INTEGRATION: MUDDINESS PART 1

Muddiness is a concept I learned more about at ILM. It’s when edges of elements become blended into each other and are hard to distinguish. On the flip side, muddiness has a natural quality to it and can add a “messiness” to perfect cg at times and bring closer to reality.

EXAMPLE 1

For example, in The Spy Who Loved Me, notice the edge transition between the umbrella and the windows, and also with the screen right boulder and the building behind it:

They have an almost indistinguishable transition line and makes the two objects meld creating “muddiness”

Just a couple shots earlier in a lock-off shot, the muddiness is resolved with the umbrellas removing the border between the boulder and building.

EXAMPLE 2

In another example in The Spy Who Loved Me the clever blocking resolves the muddiness, Bond is sneaking around in the scene, blending in with the colors, and ends the scene with a dappled shadow making him stand out more clearly. Other elements like the plant in the foreground blends in with the roof structure.

EXAMPLE 3

Below is an image where muddiness can make an image harder to read. At a glance or a squint, only one giraffe is seen in the image .

In The Last Jedi, the shot has similar elements to the giraffe photo: sunset, tall figures and a lot of atmospherics. The Last Jedi shot also has muddiness where on screen left, the AT-AT legs blend with the smoke which blend with the clouds in the far background for natural messiness. But it avoids a pitfall the giraffe photo has by both embracing muddiness and pushing for clarity with silhouettes. The AT-ATs are “flattened” in value and detail, but are still easy to read in the scene with dark against bright contrast.