Just shot a music video for the singer/songwriter Michael Puall. The entire project was shot in 2.4 to 1 anamorphic using the RED EPIC. I used a set of LOMO Anamorphic set when shooting Michael’s performance pieces, and shot the cowboy-hat-wearing starlet using an original 1950s Zeiss Ultrascope lens.
With the Ultrascope, I shot both stopped down (for a sharper image) and wide open (at a blazingly fast F2!) when I wanted a beautiful dream-like quality for our leading lady. The images you can create with these lenses have a definite dream like quality. They don’t look modern in any way, and that’s why I like them. Here’s an ungraded straight to Vimeo bit of raw footage:
There’s something about this shot that almost looks like it’s computer generated, but it’s completely done optically and in-camera.
Here are a couple pics:
Zeiss Ultrascope 85mm Lens at F5.6 (Frame Grab)
Zeiss Ultrascope 85mm Lens at F2 (Frame Grab)
I’ll post the entire music video when it’s done.
http://www.jeremyosbern.com
Why is the video so blurry and sparkly?
A lot of older anamorphic lenses are just soft and out of focus when shooting wide open. The Ultrascopes (especially the longer lenses) have these really unique characteristics when shooting at an F2. The blurry / sparkley aspect is just another look that you can do in camera when using this lens. At the time, they would never have used these lenses wide open, but in this era, it’s fun to experiment with different ways of using the imperfections of yesterday’s lenses to create new looks in different ways.