A ZED AND TWO NOUGHTS

Peter Greenaway's 1985 movie doesn't make use of many cinematography techniques, in fact, most of the movie is filmed with long, still

frame shots. Long still frame shots are filmed with a wide lense so that the entire object and its surroundings can be caputured within a

single frame. Greenaway uses this technique so the boundaries of the screen becomes the boundaries of the canvas, and the setting and

actors becomes the art that is painted on the canvas. Almost every shot is composed like a painting. Many of the shots are symmetrical

, walls are filmed flat so that the horizontal lines are parallel with the top and bottom of the frame. Objects are placed on tables as if

subjects for a still life. Lighting is used in an alternation of light, shade, light, shade receding to the back of the picture. All of these

techniques in the cinematography are in reference to the techniques of the 17th cenutury painters.