How did they fake the zooms in this music video?

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

If you have tried the techniques for crash zooms and they don't work for you, then maybe you should just buy a second hand lens that stays in focus!

Or just borrow a lens for a day.

[Paul R Johnson]

ah - but I seem to remember Ryan lives is the middle of nowhere and there are no rental houses, nor friends who own anything worth borrowing and for some reason distant rental suppliers don't rent to his area. Ryan's non-parfocal lens has driven him mad for years and he's been replacing it for the same period because in the past he has wanted to crash zoom, and nothing has changed since the last topic. He knows the answers, we've done it all before. He's had new lens, different cameras and even physical movements being considered and he's asked the same question again.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

However I do not think they used a zoom. I think it was multiple takes.

You are wrong and right :) It was shot in multiple takes, 3 to be exact, first take was the close up of Britney, then a 3 frame crash zoom and then it cuts to the wide angle shot. It happens so fast that it looks like a continuous shot but it isn't.

[Ryan Elder]

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

First thing is try your zoom - I'm amazed after all the grief in the past three years you have had with it you still keep trying to use it.

Try the crash zoom at the full range of apertures, and then zoom in in the editor and try the zoom out in that. Then try it in 4K and see if that works better than 1080. See which looks best. You are going to talk about this for months when you could spend an hour trying these things out, sort it and move on.

If you have tried the techniques for crash zooms and they don't work for you, then maybe you should just buy a second hand lens that stays in focus!

Okay thanks. I have tried zooming on the lens and it goes out of focus during the zoom. I could buy a second hand lens rather than try to fake it with a few shots in post, but wonder if it's worth if the post effect will work, like it did in the music video?

[Ryan Elder]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

You are wrong and right :) It was shot in multiple takes, 3 to be exact, first take was the close up of Britney, then a 3 frame crash zoom and then it cuts to the wide angle shot. It happens so fast that it looks like a continuous shot but it isn't.

Okay thank, you very much! Do you know if the 3 frame crash zoom was done in the lens, or in post by any chance?

[Noa Put]

It looked like it was done in the lens though I think you can get away with a zoom in post with some added motion blur since it is only 3 frames. When I came across your thread I found it interesting enough to have a look myself and downloaded the video to go through the transition frame by frame in post as that is the only way to see what is going on. Is it "legal" to download YT video's, probably not, but since this is for educational purposes only I don't really care. I'm not going to tell you how I downloaded it but it's pretty easy and doesn't even require installing anything on your pc, google is your friend in this case :)

[Christopher Young]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

I want to do fast zoom effects for a project, but do not have a constant aperture lens that can do that, but I wonder if I could fake it when I saw this video do a zoom but it doesn't look like they use an actual zoom lens. They do it at 0:48 into the video:

Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time (Official Video) - YouTube

But I am wondering how that faked zoom was done. I tried going through it frame by frame but was not able to on youtube so far. Do they zoom in post? But if they did, that would cause resolution loss? But maybe resolution loss for an effect is okay and no one will notice, if that's what they did?

Thanks for any advice on this! I really appreciate it!

As you say hard to judge on the Tube so I downloaded it.

It's not just a crash zoom out on one continuous take. Two takes are involved. There is a CUT, a jump cut at that, not even close to a match frame cut one frame before a crash out zoom of two frames. The quality of the jump frame directly after the cut is of considerably lower quality than the frame before the cut. To me, it looks like the editor zoomed in to about 70% on the second take and then one frame later crash zoomed two frames back to the full-res wide shot.

With a jump cut like that and a two frame crash out any quality loss is pretty immaterial as it's all over before the eye can absorb any detail. So not too much noticeable quality loss for the viewer. But it is there!

This is how I forensically investigate any video effect if I want to recreate something like it or to learn somene else's tricks and techniques. Like hiding cuts with wipes etc.

Chris Young

[Noa Put]

If you look at the position and the posture of the dancers in each take there are some noticeable differences which made me think it was done in 3 takes but the download sample is of lower resolution so harder to judge but anyway looks pretty easy to replicate during a shoot.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay thanks. I couldn't download the video to observe it frame by frame, because the video was too long I was told by google sources, however, I put a camera on a tripod and recorded the video, by aiming the camera at my screen.

I then went through it frame by frame and I see what you mean. 3 takes with jump cuts during the zoom. Thanks!

I could do that for a zoom effect, but worried about resolution loss, since I was always told never zoom in, in post, especially 70%. But like it was said, so quick that maybe it will not be noticeable.

[Paul R Johnson]

Remember - never believe what people tell you, until you prove it yourself. When people shot for DVD in SD, many had these new fangled 1080 cameras, and discovered they could zoom quite a way before they saw the difference. Now we have 1080 up against 4K - same old problem. Why not experiment and see if your eye can detect the quality of three frames of lower res in the stream. My guess is probably not!

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, thanks. However the final output is going to be 4K so if I zoom into 4K footage will it be a problem of the final output is still 4k?

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, thanks. However the final output is going to be 4K so if I zoom into 4K footage will it be a problem of the final output is still 4K?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Oh okay thanks. I couldn't download the video to observe it frame by frame, because the video was too long I was told by google sources,...

Oh no! "I was told..."

What do you mean the video was too long to download? There are plenty of sites where you can download Youtube or at very least use a free screen capture program.

What others have said is true. They're doing some combination of cuts from multiple takes and/or digital zooms in post. You should be able see this for yourself.

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. I can zoom in post then, but will the resolution loss be a problem if the final output of the project is 4K, but it zooms into 1080 for some very quick shots?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Okay thanks. I can zoom in post then, but will the resolution loss be a problem if the final output of the project is 4K, but it zooms into 1080 for some very quick shots?

Depends on what you're filming. For a music video punching in for a second will be too quick for your brain to recognize the drop in quality. Youtubers commonly use digital zooms and jump cuts. This is because creating entertaining content is more important . Once you gain a following you can always improve your production quality.