Shallow DOF...not so much of a big deal

wait so micro 4/3rds is just the name of a lens mount. Heck this stuff is confusing. So the GH1 has a 4/3 sensor then? See this is what I'm not understanding though. In my limited understanding of mathematics, something like a 1/3 sensor would be "ONE THIRD" the size of a full frame sensor thus obviously not as big.
2/3 etc...

Now 4/3 in mathematics is an improper fraction that would be converted to the proper fraction of 1 and 1/3. I.E. about 1.33333 in decimal form. Now 1.3 is obviously a larger number than 1.0000 so ....wouldn't this mean that a 4/3 sensor is actually LARGER than a full frame sensor or a 35mm frame??

Is my mathematical understanding flawed?

And what is this S35 and ACS thing people have mentioned?
Sorry for the dumb questions. :undecided
 
Postmaster said:
Ha! -If you have to place some LSD in the popcorn, just to make sure the audience is understanding the artsyness of your film, something went really wrong.

Frank
Click to expand...

Oh I wasn't saying to watch the film on LSD necessarily. I was saying that if you are an analytical type, predominantly left brained, and have ever taken LSD in your life you may have experienced the blossoming of the more artistic right brained thinking. Once you've experienced that it stays with you after the trip is over, funding your work and freeing you from having to be "correct" in all your choices. Some people are all about the gear and the numbers, and that can be the death of art. It's not that one needs LSD, but if you remember the changes that happened in the art, film and music worlds in the mid-late 60s you can see that they were reaching beyond the sterile techniques that were the norm. Basically I'm saying just loosen up a little and take the ride.
 
Simply put, shallow DOF is something that amateurs hear gives you "film look", as they hunt for the one easy trick or magic software that will make their movies look not-amateurish.

They don't yet understand that you have to actually be skilled in cinema-tography, in order to competently photograph- a piece of cinema.

And cinematography is, largely:

LEADING THE EYE to the thing(s) that is (are) most important to the STORY at that point in time.

You can do this with short DOF (selective focus), lighting, color, tone, framing (shooting a closeup), and of course the combination of any of these. Also, moviemakers do this with art direction, meaning removing distracting items from the set that have nothing to do with your story, like the box of Kabooms in the back of your kitchen scene that just reminded me how much I liked Kabooms as a kid.

So yeah, short DOF/selective focus= waaayyy overemphasized. It's a tool in a tool box. There are others.

"Film Look" (more accurately, "cinematic look", since most of us don't shoot film)= "Knowing Cinematography".


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PS- Soderberg is highly influenced by The French New Wave, which used cinematography "mistakes" (blown out whites, lens flare, jump cuts, soft focus) intentionally, both for their visual interest and to create certain emotional responses.

This isnt to say the approach is successful all the time. I havent seen Girlfriend Experience. I dug The Limey.
 
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