Question about a scene in The Social Network.

S

Starticus

Member
Just saw The Social Network last night and really liked it.

There's a seen during a rowing competition that had an effect on it that I've seen before and I'm wondering how they did it and if it can be done in Vegas? The effect is having everything in the shot out of focus except for the subject. It looks like an extreme depth of field type of effect but I have a feeling this is done in post production.

Anyone else see the movie and know what I'm talking about?
 
Haven't seen the film, but fairly easy to do such things in Vegas - put the same clip in one track directly above another copy of the same clip in another track. Put a mask on the top clip to keep only the foreground subject visible (which can take forever if the foreground subject is moving and the clip is long, alas) and put a blur effect on the lower clip.
 
It's a lens effect, not a post effect. Considering the focal gradient, it is unlikely you'll get satisfactory results in Vegas. You might be able to get a still picture looking pretty good, but once it starts moving, it'll most likely break down pretty badly.

Doesn't mean you shouldn't try, only that you're facing an uphill climb.
 
Actually, Jeff Cronenweth (the cinematographer on The Social Network) has said that the tilt-shift effect was created in post, and one of the reasons they did it (other than artistic choice) is because that scene was shot in England and involved plenty of compositing to make it look like the Harvard campus, so the tilt-shift effect helped to hide the work.
 
The funny thing is that the web is alive with people saying it was done with tilt-shift lenses, and I expect that it will lead to an explosion in the sale of tilt-shift lenses. For most people, however, the tilt-shift lens will be the easiest way of achieving the effect. A lot of skill and time went into making the rowing scene post effects look good.
 
Since several successful videos using this effect were posted last year on Youtube, you see it everywhere right now, commercials, MVs, etc. It's really gone viral.
 
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