Webcam selfie effect

A wide fixed shot of a lit face at a desk while the room stays black. a wide fixed shot of a person at a desk in an otherwise dark room, their face and hands lit hard by an off-camera screen and blown out across the forehead, the rest of the wide frame falling to near black, their nods arriving as stuttered held poses rather than smooth motion, detail soft and smeared wherever the light does reach, camera never moving

A wide shot where the near figure is soft webcam and the far one is sharp. a wide shot of a shared living room where the person nearest the fixed low camera is soft, smeared and stuttering with blown highlights on the face, while a second person further back is rendered sharp and smooth with clean detail and fluid movement, the difference between the two holding throughout so the webcam look reads as an effect, camera never moving

A narrow frame from below where straight lines bow outward at the corners. a person seated at a kitchen table framed from slightly below by a small fixed camera, the crop tight and narrow so the top of the head touches the edge, the straight line of the table and the door frame behind bowing outward toward the corners of the picture, the camera never moving as they lean in and out of the frame, soft detail overall

Bright window light leaves the subject as a dark shape with a blown edge. a person sitting in front of a bright window facing a low fixed camera, the window burning to pure white and the face falling to a dark grey shape with almost no detail in it, a blown bright rim along the hair and the shoulder, the picture never adjusting to recover the face, soft smeared detail in the dark areas, fixed framing

A wave arrives as a handful of held poses instead of smooth movement. a person sitting close to a low fixed camera in a dark bedroom waving a hand, the movement arriving as a handful of held poses that jump from one to the next instead of a smooth arc, each pose lasting a beat before the next replaces it, the still parts of the frame unaffected so the stutter belongs to the motion, soft smeared detail throughout, fixed framing

Hair and fabric lose their texture into soft blocks of colour. a close shot of a person talking to a low fixed camera in a bright student room, the texture of the hair and the knit of the jumper dissolving into soft blocks of colour with no fine detail, the edges of the shoulders soft and slightly haloed against the wall, colour shifting a little between one moment and the next as the picture rebalances itself, fixed framing

A wide narrow frame where the players at the edges stretch outward. a wide shot of three people playing instruments in a garage, captured on a small fixed camera so the players at the left and right edges stretch wider than the one in the middle and the straight line of the door behind bows outward, their fast strumming stuttering into held steps, one bare bulb blowing out the nearest shoulder, camera never moving

A bright screen washes the forehead and nose to flat white. a person leaning toward a low fixed camera in an unlit room with a bright screen just off camera, the screen light washing the forehead, nose and cheekbones to flat featureless white while the room behind them falls to almost black, colour on the skin going cold and slightly green at the edges of the blown areas, the eyes narrowing in the glare, fixed framing

A wide fixed kitchen frame where fast hand work breaks into held poses. a wide fixed shot of a kitchen bench where a person chops vegetables quickly, the fast hand work breaking into a series of held poses that jump forward in visible steps while the still pans and tiles stay steady, the strip light above blowing out the worktop to white, the edges of the frame bowing outward slightly, camera never moving

A pair lean into a narrow fixed frame and their faces distort at the edges. two people leaning into a small fixed camera in a hallway, shoulders pressed together to fit the narrow crop, the face nearer the edge of the frame stretching slightly wider than the one in the centre, motion stuttering in held steps as they laugh, a hard overhead bulb blowing out the tops of both heads, fixed framing