Shooting for the Big Screen vs. The small Screen

[ZTM236]

I was listening to the Rian Johnson pod the other day and Roger and Rian were speaking about shooting for the big screen vs the small screen. My question is what, technique wise, really separates the two? Because I don’t really feel like it’s drama based.

Topic

[Roger Deakins]

There might be less distinction now that people have such large TV screens. Even then, I think it is still harder to play a scene in a static wide shot for TV. I see few scenes covered in a wide shot when I watch a series but, maybe, that is just because directors and cinematographers have a ‘go to’ setting for TV.

[Stip]

I see few scenes covered in a wide shot when I watch a series but, maybe, that is just because directors and cinematographers have a ‘go to’ setting for TV.

I can’t help but think it has to do with courage, too. You once told about a dialogue scene (between Brolin and del Toro I believe) out on a road in ‘Sicario’. After shooting the wide shot, Denis loved it and said to you: “let’s not shoot close shots because then I will use them in the edit”.

[Author]

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