Your opinion on negative space in a video.

James Sharp · Post by **James Sharp** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:32 pm

Well.. first i should explain negative space just incase someone dosent know what it is.

In my fancy world of picked up jargon i have learned that any pure black spot on a image or video section can be declared negative space..

For example. when a person leaves a few seconds of video black..

or when someone masks small images onto a black screen..

Pretty much when the majority of the pic is black.. it is considered a negative space..

Some people i have met really hate it at all in the videos they make.. they think you should never have a blank spot in your video..

Other people think that when done right it can accentuate your video quite well..

I guess i was inspired to ask this question seeings how my current video uses a bit of it.

Now with that explanation.. how do you feel about it?

CrackTheSky · Post by **CrackTheSky** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:47 pm

Seems like a pretty random question, but as far as I'm concerned, as long as the editor has a good reason for making lots of black, it doesn't bother me. Like in Douggie's video Remaining Deep in the Ocean, he has something like 30+ seconds of nothing but black, but from an artistic standpoint it works in the video.

A screen that has a majority of black can be used to focus the viewer on a certain point in the video, or whatever. I personally don't mind it.

BasharOfTheAges · Post by **BasharOfTheAges** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:49 pm

Sometimes a hold on black can be used to accentuate suspense or drama, so if those are the reasons and it's not "because you ran out of clips" then, sure, it's fine.

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:35 pm

depends on how you use it

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:49 pm

CrackTheSky wrote: he has something like 30+ seconds of nothing but black, but from an artistic standpoint it works in the video.

I downloaded that video just because you said that...and I gotta say that's some artistic standpoint you're coming from because that was just a really stupid editing decision IMO. :p

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:52 pm

To actually address the question though...James, who do you know that hates all negative space? That's just not a criticism I've heard for most uses of "negative space." I don't know anyone who says "I hated your rotoscoping job because of all that black background," they hated the rotoscoping job because the edges were jagged or something along those lines..

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:50 pm

Just so long as it doesn't grow so far, and its inhabitants get so out of control, that you end up reediting the whole video.

Oh wait, you said <i>negative</i> space...