Shallow DOF- Overuse?

Dylan Couper · March 6th, 2009, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordan Oplinger

go watch any student film ever made.

LOL! Excellent

Matt Buys · March 6th, 2009, 02:45 PM

You haven't seen anything yet. Wait till my camera gets here.

Xavier Plagaro · March 8th, 2009, 04:10 AM

Hello to all, this is my second post here!

Me and my wife work for a short-film festival, so I get to see 400-500 short-films every year. There is people who is abusing low DOF, there are shorts that have barely anything in focus!!! ;-))

But most directors insteed are doing a good use in short-films.

In Vimeo and YouTube videos of the 5D mkII, the low DOF is used and abused, but it's normal. They do it because they CAN! ;-DD

Jon Fairhurst · March 8th, 2009, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xavier Plagaro

In Vimeo and YouTube videos of the 5D mkII, the low DOF is used and abused, but it's normal. They do it because they CAN! ;-DD

Hey, don't knock it. Most Vimeo videos have no story. All they're left with is "this looks cool." In fact, I'm in the process of making one for the music store where my daughter works. The premise is simply, "this music store has cool stuff in it." I'll edit it to music by the owner or one of the employees. I don't have a steadycam, tracks, or a crane, so for motion I'm using lots of focus effects. It's DOF city.

You can't use DOF to distract from the story when there isn't one. :)

Brian Drysdale · March 8th, 2009, 04:34 PM

I wouldn't say that Dutch angles are a recent fashion, they came into fashion again over 15 years ago. They seem to be a bit out of fashion in recent years, although Slumdog has quite a few.

Shallow DOF effects came quite fashionable nearly 20 years ago in commercials etc.

These visual devices tend to go in cycles, perhaps zooms will come back in again as well.

It's the unmotivated use of them that's the problem, well thought out use helps to serve the story, unfortunately over use can be a distraction. If you're you so absorbed by the photographic effect rather than the subject matter, if there's no emotional connection other than it looks great perhaps you are over using the visual device.

Xavier Plagaro · March 9th, 2009, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

You can't use DOF to distract from the story when there isn't one. :)

;-DDD

That's exactly the point, as long as you are "experimenting", you do it with what you lacked before. But when you have something to "say", it's better to not use always 1cm of focus in all your shots!!! ;-DD

March 6th, 2009, 02:45 PM	#17
Matt Buys Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Asheville NC Posts: 426	You haven't seen anything yet. Wait till my camera gets here.

March 8th, 2009, 04:10 AM	#18
Xavier Plagaro Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Rome, Italy Posts: 90	Hello to all, this is my second post here! Me and my wife work for a short-film festival, so I get to see 400-500 short-films every year. There is people who is abusing low DOF, there are shorts that have barely anything in focus!!! ;-)) But most directors insteed are doing a good use in short-films. In Vimeo and YouTube videos of the 5D mkII, the low DOF is used and abused, but it's normal. They do it because they CAN! ;-DD

March 8th, 2009, 04:34 PM	#20
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,152	I wouldn't say that Dutch angles are a recent fashion, they came into fashion again over 15 years ago. They seem to be a bit out of fashion in recent years, although Slumdog has quite a few. Shallow DOF effects came quite fashionable nearly 20 years ago in commercials etc. These visual devices tend to go in cycles, perhaps zooms will come back in again as well. It's the unmotivated use of them that's the problem, well thought out use helps to serve the story, unfortunately over use can be a distraction. If you're you so absorbed by the photographic effect rather than the subject matter, if there's no emotional connection other than it looks great perhaps you are over using the visual device.