic feature of film is the extension of photography, so its essential feature is "the restoration of material truth". When the film records and reveals the material reality, it becomes a veritable film.

(2) Experts criticized the montage theory for making the film lose its authenticity. According to experts, montage divides some events into several segments during shooting. When they are reorganized, no matter how realistic the single shot is, the essence and ideas of narrative are mainly generated from the relationship between these fragments, and the origin of this result can not be found in any specific factors.

Fifth, the aesthetics of long lens.

(1) The appearance of long shots is considered as "the revolution of film aesthetics". Prior to this, montage theory, as the only film theory, basically dominated the thinking activities of film artists. People seldom study the relationship between film and photography, and seldom study the characteristics of film from this angle. Bazin is unconventional, attributing the characteristics of the film to photography, and from this characteristic, emphasizing the realism and documentary sense of the film. Bazin's realistic aesthetic thought, as well as his aesthetic function of depth-of-field lens and long lens, greatly promoted the development of film language, brought about the revolution of film expression means and created a new screen form. In a sense, without long shots, there would be no modern movies.

(2) The long-shot school absolutely rejects montage, which is regarded as "the most anti-film means". Bazin's theory unilaterally emphasizes the true representation of the original form of life, and dismisses all necessary artistic processing as "unreal", which is likely to lead to naturalism in artistic works.

(3) Montage and long shot are two main forms of film performance. Although they have some opposites, they are by no means incompatible. In other words, we should not only know the "photography" of the film, but also see its "artistry". They are dialectical unity.