Brief Thoughts about Coverage

In Part 11 of the working from home series a question was posed. Does lens choice influence or determine coverage or does the desired coverage demand the use of specific lenses? This question confused me originally but after coming back to my notes some days later and glancing at the notes I made about the “To Each His Own” clip I think something struck a cord. I think the the length of the lens and how far, or not, it can zoom does significantly effect the coverage of the scene. In addition to this I suppose that where the camera placed to film is hugely significant in this process too. And it can let specific things or people be in frame or out of frame, which is a very important aspect in coverage.

But what I wanted to discuss was the clip provided from “To Each His Own”. This clip involved lots of zooming in and out, which allowed for the camera to be able to move around plenty and therefore be able to film as much as possible. I think this choice of lens and way of filming greatly changes the coverage of the scene. This scene could have been shot closer and captured much less than it did. Although something to note might be that this would require a lot more choreography and rehearsal before shooting. But it also would not require as many different set ups.

When the three men talk in this scene, the shots became a bit more cut and closer in, which made my eye concentrate on this section a bit more and think about why it was like that. I think that the feeling of the scene got a bit more serious at this point, which seems like a great effect if you want to change the mood through camera!

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