What is the deal with this recent 'fad' of blurring the left and right 1/3 of the frame on video actualities from the field? A very recent gimmick that spread so fast. Virtually overnight every "news" program has to show that they are up with the latest trends by blurring. Is this used only for "amateur" footage to somehow distinguish it from the pros? Why do they want to limit my information by limiting my view of the scene?
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Narrowed field video on newscasts
- Thread starter mofocat
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From what I've seen of such footage, they aren't blurring the left and right thirds. They're using cell phone video shot by amateurs who were holding their phones upright, and using the blur technique to fill the empty sides. The alternative would be a sort of sideways letterbox, with the bars at the top and bottom of an old 4 x 3 screen showing a 16 x 9 program. You aren't missing anything, you're just seeing blurry panels to make the fact that the video was shot sideways.
It's not a "fad," it's called letterboxing, and it's a simple way of showing footage shot in 4:3 or other narrow aspect ratios. What you're seeing blurred on the left and right sides is not actually obscured footage, it's the same footage as in the center, zoomed in on and blurred so that they don't have to use a graphic to fill in that otherwise blank space. Some stations do use a graphic for that purpose, but the zoom-and-blur technique is generally thought of as a way to make the presentation more dynamic. Rather than seeing repetitive station logos and slogans which may not match up well with the content between them, you get color and motion that moves and changes with the content at the focus. You're not missing anything, they're not actually cutting anything away or hiding a portion of the field; it's just a simple way of filling the whole screen when the aspect ratio of the field footage isn't the same as that used in the broadcast. Stations have been doing it since the 16:9 format was standardized.
That's exactly what's going on. You'll need to get (most) people to change the way they hold their phone while recording video if you want to fix this problem.
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