DOF (In Post) Experiment....

MattC

MattC

Veteran
Alright guys, again I'm going to ask for your help. I'm trying to fake 35mm depth of field in post. I started with the easiest clip (no idea how I'm going to do it to all of them yet, but I'm trying to see if this is possible.

Now, I've stripped away ALL color correction so this is raw footage, done so that you can see the DOF effect better. The compression (Sorensen 3) affects it somewhat but not so much that you cant see the effect and, I hope, judge it for realism. The clip is 3.5 meg so it shouldn't be too much of a strain.

http://www.birthofthecool.com/Testing/dof_test.mov

Please let me know what you think, and if it sucks, why so.

Matt
 
Re: DOF (In Post) Experiment....

LOL same place. If you don't see it refresh your browser.
 
Re: DOF (In Post) Experiment....

I know that the mask isn't perfect. I can do this fine in photoshop with a still image, but I'm not sure how to do this with video (without doing it for each frame - 2,500 for a two and a half minute scene).
 
Re: DOF (In Post) Experiment....

Matt... you do realize that your camera (XL2) is capable of *insanely* shallower DOF effects than the DVX, right? I mean, as far as being able to get the shallow-DOF look, you're way ahead of the average DV user!

It takes some creative positioning (like putting the camera outside and shooting in through a window) but if you zoom that thing into 100% telephoto and open the iris up, you can get some real, genuine shallow DOF...

I'm sure you already know that, but if you haven't experimented with it, give it a try, the results can be quite impressive.
 
Re: DOF (In Post) Experiment....

Barry,

You are absolutely corect about this, it’s one of the reasons I love the camera (I always get a kick out of folks who say the 20X is only good for nature videography). BUT…. It’s sometimes difficult and requires a change in my thinking. Most of the time I pull the camera out of the bag and the lens is wide and the iris open and you set up the camera, zoom in to focus, pull back a bit to frame and then close the iris until you get the exposure you want (if you close too much you might throw an ND on there). With the XL2 you always have to think about how far our you can set-up. Also, for this effect to really work at its best, it seems you need to keep the iris almost all the way open. You can stop down once, maybe twice, but that’s about it. I don’t have a full complement of ND Filters which I think will be necessary to shoot this way. It’s actually the reason I’m considering a matte box.

This scene was shot with somewhat limited mobility. Again, it’s my fault. I really wanted a certain dolly shot to open the scene, with the shot at the end of the dolly run acting as my master shot for the scene. I didn’t have too many options on where I could set up the dolly, so I went with this. Even so, if you look closely you can already start to see the natural DOF in the before clip. On a couple of the OTS shots I did get some REALLY nice DOF, however, and that’s what gave me the idea to try and match up the other footage in post.

Noah has led me in a direction that I will experiment with this weekend after we shoot the next two scenes. One is in a bathroom…. Time for the 3X I think….

Matt
 
Re: DOF (In Post) Experiment....

Looks good but the only think I see is right around the actors face; looks like a thin area that is in focus but then after that it looks ok. Just look at the hinges on the cabnet doors and the edges of the glass. Maybe it's because of the compression but not positive.


a little off topic here.. but how did you get that screen size? It says 864 x 480. Did you just use a wide angle lens and then shoot in 'squeeze' mode, then crop it in post?
 
Re: DOF (In Post) Experiment....

I'm assuming that problem is just the quick mask (not getting it close in). My feeling is similar to Barry's, and he covers a lot of techniques in his book (sorry for the plug again barry ;)). You could also have him far away from the background and that would help. The tricky part is shallow DOF in the constrained spaces. you could also venture over to the micro35 discussion here as well.
 
Re: DOF (In Post) Experiment....

I just saw the footage.  You were shooting up from a lower vantage point, so the possibility of backing up and zooming in to get better DOF might not have been possible (unless you wanted to actually dig holes in the floor a la Orson Wells in Citizen Kane).  If that camera angle was critical to adding visual weight to some element of the story, you probably couldn't have done it any other way.

I suppose you could have also been more careful with moving the edge of the matte via keyframes, but not only would that have been very tedious to do, any detectable movement would give away the effect and look worse.

So, I though the mask worked very well, all things considered.  In a passing shot lasting only a few seconds onscreen, no one but the most discriminating techno-geek could have EVER perceived the difference, IMHO.  If you have good actors, a compelling story, and overall good cinematography, a technical fudge like this one is acceptable.
 
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