Wide shots = Ways to make them interesting??

[J.F.R.]

Lately I have been shooting on a crop sensor camera (GH2/GH3) and Have been liking the 24-35mm focal length. I feel that lenses that are wider can sometimes bring out a boring scene and make the person look foolish.

Can anyone give me some suggestions on shooting wide (full body shots) that look interesting?
I've already figured out that standing on the same plain as your object makes the scene look boring imo, I prefer to use low angle wide shots and those from 45 degrees, I really do not like normal wide shots with your subject in the middle.

Any ideas, tips or comments are gladly welcomed, possibly even some pictures and videos
Thanks

 

[jghenderson]

You could over simplify the purpose of a wideshot to : showing how the character interacts with the environment.

Thus, an interesting wide shot requires an interesting environment and an interesting action. Acting becomes very physical in the wide, and the actor must really be able to show that physicality, or the shot will reveal nothing about the character.

I'll give an example from the movie I watched tonight, Punch Drunk Love. There is a shot where the main character(Adam Sandler) is going to Hawaii. There is a wide shot down a long terminal hallway, Sandler walking towards camera. There is a crowd of people behind him, but he's in front. The lady that takes the ticket is in the foreground right. The shot is static. Sandler is constantly jogging for a few seconds then walking, then jogging, then walking. This serves two purposes. First, it obviously shortens the shot, so that a shot that could be a minute long ends up being ~20 seconds. But perhaps more importantly, it reveals the nature of his character. His anxiety, excitedness, awkwardness....all of it is in that shot.

On a completely unrelated note, Sandler's performance in that movie is a tour de force of physical acting. Extraordinary.

 

[David Jimerson]

Lately I have been shooting on a crop sensor camera (GH2/GH3) and Have been liking the 24-35mm focal length. I feel that lenses that are wider can sometimes bring out a boring scene and make the person look foolish.

Can anyone give me some suggestions on shooting wide (full body shots) that look interesting?
I've already figured out that standing on the same plain as your object makes the scene look boring imo, I prefer to use low angle wide shots and those from 45 degrees, I really do not like normal wide shots with your subject in the middle.

Any ideas, tips or comments are gladly welcomed, possibly even some pictures and videos
Thanks

It'll be interesting if something interesting is happening in it.

 

[nycineaste]

foreground framing-- tree branch, table, person, rock, anything

also, receding perspective lines

try high angles too - stand on a chair/ladder, etc

anything that creates depth