Cinematography technique · used in 2 films
Shooting mainly on very wide lenses so edges stretch and rooms bend. The warped space makes a scene feel like a memory or a dream.
Examples
Paul Schrader · 2021
The Abu Ghraib scenes bend at the edges as the camera roams the prison. They were shot with an 8mm fisheye lens on a Steadicam, which gives a floating first-person view. The warped look feels more like a nightmare than a memory.
Where to see it: Abu Ghraib flashbacks: Tell's memories of the prison drift into the story as distorted, maze-like scenes.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu · 2022
Cinematographer Darius Khondji shot on the large-format Arri Alexa 65 with Panavision lenses, mostly 17mm and 21mm. Rooms and faces curve slightly at the edges. The image feels both huge and slightly off, like a memory.
Where to see it: The desert flight. Silverio imagines himself flying over a desert in the opening, and the film closes the same way.
Questions