Wide-angle Close-ups – Expressive Frames and Their Emotional Impact

MZed Education

by Mascha DeikovaAugust 30^th, 2024

When we show our characters up close, most likely we’re interested in the emotions they express or are going through at that particular moment. But what if we portray them through a wide lens? How will it affect the overall impact of the shot? What emotions can it convey? And why do wide-angle close-ups always feel so expressive? Let’s figure it out together!

I was watching the latest season of FX’s series “The Bear” when I noticed one thing. The creators love detail shots in general, but they often use a wider lens to frame close-ups of the protagonist Carmy, especially in the most stressful situations. I wondered: Is it a subtle tool to enhance his feelings of anxiety and make us relate to him more? Or is it just a coincidence? Or could this type of shot follow a completely different goal here? Questions upon questions.

Defining the terms

Let’s start our research with some simple definitions. What is a close-up? In the MZed Course “Fundaments of Directing,” film director and educator Kyle Wilamowski divides this term into two types of shots. The first one is called a “medium close-up,” and it looks like this famous example from “Forrest Gump”:

A medium close-up shows us the character from the shoulders up. This framing is all about the actor and much less about his or her surroundings. In real life, when you sit with a friend and discuss something important or emotional, that’s roughly the distance from which you’d view them.

On the contrary, the second type – the actual close-up shot – would likely feel weird. In films, though, it’s a frequent guest. It shows only the character’s face, so close that we have no choice but to focus on their eyes, feel what they feel, and think what they think. We’re bound to relate, in other words. (Christopher Nolan uses this tool remarkably well in “Oppenheimer,” so head over here if you want to read more about it).

However, this definition only demonstrates how much of a character’s body we see in the frame. It doesn’t specify the exact look: frontal or profile view, above- or below the eyeline; neither does it define the lens. In fact, you can use any lens to achieve this image composition, but the difference in the impact can be drastic – mainly (and this is the point of this whole article) if you take a wide angle and use it to frame someone’s face in a close-up shot.

Wide-angle close-ups: absurdity and comedy

People who don’t work in the film or video industry would ask here: Why? What’s so special about the wide angle in close-ups? I guess the answer is easier to demonstrate than to explain. Let’s start with the latest music video for the Austrian rapper BIBIZA, directed by Rupert Höller. You will see a lot of wide-angle frames, but please pay special attention to the reaction shots in the second half of the video, starting at 2:30:

How did these shots make you feel? What do you think about all these people looking towards the sky and reacting to an unimaginable sight in different ways? When I first watched this video, I laughed. It feels absurd, funny, even somewhat stupid, doesn’t it? An ultra-wide lens creates a comedic effect here and enhances the irony with which the lead singer says goodbye to everything he doesn’t like in this crazy world (or at least tries to).

Warping reality with wide-angle close-ups

The wide-angle close-ups in the previous example make us smile because of the unusual image distortion (naturally, supported by the appropriate acting). As we all know (including people who only use smartphones for taking photos), the wider the lens, the more background is visible in the frame, and the weirder the face of the person in it. This effect becomes even more pronounced when we use a fish-eye lens, but that’s another topic we already covered here.

However, distortion is not bound to be only funny. It can also feel, well, disturbing. Have you seen “Birdman”? A dark-comedy drama by Alejandro G. Iñárritu follows a washed-up Hollywood actor who tries to make a comeback but has to constantly fight his inner demon and ends up going crazy (it’s not a spoiler, to say the least). The wide-angled close-ups here don’t make us laugh, do they?

You might argue that the whole movie is presented as a single uninterrupted take, which is why they couldn’t change the lens on the fly. That’s true. Yet, do the portraits, shot at a wide angle, visually support the story here? They most certainly do.

A more radical (and disturbing) example could be the movie “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and this scene in particular:

The use of the wide-angle lens, especially in close-ups, throws us mercilessly into the distorted reality of the characters, who, as we know, are under the influence of drugs. To some extent, we start feeling what they do.

Creating a weird feeling

However, you don’t need an ultra-wide lens and lots of distortion to make an effective image. Sometimes, even a subtle change in optics would suffice and tell your story better than a thousand words. In the MZed course “Cinematography for Directors,” seasoned filmmaker Tal Lazar analyzes a great example from the movie “Get Out.” Namely, the scene where a family servant, Georgina, comes to Chris (the protagonist) to apologize for touching his belongings. It starts pretty “normal,” with a wide shot of Georgina and a medium shot of Chris. However, as their dialogue progresses, the camera comes closer and closer toward them (or they – towards the camera) until we have two identically framed portraits. Are they really identical, though? Let’s take a look:

During the entire scene, Georgina gives us eerie vibes. Chris tries to connect with her, but she suddenly starts laughing and crying at the same time. As her behavior becomes more extreme, she gets closer and closer to the wide lens, distorting her face. Tal explains that we see this woman from Chris’s perspective, and he is unsettled and intimidated by her. His close-up, on the contrary, is shot through a longer lens. Thus, although the framing of both characters is pretty similar, we see and perceive them differently. In fact, this is one of my favorite examples of subtle yet powerful visual storytelling.

Wide-angle close-ups as a stylistic choice

So, yes, close-ups framed through a wide angle are expressive, sometimes – even intense. Some cinematographers use them to enhance a character’s emotions or emphasize a moment in the story. Others acquire them as a specific style. For instance, Emmanuel Lubezki (also known as „Chivo“), who was the director of photography on “Birdman” we talked about above. Take a look at some stills from his other collaboration with Iñárritu – “The Revenant”:

Stills revenant

Another film that always comes to mind when we talk about wide-angle close-ups is “The Tree of Life” by Terrence Malick. Who was the cinematographer of the movie? Emmanuel Lubezki. So, we can say that this visual style is typical for Chivo. It became a sort of an iconic landmark for him.

Conclusion    

What about “The Bear”, though? Why do creators use a lot of wide-angle close-ups? To make us laugh, to immerse the audience into Carmy’s warped and anxiety-soaked reality, or to enhance his feelings in an effective, stylistic way? I guess a little bit of everything. After all, “The Bear” has a comedy side, and we do relate to the protagonist, and sometimes, watching this series feels genuinely intense.

Let’s turn the tables now! How about you? Do you use wide-angle close-ups in your projects? If so, what goals or emotional impact do you want to achieve with them? Tell us about your favorite scenes and shots in the comments below!

Featured image: a collage from the stills from “The Revenant”, “Get Out”, and BIBIZA’s music video.

Full disclosure: MZed is owned by CineD.