Originally posted by lithedreamer Why is that?
Cinema and television are two very different industries that attract two different mindsets.
Film/cinema/motion pictures: Projects take years of pre and post production and cost millions. On an average film set, you may shoot 1-5 pages or 1-5 finished minutes on the film per 12+ hour day, 6 days per week. Films are almost always over budget due to the perfectionism of the team of artists, designers, and craftsmen fighting to get it right. Iʻve worked on films where the minimum would be 3-5 takes for a shot and doing 35+ takes if the director had just won a fight with the producer. Good, bad, or ugly, when the film is released in the theatre, the entire audience is expected to shut up, turn off your cell phones, pay a lot for the ticket and popcorn, and sit through the entire film in the dark before leaving.
I have worked on films that were shot entirely with one tungsten balanced film with only three primes and lit or filtered for T/8 (T/stops not f/stops) @ 1/50".
Video/broadcast television: Money is king. That means fast and quick planning, minimal crews, time slots, advertising plugs, etc. On an average television set, you may shoot either live or for a series, a 30-60 minute episode (much less with commercial breaks) per 5 day week, 10 hour day. Most television videos are on a stopwatch; you get in, you get out. Most of the videos are destined for broadcast or cable or internet consumption that may be seen with interruptions, multitasking, and piracy. Pop your own corn, mute the sound and do your own voice overs, itʻs essentially free.
The only consistency Iʻve seen on every video project in terms of image quality is the need to set white & black balance before the shot.
Thus with film/cinema you will typically have a Director of Photography, a camera operator, a 1st assistant cameraman that pulls focus/turns on/off the motor/changes lenses/checks the gate(for dust)/threads the film, a 2nd assistant cameraman that loads & unloads the film magazine, a gaffer, best boy, etc.
In video, you have your videographer...period. Maybe a cable monkey to help with batteries or tape. So on most videos, you donʻt have time to mess with primes. You need a zoom and no one is going to help you change focal lengths. At the pro level of video auto focus is taboo with camcorders that do not have AF, so you need your right hand to zoom with a servo switch and your left for focusing.
In the sixties with Cinema Verite being shot guerilla style 16mm handheld, some filmmakers embraced zooming during a shot, but if you look at its use, it looks dated. Filmmakers prefer to either cut and change perspective or move the camera during the shot (dolly/track/steadicam/jib/aerial). Itʻs more visceral than an optical zoom.
Of course there are hybrid examples where there is crossover, but necessity is the mother of invention. When television and video threatened film and cinema into extinction, cinema had to provide a level of quality and distinction worthy of the price of admission.