Why does film photography rarely use zoom to push and pull?

Why does film photography rarely use zoom to push and pull?

Zoom is the optical change of focal length, which can enlarge or reduce the picture without changing the camera position. Although zooming in or out is the first function you use on your home camera, it is always one of the methods that are difficult to be widely accepted in the film industry.

Interestingly, zoom is not a "new" technology, it was launched at the end of 19, and this technology is more prominent in the early film history. The film Wings from 65438 to 0927 is a milestone in the first application of zoom technology in commercial films, and it also won the first Oscar for best film.

However, since the 1970s, it has become very rare to zoom in or out in feature films, and photographers prefer to use fixed-focus lens groups to complete shooting. This habit has been preserved to this day and has influenced other film and television shooting industries such as TV advertisements. Even photographers in some industries only have zoom lenses, and they will label the commonly used focal segments as fixed-focus lenses (it can be seen that using zoom lenses and using zoom push-pull technology are two different things). Why don't filmmakers like zooming and pushing and pulling so much?

Immersion.

The ultimate goal of any filmmaker is to immerse the audience in the story. Whether it is clothing, scenes or lighting, the fundamental purpose is to help the audience forget themselves in the world of movies.

When anything breaks through the "fourth wall"-whether the actors inadvertently glance at the camera or the staff are lazy-it will cause the illusion of the movie world to collapse and let the audience get rid of the story. Of course, unless the director is designed to speak directly to the audience, this is a storytelling technique. The film industry believes that the use of zoom lens is also an act of interrupting immersion, because zoom is an advanced mechanical function of lens or camera, which will attract the attention of the audience to the film production process.

The main job of a filmmaker is invisibility, and the lens should be the eyes of the audience, so as to see the story unfold undisturbed. This is why people are so eager for the camera stabilizer, because under normal narrative conditions, jitter and shaking are the first interference. However, as the eyes of the audience, the lens can only do what the eyes can do. We can look around (around Pan), look up at the coming dark clouds (overhead), or walk towards or follow a person (tracking/camera stabilizer). If a friend shows me his new mobile phone, I will pay attention to it (insert close-up) ... but what I can't do is stand in the same place and zoom in on the object with my eyes.

Compared with the tracking lens (tracking/camera stabilizer), the zoom push-pull lens also has some shortcomings in affecting the emotional feelings of the audience. When using the tracking lens, we feel the change of distance because of the "real" spatial transformation caused by the change of camera position. When I get close to a person (character), if he is a gentleman, I will feel very relaxed during the exercise. And if the character is a villain, such as a serial killer, we will feel uncomfortable and nervous. However, when we zoom in, it simply magnifies a part of the picture and does not produce a "real" spatial transformation, so we will not feel as strong emotional feedback as the real physical approach. The picture below is a good example. Although the composition of the two is the same, the distance relationship can still be clearly felt.

One shot zooms in from a few meters away, and the other shot approaches and stops in front of the character by coming in on the track-obviously your emotional feelings are different, which is why filmmakers prefer to use the track instead of zooming.

Of course, the requirement of feature film immersion determines these views. In news, documentaries or sports scenes, we pay more attention to the details of reality. The camera originally played a third-party narration, and zooming and pushing were widely used in these fields.

So, how do filmmakers now use zoom to push and pull?

Nowadays, film production is still very cautious about using zoom push and pull. Even if push-pull is used, the camera team tries to cover up the influence of zoom. Some people say that invisible zoom is an art in itself, and film photographers usually cover up the zoom effect by moving while zooming or letting actors pass through the lens.

This type of zoom may be slow, the picture is very stable and almost imperceptible, but it will focus your attention on some specific positions in the picture.

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