Church: Life Church
Submitted by: Austin Allen
Church Size: 1,001-2,000
Location:  Wesley Chapel, Florida
Category:  Best Concept
Gear:  TODD AO anamorphic lens, Blackmagic 6k

We knew the whole concept would be shot in only two locations, so the lens choice had to reflect that as well. We need a lens that could produce very shallow depth of field, but also could capture wide shots, but also we wanted to use lenses that would give us a beautiful film characteristic.

We ended up renting TODD AO anamorphic lens from Old Fast Glass LLC in Hollywood. The lens paired with a Blackmagic 6k gave us an ultrawide aspect ratio of 3.55×1, normally only used in movie theatres back in the 1950’s. The result allowed us to use the entire image circle of the anamorphic lens, contributing even further to the out of focus character these lenses are famous for. The biggest challenge we ran into when using vintage anamorphic lenses is the absolute level of softness. It is nothing like a modern lens, where things are perfectly in focus. I probably missed focus on 1/3 of all shots, but that was part of the fun trying to make it work for us. 10/10 would recommend using old cinema lenses that have tons of imperfections for more emotive feel to the images.