Book Review: The Filmmaker’s Eye: The Language of the Lens (The Power of Lenses and the Expressive Cinematic Image)

“Space” discusses the link between the camera’s technical and storytelling roles, such as in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, in which he uses wide-angle lenses to convey life from the perspective of a child. In “Movement,” Mercado references Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins when discussing the importance of camera movement in creating a gritty, authentic story. “Focus” looks to demonstrate how focus influences a narrative’s emphasis. “Flares” focuses on the beams of light that enter a lens and how they affect a story, such as in the riding sequences in Easy Rider and the arrival of UFOs in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “Distortion” exemplifies how the distortion produced by lenses can affect a story, particularly to convey whimsy, surreality, disorientation, or intoxication, as is the case with Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Finally, in “Intangibles” Mercado acknowledges that every lens is unique and that its personality brings authenticity to a film, as exemplified by Sean Baker, who filmed his movie Tangerine on an iPhone. These “optical personalities,” as Mercado calls them, bring excitement and allure to the journey of mastering the camera lens as you refine your craft.