A shot showing an entire person's body or a large portion of the environment—context and space.
Freddie Young's sweeping desert compositions in Super Panavision 70mm elevate the wide shot to a philosophical statement: Lawrence's tiny figure against endless sand simultaneously visualizes isolation and megalomania.
Tonino Delli Colli deploys the wide shot in deliberate counterpoint to extreme close-ups – the vast Monument Valley landscape becomes a stage for moral confrontation, lending every duel its cosmic dimension.
Roger Deakins consistently employs extreme wide shots to situate protagonist K within decaying industrial wastelands and endless desolation – the shot size itself becomes a statement about human insignificance in a post-apocalyptic world.
Joshua James Richards' naturalistic wide shots place Frances McDormand's character within the vast American landscape, striking a balance between liberation and loss that carries the film's emotional core.
Film stills sourced via the TMDB API. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. themoviedb.org ›
Lenses between 24-50mm (full frame) produce typical wide shots, with 35mm considered the standard focal length. The depth of field at an aperture of f/5.6 and a subject distance of 3 meters ranges from 1.8 meters to infinity. Modern cinema cameras like the ARRI Alexa LF often utilize the 4.5K Open Gate format (4448×3096 pixels) for wide shots to maximize flexibility in post-production reframing. Three variants dominate: the medium long shot (Halbtotale) with 1/4 of the frame height occupied by the head, the American shot (Cowboy Shot) cutting off at the hip, and the extreme wide shot (Supertotale) with the head occupying less than 1/10 of the frame height.
D.W. Griffith systematically established the wide shot in 1915 in "The Birth of a Nation" as a narrative shot for spatial-temporal orientation. The transition from theater to film necessitated this expanded perspective—while theater audiences always saw the wide shot, the cinema camera for the first time allowed for conscious changes in shot size. Orson Welles perfected the deep focus wide shot in 1941 in "Citizen Kane" using 28mm lenses, thereby revolutionizing spatial storytelling. The Steadicam significantly expanded the movement possibilities of the wide shot from 1976 onwards.
Stanley Kubrick used 50mm wide shots in "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) for sterile spaceship interiors, while Sergio Leone compressed extreme wide shots with 200mm telephoto lenses in "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968), isolating figures against Monument Valley. Modern blockbusters like "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015) employ 40mm wide shots for action sequences, as this focal length conveys speed without extreme distortion. The wide shot allows for complex choreography without cuts but requires precise lighting of large areas and demands physical precision from actors.
While the medium long shot still conveys emotions, the extreme wide shot reduces figures to graphic elements. The American shot functions as a compromise between physical presence and spatial awareness. Drone shots are increasingly replacing costly crane wide shots, with the DJI Inspire 2 with X7 camera delivering comparable image quality at 1/10 the cost of traditional Technocrane setups. Virtual Production Stages, as seen in "The Mandalorian," eliminate location-based wide shots through LED volumes, where 20×15 meter stage sizes enable standard wide shots without visible boundaries.
Ich plane Totalen mit 35mm als Standardbrennweite, da sie natürliche Proportionen ohne Weitwinkelverzerrung liefert. Bei Innenräumen nutze ich 24mm nur wenn nötig, da die Kanten-Verzerrung in Post-Korrekturen resultiert. Meine Beleuchtung muss 360-Grad-konsistent sein, weshalb ich bevorzugt durch Fenster oder Oberlichter arbeite statt mit direkten Scheinwerfern.
Ich setze Totalen gezielt ein um Machtverhältnisse zu etablieren - kleine Figuren in großen Räumen vermitteln Isolation oder Bedrohung. Die erste Totale eines Films definiert den visuellen Ton, weshalb ich diese Einstellung oft wochenlang vorbereite. Beim Blocking achte ich darauf, dass Schauspieler auch aus 10 Meter Entfernung noch lesbare Körpersprache zeigen.
Totalen bedeuten für mich große Locationkosten und längere Setup-Zeiten, da das gesamte Set sichtbar ist. Ich kalkuliere 30-40% mehr Beleuchtungszeit gegenüber Nahaufnahmen und plane Totalen bevorzugt für Vormittage ein, wenn die Crew noch konzentriert arbeitet. Bei Außentotalen sind Wetterversicherungen essentiell, da Continuity-Probleme den gesamten Drehtag gefährden können.
1. Was beschreibt „Totale / Wide Shot" am besten?
2. Zu welchem Department gehört „Totale / Wide Shot"?
3. Wie viele verschiedene Fachperspektiven bietet dieser Eintrag?
The Lexikon is part of the Filmfarm ecosystem — alongside budgeting (FilmBalance), an industry magazine (FilmCircus) and crew networking (FilmCall, CrewMesh). One shared vocabulary for the whole production.