Starz series "Crash" with fake shallow DOF?

F

FBAS

Well-known member
I've been watching the first three episodes of "Crash" last night and was very distracted by what seemed to be a fake shallow depth-of-field attempt in like every second shot.
I was asking myself why they would do this? The original DOF looked something like it was shot on 2/3", so it wasn't too bad. But like I said a lot of shots had this post-production blur added to backgrounds and foregrounds. One shot I can remember almost looked like they put a blur vignette on it - so it wasn't even trying to mimick a real shallow dof.

I can't understand why they would do that? It looks so cheap, why not live with the 2/3" dof, or get an adapter or rent a red one?
 
They're cheap and they figured most people that would notice are starving filmmakers that can't afford to pay for that network.
 
yeah i noticed it and it made it really hard to watch i couldn't even finish the first episode its really distracting and i can't believe they would do that on a pay network when most of their shows are shot on film
 
If I remember correctly...the movie Crash did some things like that. It wasn't all the time though. Obviously they took it too far in the show.

Crash is one of my favorite films, and I love its look. I haven't caught the show though, I'll have to see how much they messed it up :P
 
LOL this is so funny. i was gonna start a thread like this. it is SOOOOO distracting to me. i just cant get over it.
 
I didn't know the film and show were related, but it makes sense since they have practically the same font :) I really want to see it now so i can see this blur!
 
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that is actually one of the better shots. doesn't look wierd there to me but usually its quite distracting
 
Xtopher said:
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Looks like someone just slapped a background on a greenscreen and blurred the hell out of it. No continuity between the forground lighting and the background. Not that this lighting scenario is impossible in the real world but the extreme blur ads to make the shot look suspect.
 
These are some of the so many "highlights".
Look at the frame with the car - it looks like a bad joke, doesn't it???

In the scene with the three people you can actually see the dude with the light shirt walking from focus into gaussian blur. The girl and the door are in focus, the out-of focus guy is between both, distance-wise. Why should he ever be out of focus?

Maybe this is some kind of style they're trying to achieve (I haven't seen the film). But it's only hilarious.
 

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Forget the blurs guys, that trailer makes the show seem like shi* anyway. All I need to see, more shakedowns by cops, money changing hands, drug dealers, how original. How come nobody is talented enough to create something of quality that is original anymore?

I love American TV, it is so GOOD ;-)

Dan
 
It's tilt/shift lenses not a fake blur. You can tell by the bokeh.

They do use them in an unusual way in the dialog scenes though.
 
I know exactly what your talking about, I thought it looks cheap, I like the effect but they use it entirely too much and often unnecessarily. Shows ok though, Dennis Hopper makes it interesting to say the least.
 
Matty_g said:
It's tilt/shift lenses not a fake blur. You can tell by the bokeh.

They do use them in an unusual way in the dialog scenes though.
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Well it's not cheap then, it's actually done with a lot of extra work... but it's still distracting because they do it all the time. If you use this in a dream sequence (something depicting non-reality) I think it's pretty nice. But in every second shot is just too much.

I agree the show is not that bad. It is way exagerated and very stereotyped - but that is what it is supposed to do, I think. I really like all the damaged characters in this show and how they are acting out. I think it's really entertaining (minus the blur)
 
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