Vertical Type Blur in SPR at DVinfo.net

James Llewellyn · November 17th, 2005, 11:10 PM

I was watching Saving Private Ryan the other night on TNT, and I noticed that at two times during the movie, once at the end of the D-Day battle and again at the end of the final battle, you see this vertical type smear or blur look. Anyone know how that was achieved? Was it done with the camera or in post?

Ben Winter · November 27th, 2005, 07:53 PM

Little green men in tights did it overnight, because that's what they're paid to do in Hollywood.

James Llewellyn · November 28th, 2005, 06:08 PM

These men in tights, one day their tights will all belong to me! So I can be the pretty one on the ship....

yeah.....

James Llewellyn · November 29th, 2005, 04:05 AM

Well lazy me, I figured it out on my own. I'm ashamed of myself cause the effect was stupendously easy.

Edit: Sorry for the lack of description. In Premiere/After Effects, it's a simple Screen/Linear Dodge overlay, with the top clip desaturated, with the Levels/Brightness and Contrast (or how ever hundred ways you can go about doing this) adjusted to make it extreme blacks and whites. Apply a blur that can be set to vertical, or a directional blur (of course different blurs get different results, Fast Blur seems to get the most extreme results), and the rest speaks for itself.

There's probably several other ways of doing this, but this is how I slumped into making it work 20 min before I went to sleep. If anyone has any other suggestions or methods, please share or discuss.

Kevin Red · November 29th, 2005, 10:55 AM

Do tell. [Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.]

Kevin Red · December 1st, 2005, 11:24 AM

Thanks.

(Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.)

James Llewellyn · December 1st, 2005, 04:21 PM

Yeah, it still doesn't quite achieve the effect though. In SPR, the bluring seems to be alluminating from the bottom. You see the same effect in a recent commercial for Socom I think, or one of those games where you are watching a firefight taking place with a Humvee.

Kevin Red · December 1st, 2005, 04:45 PM

Plus, in SPR the details are not blurred. Just the light.

John Allardice · December 3rd, 2005, 05:23 PM

On DV you'd have to do it in post...the photographic technique involves throwing the shutter on your camera out of sync with the pull down claws, so that the film is still being dragged down into position as the shutter opens, but since the film is moving for only a fraction of the exposure time, only the brightest areas of the images will streak, the rest being burned out by the rest of the (now static) exposure.

J

James Llewellyn · December 3rd, 2005, 08:38 PM

Ah thanks a bunch for the explaination.

Dimitri De Keukelaere · April 14th, 2006, 11:55 AM

hey James,

could you give an example, a still of the film and a still of how you've managed to do it. I may sound novice but I can't picture myself what you are talking about. So it would prob be easy to see a picture or two

Many thanks Dimitri

November 17th, 2005, 11:10 PM	#1
James Llewellyn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 80	Vertical Type Blur in SPR I was watching Saving Private Ryan the other night on TNT, and I noticed that at two times during the movie, once at the end of the D-Day battle and again at the end of the final battle, you see this vertical type smear or blur look. Anyone know how that was achieved? Was it done with the camera or in post?

November 27th, 2005, 07:53 PM	#2
Ben Winter Trustee Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Hollywood, CA Posts: 1,675 Images: 1	Little green men in tights did it overnight, because that's what they're paid to do in Hollywood. __________________ BenWinter.com

November 29th, 2005, 04:05 AM	#4
James Llewellyn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 80	Well lazy me, I figured it out on my own. I'm ashamed of myself cause the effect was stupendously easy. Edit: Sorry for the lack of description. In Premiere/After Effects, it's a simple Screen/Linear Dodge overlay, with the top clip desaturated, with the Levels/Brightness and Contrast (or how ever hundred ways you can go about doing this) adjusted to make it extreme blacks and whites. Apply a blur that can be set to vertical, or a directional blur (of course different blurs get different results, Fast Blur seems to get the most extreme results), and the rest speaks for itself. There's probably several other ways of doing this, but this is how I slumped into making it work 20 min before I went to sleep. If anyone has any other suggestions or methods, please share or discuss. Last edited by James Llewellyn; November 29th, 2005 at 03:39 PM.

November 29th, 2005, 10:55 AM	#5
Kevin Red Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 103	Do tell. [Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.] __________________ AMD Athalon 2800 (2.08ghz) running Windows XP sp2 1GB of RAM Vegas 6.0 NLE 300+ GB hard drive space running SATA RAID 0 With an NVIDEA Geforce FX 5600XT http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/search.php?searchid=149990

December 1st, 2005, 11:24 AM	#6
Kevin Red Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 103	Thanks. (Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.) __________________ AMD Athalon 2800 (2.08ghz) running Windows XP sp2 1GB of RAM Vegas 6.0 NLE 300+ GB hard drive space running SATA RAID 0 With an NVIDEA Geforce FX 5600XT http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/search.php?searchid=149990

November 28th, 2005, 06:08 PM	#3
James Llewellyn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 80	These men in tights, one day their tights will all belong to me! So I can be the pretty one on the ship.... yeah.....

December 1st, 2005, 04:21 PM	#7
James Llewellyn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 80	Yeah, it still doesn't quite achieve the effect though. In SPR, the bluring seems to be alluminating from the bottom. You see the same effect in a recent commercial for Socom I think, or one of those games where you are watching a firefight taking place with a Humvee.

December 1st, 2005, 04:45 PM	#8
Kevin Red Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 103	Plus, in SPR the details are not blurred. Just the light. __________________ AMD Athalon 2800 (2.08ghz) running Windows XP sp2 1GB of RAM Vegas 6.0 NLE 300+ GB hard drive space running SATA RAID 0 With an NVIDEA Geforce FX 5600XT http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/search.php?searchid=149990

December 3rd, 2005, 05:23 PM	#9
John Allardice New Boot Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 9	On DV you'd have to do it in post...the photographic technique involves throwing the shutter on your camera out of sync with the pull down claws, so that the film is still being dragged down into position as the shutter opens, but since the film is moving for only a fraction of the exposure time, only the brightest areas of the images will streak, the rest being burned out by the rest of the (now static) exposure. J

December 3rd, 2005, 08:38 PM	#10
James Llewellyn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 80	Ah thanks a bunch for the explaination.

April 14th, 2006, 11:55 AM	#11
Dimitri De Keukelaere Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Belgium Posts: 113	hey James, could you give an example, a still of the film and a still of how you've managed to do it. I may sound novice but I can't picture myself what you are talking about. So it would prob be easy to see a picture or two Many thanks Dimitri