Can Static Frames Take You To The Oscar Doorsteps? Watch Ida
Ok, now Oscar fever is on and you must have seen most of the nominated films. But have you seen Ida a Polish drama, directed by Paweł Pawlikowski which has two nominations in Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography categories. I bet you haven’t yet but you must watch this film if you are a real film enthusiast or a film student. In recent years, Best Cinematography has been dominated largely by VFX films and this year also there is a nomination for The Grand Budapest Hotel. But Ida is an exception.
So what makes Ida different? Well first watch the trailer of Ida if you have not seen yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXhCaVqB0x0
Have you seen something unusual? Yes Ida has been shot in black and white with most of the static frames. In fact the above trailer has only static shots and there is not a single camera movement. I personally also like static shots and I prefer to avoid panning and tilting. Though I love to use dolly and jib. I hate zoom also. have you seen the static composition of the shots in the trailer, they are just feast to eyes.
In a detailed post on Vashi Nedomansky’s wonderful blog, Vashi shared a some of his favorite static frames from the film, and his choices which I loved and worth sharing. Following are the static frames shared by Vashi on his blog.
In his post, Vashi Nedomansky’s has also said about the above static frames.
90% of the film is shot on a locked off tripod. With so many tools (dollies, sliders, cranes, drones, steadicams, Mōvis…) available to filmmakers, it is refreshing to experience a movie that chose so many exquisite and deliberate static frames to best tell the story. Each new shot reveals something about the lead character. Emotions, state of mind, and the story’s drama are expressed by the use of camera placement and lighting…not by spoken words.
Lighting floor plan of kitchen static frames of Ida
Lighting Floor Plan
You can also learn more about the cinematography of IDA from the DOPs Lukasz Zal & Ryszard Lynzewski HERE and HERE.
Go watch Ida and let me know your thoughts on its cinematography and its overall visual style down in the comments!
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