Jess Franco orders a telezoom into the shocked visage of Fernando Bilbao, the Spanish Frankenstein monster! Why do a new set up when you can zoom? And it's so much fun to watch. Some don't understand why I stopped worrying and learned to love the zoom shot, especially in DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN.
Another early 1970's film which is composed almost exclusively with the zoom lens is Mario Bava's 5 DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON. I keep watching these two films over and over and over and over BECAUSE of the obsessive use of the zoom lens. They are anti-Film School films.I went to film school in 1970 and they didn't understand. I wish I could show you my 1971 zoom epic. I flunked out. Never, ever, zoom in on a stationary object or figure!
2 comments:
Look at a Visconti film, several of the later ones are quite zoom-happy without being distracting.
Exactly. Look at THE DAMNED, right from the opening credits he's zoomin in and out created a kind of free floating eye effect. It creates a kind of aesthetic distancing and a certain energy. That's also the effect created in DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN. It breaks the conventional rules, but I like that.
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