Videography!

[iliketag]

Ok ok, I wasn’t exactly sure what to title this post… I know that since I started getting into photography about eleven years ago (started learning on a film camera my freshman year) I started to notice minor details in everything. With my introduction into digital photography, it got even stronger. Now I watch movies or TV shows and all I can think is “Holy crap, they shot that well” or “Man that lighting REALLY sets up this mood!”. I understand that it’s their job but there are just some things more noticeable than others I think.

For instance, my boyfriend and I watched Thor on netflix and I kept commenting so much he had to issue me a final shush warning. I loved how rich the colors were and how dramatic just the cinematography was. This is by no means an “art film”, it’s a Hollywood blockbuster. I think at times because of that it may go unnoticed.
Another case was when Riot Games released their trailer for their Season 3 League of Legends Championship Series. I didn’t think most esports companies put this much focus into things, but from the shooting to the score, it gave me chills the first time I watched it.

I suppose these could be silly examples, but I don’t know, I fell in love with the understated beauty of the photography of film.
What are some of the films and scenes you feel have just been done so right? Am I crazy? Do you guys notice these things too?

[stef]

Yes.

I also notice artifacting, frame parity errors on de-interlacing, low bit rates, and id code embedding in movies, and find it annoying.

Fortunately, I also notice and appreciate when a shot is done well, especially if it is a difficult shot to do right. I appreciate it even more on low-budget stuff.

[cameraclicker]

Not just in movies.  Some TV shows as well.

[iliketag]

Absolutely! We were watching an episode of Castle the other evening and I pointed out to him “You see how they always try to get those little fleck of light in their eyes?” he nodded and said “Otherwise it would look really empty and dead right?”

… I was so proud.

[nairbynairb]

The other day I was watching a show and they did close-ups of the two people talking and obviously they lit both differently. I was so angry that the sun was on the wrong side for one of the characters on the close-up but not on the panned out view. I pointed it out to my girlfriend and she told me I was weird for noticing stuff like that.

 

 

[iliketag]

reviving this real quick…

I went and saw the new Star Trek movie last night. I like it well enough and maybe it’s just me, but the cinematography was not my cup of tea… The cockeyed angles, chopped close ups, and camera distortion made me dizzy at times!
There was one scene where Spock and Sulu were the only ones in the frame… it was pretty close up, Spock was standing and Sulu was sitting, and they were pushed to the farthest edges of the frame… well, every time the focus shifted based on who was talking, you could notice the lens distortion. That weird curling of the edges that you see on many wide angle lenses (I’m not sure what it’s called). It was super distracting to me because I couldn’t unsee it!

Has that happened to anyone else?

[Worst Case Scenario]

haven’t seen the new Star Trek movie but I loved the cock eyed angles and chopped close ups of the previous one. It made it just like the original series!

The worst thing I have ever seen done to a great movie was  some twenty years ago when the BBC showed 2001 a space odyssey. Some clever dick decided to include some wide screen shots of the spacecraft because the pan and scan version couldn’t get it all in. So the movie jumped in and out of wide screen. To hide this they painted fake stars onto the black bars top and bottom. Which kind of worked until the space ships came close enough to fill the screen and they  got cut off and replaced by the stars!

[Author]

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