Recent CML Tests
Canon C300 initial latitude tests
Epic exposed +/- 7 stops
With & Without HDR
Alexa +/- 7 stops
Infra Red exposure & Filter tests
Skintone tests
Alexa-Canon 7D-Panasonic 3700
Red-MX-SI2K
Binocular
Effect
Published : 13th June 2004
Can anyone recommend a good way to get a sharp binocular effect?
I have done this in the past with a huge cut-out of black
cardboard, but wondered if anyone had any other ideas.
Thanks as usual
Matthew Woolf
NY DP
>Can anyone recommend a good
way to get a sharp binocular effect?
Check with your rental house. They may have a gate with a
binocular shape cut into it. Back when I was an assistant
we did that with a BL-4.
I think it was from Clairmont.
Art Adams, DP [film|hdtv|sdtv]
Mountain View, California - "Silicon Valley"
http://www.artadams.net/
Matthew Woolf wrote :
>Can anyone recommend a good
way to get a sharp binocular effect?
If you mean the figure "8" on it's side you're best
off doing it in post. Binoculars = telephoto lens = shallow
DoF = soft edged cardboard every time.
On a personal note, I really hate the persistence of the "8"
on it's side black vignette that's always used to denote 'binoculars'.
Looking through binoculars doesn't produce that effect unless
you're a hammerhead shark. A hard edged, ND 0.9, oval centre
spot (if such a thing exists) would be closer.
Tom Townend,
Cinematographer/London.
>On a personal note, I really
hate the persistence of the "8" on it's side >black
vignette that's always used to denote 'binoculars'.
I'd be curios, is this for period piece?
I can't imagine shooting a circa-70's-cop-drama-look and choosing
a realistic representation of the view through a pair of binoculars
over "8" on it's side.
Alan A. Hereford - Cinematographer
Marin Co., CA, USA
>On a personal note, I really
hate the persistence of the "8" on it's side >black
vignette that's always used to denote 'binoculars'.
AAAAAmen !
Sam Wells
>I'd be curios, is this for period
piece?
The answer is no - its for a commercial - modern day.
Matthew Woolf
NYC DP
>I can't imagine shooting a circa-70's-cop-drama-look
and choosing a >realistic representation of the view through
a pair of binoculars over "8" >on it's side.
I know, but this thing just gets perpetuated, because everyone
is afraid the audience won't buy it as binoculars POV if it's
not the 8 thing. Even if as I presume everyone in the audience
has looked through them.
There is an Alfred Hitchcock film that gets it right, can't
remember which one.
Sam Wells
Sam Wells :
>"There is an Alfred Hitchcock film that gets it right,
can't remember >which one."
In rear window, Jimmy Stewart (in a wheel chair) is handed
his binoculars to spy on Raymond Burr (who played Det. Ironside
in a wheelchair.) His POV is a soft matte, single circle with
the top and bottom cropped due to the aspect ratio. The binoculars
don't have enough magnification, so he reaches for his telephoto
lens, mounts it on his 35mm SLR and his POV is a soft matte,
single circle with the top and bottom cropped due to the aspect
ratio.
...makes me wonder when we first start to see ground glass
and frame lines?
Alan A. Hereford - Cinematographer
Marin Co., CA, USA
In The Lady from Shanghai, Orson Welles delivers this effect
beautifully reflecting the image seen in the binoculars in
the binoculars themselves; that way he could also register
the reaction of the voyeur all with a single shot. Scorsese
did something similar in Casino, but, in this case, the image
was reflected in De Niro´s glasses.
All the Best
José Manuel García-Patos
Cinematographer
Madrid (Spain)
Why all this bitching about the figure-8? Do all useful visual
conventions have to be true to life? If they did, Hollywood
would probably have folded years ago.
Sheesh. Bunch of picky techies...
Dan "expletive deleted" Drasin
Producer/DP
Marin County, CA
Recent Discussions
Advances in Volumetric Imaging
Rec 709 for theatrical release
Grading monitor calibration tool?