Blurry faces

[Kpnuts]

Not seen this mentioned before, did anyone else find the blurry faces in certain scenes to be a bit annoying?

Pike's face in the Iowa bar scene.
Spock Prime in the ice cave and in the shuttle bay.
A couple of shots of Spock on the bridge, especially the "I would cite regulation...." part

Obviously it had to do with focussing and I'm wondering if it was a technique of Abrams. There's a shot on the Narada when Nero first approaches his viewscreen waiting for Spock. He approaches, gets up close to the camera, with his face in focus, then leans back (or takes a step back) and his face becomes slightly out of focus again. Very strange.

 

[EnsignRicky]

Blurring, along with random flashes of blinding light, I think all fall under the lens flare issue. The whole movie kind of felt like I was watching it reflected off of a dented chrome bumper.

 

[Kpnuts]

The blurring issue is separate to the lens flares.

 

[MadMan1701A]

I think I know what he's talking about... I noticed it especially during the last scene with Spock and Spock in the hangar area. The close-up of Nimoy-Spock's face is pretty blurry...

 

[SilentP]

I think I noticed Prime Spock's face go blurry in the ice cave last time I saw it. Glad it's not just me...

 

[SonicRanger]

That "blurriness" is called having a lens in the camera -- it has a focal point and a depth of field in which things are in-focus.

Would you prefer the horrible "bifocal" lens used in TMP to keep faces in focus?

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmp/themotionpicture1023.jpg
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmp/themotionpicture1212.jpg
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmp/themotionpicture0234.jpg
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmp/themotionpicture0240.jpg

 

[Shatmandu]

The close-up of Nimoy-Spock's face is pretty blurry...

They had to do that to keep the movie from getting an NC-17 rating.

Joe, lined

 

[Kpnuts]

I think I noticed Prime Spock's face go blurry in the ice cave last time I saw it. Glad it's not just me...

It happens MANY times during the film, Nero, Spock Prime, Pike, Spock.... every ten minutes or so there's an out of focus shot of a character's face who's talking to the camera.

Looks very strange, because it's just the person's face that's blurry.

I can't believe more people haven't noticed it. It was so obvious.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Cant say I noticed or even care.

 

[ManaByte]

I noticed the out of focus bits, was annoying the first time I saw the movie, not the second.

 

[Arlo]

It's called racking focus, a traditional technique. Jesus fried chicken, people, learn a little Film-101.

 

[Royal Fizzbin]

It's called racking focus, a traditional technique. Jesus fried chicken, people, learn a little Film-101.

Please explain (no sarcasm, I seriously want to know more).

I never really noticed the "blurry faces" but then again I also didn't notice the "bifocal" aspect of TMP. But seeing it in some stills it just looks creepy. I'd much rather the faces be a little out of focus than that.

 

[Jeri]

It's called racking focus, a traditional technique. Jesus fried chicken, people, learn a little Film-101.

Part of Abrams rationale about employing techniques to give the flavor of the Sixties perhaps, such as lens flares and 35mm, as little CGI as possible, using real sets and locations as much as possible, making it gritty...etc.

 

[Arlo]

Racking (or rack) focus is the technique of shifting the focus from a specific object (usually a person) to another one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_focus

Here's a quickie example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YJvMiIA-ZY

It gives a scene depth and immediacy, which we all know JJ was going for.

 

[Cakes488]

Cant say I noticed or even care.

Word, I didn't notice either...but maybe I was blinking during the out of focus shots so I must of missed it.

It's called racking focus, a traditional technique. Jesus fried chicken, people, learn a little Film-101.

First of all...you're taking the lords name in vain so you're breaking a commandment which is pretty major.

Second...Jesus didn't eat fried chicken...it made his hair greasy so he would of never ever consumed that....says it right there in the bible for anyone who cares to look!

Third.... for Christs sake who takes takes Film 101 if you're not studying to be a filmmaker ???? Or was that just a set up to extole your filmmaking knowledge upon us?

 

[OneBuckFilms]

I don't think it's the typical Rack Focus, but some visual distortion as if the Camera has something very close to the camera that is so out of focus as to be invisible.

It lends a subtle feeling of being in a more chaotic, or 'real' environment.

Like the closeup on Robau's facte when he says "Stardate... 22 33 zero four. Where are you from?".

 

[Green Shirt]

Part of Abrams rationale about employing techniques to give the flavor of the Sixties perhaps, such as lens flares and 35mm, as little CGI as possible, using real sets and locations as much as possible, making it gritty...etc.

NOOOOO, don't use the word "gritty". Next, JJ will start throwing dirt on the film to make it more realistic.

 

[GNDN]

It's called racking focus, a traditional technique. Jesus fried chicken, people, learn a little Film-101.

Well the whole point of racking focus is to keep something/someone in focus as they or the camera move (or to purposely shift focus to an object/person on another plane) The problem here (which I noticed as well) is that at certain points when neither the actor nor the camera is moving, the actor's face is noticeably soft while their shoulder, or ear, or background are in sharp focus.

The only time this truly bothers me (still on repeated viewings) is during the close-ups of Spock in the turbolift with Uhura.

Lens flares or "Vaseline-ing" the lens (as in TOS female glamour close-ups) are another issue entirely. It's also not uncommon to play fast and loose with focus to maintain a documentary style, but that doesn't really apply to the close-up I described above.

 

[Geckothan]

I didn't notice it so much the first time I saw it, but the second time I saw it (which happened to be on IMAX) it was really noticable. I know what focus is, but suddenly going from an in-focus shot of one character talking then instantly changing to an out-of-focus shot of another character talking (notable examples being when Kirk meets oldSpock and when Spock meets oldSpock) with nothing to focus on in the background, is just plain distracting and doesn't make the movie more "real" at all, it's just annoying. When I first noticed it, I thought it was an error in the print or a projector problem. It detracted from the experience.

If there was something important in the background being focused on with the face being out-of-focus, that would be acceptable, but making the whole shot blurry is just pointless.

 

[Kpnuts]

double post