Name that artifact!

[Andrew Forbes]

Technical question time. I was watching Anchor Bay's DVD of Trauma (shut up, bear with me) and noticed a strange video effect in some scenes that I've only encountered once before (in cut-rate releases of Raw Deal and T-Men). Occasionally, in dark, mostly still shots, an element of the scene (usually in deep shadow) will "float" with the minor camera movement. I'll try to explain. Imagine a scene features a person in a room, with a red rose pinned to their shirt. The shot is, for all intents and purposes, free of camera movement, but there is some relative motion between the frame and the content because it's a hand-held shot or the camera is bumped or there is some frame jumping. Most of the scene is fine, but the red rose smudges around with the movement of the frame relative to the scene, as though locked to the camera.

So, three questions: 1) Does anyone know what the hell I'm talking about; 2) Has anyone encountered it before; and 3) What is this phenomenon called?

[mkiker2089]

no to all three but I wonder if it's a compression artifact or if it's overexposure in the camera / film itself. It sounds similar to what they used to call "blooming" where if the contrast was too high in a scene the brightest points would seem to distort out of focus.

[Steve T Power]

Technical question time. I was watching Anchor Bay's DVD of Trauma (shut up, bear with me) and noticed a strange video effect in some scenes that I've only encountered once before (in cut-rate releases of Raw Deal and T-Men). Occasionally, in dark, mostly still shots, an element of the scene (usually in deep shadow) will "float" with the minor camera movement. I'll try to explain. Imagine a scene features a person in a room, with a red rose pinned to their shirt. The shot is, for all intents and purposes, free of camera movement, but there is some relative motion between the frame and the content because it's a hand-held shot or the camera is bumped or there is some frame jumping. Most of the scene is fine, but the red rose smudges around with the movement of the frame relative to the scene, as though locked to the camera.

So, three questions: 1) Does anyone know what the hell I'm talking about; 2) Has anyone encountered it before; and 3) What is this phenomenon called?

It could be a contrast/human eye issue - like with some flicks how white on black text appears to be getting larger even though it isn't.

I could be crazy. Or you could be crazy - perhaps we're all crazy.

[Andrew Forbes]

It could be a contrast/human eye issue - like with some flicks how white on black text appears to be getting larger even though it isn't.

I could be crazy. Or you could be crazy - perhaps we're all crazy.

It is definitely not an illusion. It is happening on screen. I'll get back to you on the crazy.

[Future Man]

This probably doesn't lend itself to screen capture?

[Andrew Forbes]

This probably doesn't lend itself to screen capture?

Sadly, no.

[Jim_Thomas]

Could be a side effect of aggressive edge enhancement. I ran across a similar situation in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, with a character wearing a houndstooth dress.

[hoytereden]

Could be a side effect of aggressive edge enhancement. I ran across a similar situation in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, with a character wearing a houndstooth dress.

Van Johnson? Don't tell me he pulled an Ed Wood and bombed Japan wearing a dress under his uniform!