II

Chapter Seven
The Frame
I
What is a camera? Are they all alike? Jean-Luc Godard does not think so, astutely pointing to the changes that are bound to take place on the set depending on whether you use one type or another. 1 Essentially, for him, there is the large professional camera, such as the one seen at the beginning of The Bad and the Beautiful (Vincente Minnelli, 1952): the Mitchell, the Technicolor camera, the Panaflex. These cameras dominate the set. They sit on their throne as obese monarchs, surrounded by a bevy of attendants, constantly being fed, spritzed, made plumb. Worse, they command the budget, demand the top stars, and dictate how the film will be shot. Who the director is does not matter anymore: the system is in charge. And then there is the more modest camera that Godard so wanted: the Aaton 35, more portable, more personal, a lightweight camera that can be used as a writer uses a pen.2
Fat or lean, each camera always exceeds your own use of it. You cannot ever own one. (Very few professionals actually do; they are too expensive). A camera, let us remember, is but a little dark room with a gate and a shutter: through the former you welcome some guests, through the latter you time their entrance just right. This process of inclusion and exclusion, of coordination and duration, is never final though: midway through shooting, you may reconsider your options and greet visitors you never thought of inviting in the first place. And, of course, others using

 



Film Production Theory2000
Film Production Theory2000
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 126

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