The Lies of Lenses: Behind The Scenes In Sheerness

On a breakwater -- technically it's a groyne -- in Sheerness, we talk about lenses, lies, and why you can't always believe what you see on screen.
MATT: / unnamedculprit - TOM: / tomscottgo

[@horland42]

It's a Groyne! You're sitting on a Groyne! Don't diminish years of Geography class humor by calling it a break water!

[@squareme]

Yes

[@scottish-hero6664]

What was matt and tom sitting on this afternoon? A groyne **background laughter**

[@ZeldaTheSwordsman]

They made a comment acknowledging

[@StephenDahlke]

Not gonna lie, I spent the whole video waiting for the camera to pull back and reveal that you guys were sitting several hundred feet away to film this, just to mess with us all.

[@ThePixel1983]

And let the expensive rental lens sit a hundred metres away, ready to be grabbed?

[@poletooke4691]

ThePixel1983 Yeah. Why?

[@tibfox]

me too haha

[@abzdabz27]

I know its a year ago but just seen this and my mum says really sorry about the dog - her name is Ebony and she likes to make friends! x

[@OlanKenny]

Abi Davis This is one of the hard things with dogs. My brother's dog is a few months old but quite big and likes to jump up at people and ignore the shouts of "Ava no" or "Ava come here" Took her for a walk and there was one poor fella she kept trying to go to but he wasn't so keen. In the end I just had to walk right beside her and grab her every time she made a break for it 😂

[@tomkenning5482]

Mine is the same, Matt's just scared of dogs so it's not the best combo haha

[@AFrogInTheStars]

Tom Kenning link to that?

[@zapfanzapfan]

@@AFrogInTheStars He said he can't f***ing stand them.

[@4rumani]

The dog's or your mom's?

[@mattandtom]

I only realised, after editing and uploading this video, that technically we're sitting on a "groyne", not a "breakwater". Please place all "kick in the groyne" jokes in this thread! -- Tom

[@pixelsthered]

+Matt and Tom Would love to hear you explain why you hate the Wirral. I'm from there and your view is almost certainly justified.

[@Murderous-Lord]

+Matt and Tom I live in Liverpool so I'm quite familiar with the Wirral (The Wirral is near Liverpool for those who don't know the general location), so I'm curious as to why you hate it.

[@skarloeyable]

+Matt and Tom As soon as you said "breakwater" I realised that I'd have to sit through an entire video of you both not making the joke I wanted you to.

[@dunkirx8602]

Once I was kicked in the groyne, it made me breakwater.

[@outaspaceman]

+Matt and Tom My favouritist band ever come from the Wirral.

[@thequeenofspades]

The park bench needs to make a comeback for one episode to explain Tom's hatred of the Wirral.

[@magic_cfw]

It seems as if they are sitting on the groynes, but actually they are just squatting with a really long shot.

[@Thiefree]

"your eyes are f***ing amazing." gosh um heck thanks 😌

[@TheWhitePianoKeyProductions]

"you'll have a blast" hahaha, that's so awesome.

[@ChallengeTheNarrative]

😀

[@TheWolfHowling]

While Tom is explaining why he hate "the Wirral" [Sorry if I misspelled it], Matt can say why he can't stand dogs

[@VanTheVixen]

It's been 4 years and, as far as I know, we still have not gotten the story of why Tom hates the Wirral. I don't think we ever will.

[@ahreuwu]

5 years and counting...

[@korvandenzel]

@@ahreuwu runnin up on 6...

[@trixiewasanegg]

7 years...

[@Zhatt]

I would assume you can rent trailers at Alfred Hitch Co.

[@cpt_nordbart]

Zhatt I buy my cars at Infiniti ltd.

[@wojciechwilimowski985]

You sure can rent camera dollies there

[@robertwilloughby8050]

It would be fairer, with that pronunciation, not to say that Tom had gone French, but had accidentally gone Cornish! (Three examples from football, two of which were brothers - Mike Trebilcock, who scored two goals in the 1966 FA Cup final for Everton, and the Sandercock brothers Ken and Phil, mainstays of the mid 70's Torquay United team)

[@LiamE69]

"I'm sure Sheerness is lovely" That is your mistake, right there.

[@ronleitch7788]

Not really - it’s bleak and when the tide is out, it’s VERY muddy!

[@Crlarl]

A little clarification: The lens doesn't compress distance, distance compresses distance. By moving the camera further, a longer lens is required to get similar framing.

[@LeoWattenberg]

You don't need to be nice to Sheerness. After all, that boat may be just the perfect way to get rid of it.

[@JJRicks]

Would you mind explaining how you're verified? Just curious :) edit: nevermind I figured it out

[@KingCulta]

Now I wanna know why Tom hates The Wirral...

[@mattandtom]

+KingCulta I'm going to have to tell that story at some point. Probably in a video near, but not on, the Wirral. -- Tom

[@lordmwa25]

+Matt and Tom Come to Chester! I know a lovely Park Bench you could use......

[@KingCulta]

Matt and Tom But Tom, the ice cream. The delicious ice cream.

[@mikemac803]

+Matt and Tom come Liverpool please for this video

[@maxximumb]

+KingCulta If you have ever been to the Wirral, you would understand. I'm not sure why Tom doesn't like it, but everyone I know who has been there, including myself, doesn't like the place.

[@hebl47]

Slough, Wirral, Sheerness ... Tom, you'll have to start a list of the places you better not visit again. :D

[@Nadia1989]

Hebl von Heblowitz also Scunthorpe

[@tomkenning5482]

Wigan was mentioned in another video

[@lizzyb.8009]

in grade school, i got do join a little amateur film club where we learned how to do that Vertigo shot trick. of course, being a small grade school club, we did not have a dolly, so instead we had one of us sat in an office chair that the teacher then pushed at a steady rate. all things considered, the shots actually turned out pretty well.

[@isaacc7]

You'll also find a similar effect with mics. Omni mics tend exaggerate the distance while cardioid and especially hyper cardioid mics tend to flatten.

[@zyaicob]

"I can see de fence" Thank you Matt for always making the jokes I make in my mind

[@CrimsonSlug]

You will have to go back there to do a follow up. "Things you might not know: The crater that was once Sheerness"

[@SirMethos]

Lmfao. At the moment, it's about 5 a.m. and I've been watching videos for quite a while(long day). When you added the .gif, showing the zoom/move effect, then removed it again, it leaves people(for a moment) staring at your crotches. I seriously had to pause the video for a moment, because I was laughing so hard(no pun intended) when I realized that. Yes, I might be a bit sleep deprived, but I thought that was hilarious. ^^

[@ZeldaTheSwordsman]

And they were on a groyne

[@RacingStripeAV]

So the Wirral is Tom's personal Slough; gotcha.

[@gwenynorisu6883]

Or possibly Scunthorpe.

[@lizzyb.8009]

Tom: at one point, i will have to explain why i hate the Wirral and then he never did... :3

[@simonmcguire1988]

I know this is a old video but, Tom as a Scouser I share your passion for the Wirral. Come to Liverpool and you can stand under the liverbuilding while Matt uses his snooping lens to get the shot of the Wirral. Also they have benches there so you have all the equipment you need!

[@Morbos1000]

Even the Mermaid looks miserable!

[@IH8YH]

theres another thing that interests me.... Sheerness is on the southbank.... on the NORTHbank though... is a town called SHOEBURYNESS..... how the heck did that name come about?! who buried what shoe and why was it important or significant enough of an event to name a town after?!?!

[@FoxDren]

+IH8YH 'Bury' in old English means 'fortified place' 'ness' means a headland so shoeburyness means the fortified place at the shoe headland, the shoe may be a corruption of shore making it the fortifed place on the shore of the headland. it could also have been refering to the shape of the headland etc.

[@IH8YH]

that makes sense!!! thx! :)

[@TylerFurrison]

Ascdren get out nerd

[@OhanCockett]

I live near Shoeburyness. It's quite a nice place, but you cant really see the masts from Shoebury.

[@CoffeeOnRails]

Father Ted Reference. Dougle it =D I will never be sorry for that joke.

[@caitthenerd7470]

Hey Tom! Guess What? The Wirral!!!

[@deadmatt2052]

9:40 - Out of one frame and into another caused a mouthful tea to explode from my face in laughter. Please film this! It's actually something I hadn't ever thought about being a problem! It would make a good video on the main channel!

[@hannahlbrown]

Its 6 years later and I still want to know why Tom hates the Wirral

[@pranamd1]

This should've been called "The Lies of Eyes". It seems like your brain is fudging the information it gets from your eyes, while the camera shows you what's actually there. Plus, it rhymes.

[@adammullarkey4996]

Thanks, Tom, you just explained how KZbin always seems to suggest exactly the right video at exactly the right time.

[@harrytodhunter5078]

Misnaming that as a breakwater is a real kick in the groyne.

[@petermarsh4578]

is it not called a groyne? A breakwater is a larger barrier in the enterance to a harbor to stop waves.

[@catfish552]

It IS a groyne, but they're also often (incorrectly) referred to as breakwaters.

[@MazeFrame]

I had a blast watching this!

[@BoterBug]

Yay long lenses! I wouldn't have thought about it but that's definitely a very telephoto shot, cool idea and great job making it work.

[@caitthenerd7470]

0:55 A Father Ted reference... ...RIP Frank Kelly 1938-2016

[@qwertyTRiG]

Fr Ted is special. A pity his death happened in the midst of election coverage.

[@grumpygoomba9763]

The commitment of driving to the Isle of Grain is admirable.

[@mattjones343]

Your eyes are amazing. I played this back 7 times and still laugh at this sentence.

[@breadmoneyarchival]

When will the world see part 2 of "The Ballad of Mad Cap'n Tom"?

[@Hen16]

Tom isn't red.

[@KedraIrke]

+Major Biggles Under the hoodie maybe?

[@peter_smyth]

+Major Biggles It's too cold for a red shirt. He's in Britain in winter.

[@HelepodGTech]

+Major Biggles When it's cold he always wears a grey hoodie on top of a red t-shirt.

[@jamestanis3274]

@@KedraIrke Definitely. He talks about it in a different video. There is only so much discomfort he well accept to make us happy :-)

[@joeallen848]

I'm not even mad he dislikes the Wirral, I'm happy he knows it exists

[@dorithegreat6155]

Tom still didn't explain why he hates Wirrel so much. And I'm still waiting...

[@bigbadjohn10]

A few years ago I worked in the area and used to park my car at Minster, a couple of miles away to eat my lunch and watch the ships 'avoiding' the Montgomery. I think some of them did not know what side of the buoy they were meant to go!

[@ronik24]

Lovely videos from you! :-) Just one point: telephoto lens compression is a myth, it does not happen. You can crop a wider angle image and it is the same as an identically framed telephoto shot,

[@steevf]

Automatic like for Father Ted reference. :)

[@HayleyJeffs]

+steevf agreed! Particularly *that* reference too. It is a family favourite.

[@davimurph]

Hayley Jeffs it is a perfect joke. The way it's set up by the writers, the way it's delivered, the way the punchline is so unexpected. A perfect joke.

[@danlyle531]

I was lurking in some bushes with a long lens camera - maybe that's why she didn't go out with me...

[@GingerAnimator]

"Sheerness is mostly worn out" haha! That sounds about right.

[@gunschevanleiden2900]

Tom made a Father Ted reference, every Irish person ever salutes you sir.

[@JewishMusicToronto]

This discussion made me want to watch VSauce's Moon Terminator Illusion video again. But thanks for this tip! I've been working with cameras for years and still never understood how to make get that foreground-background size effect. So thanks!

[@HayleyJeffs]

+Jewish Music Toronto I love Michael Stevens and VSauce :)

[@JewishMusicToronto]

The entire VSauce team, their creativity and their dedication to their work blows me away. If I had half the drive or talent to make videos like they, or Tom, Matt and their friends, do, I'd have so much more out there already. Or I'd have been on KZbin years ago to start with! But their stuff does inspire me to keep creating, and working harder with each go. So, yes, thanks Tom, Matt and the rest!

[@deancliddell96]

Matt complimenting our eyes is everything.

[@nacoran]

It would be interesting with some of those new shoot now/focus later cameras to see if you could composite different parts of one shot to bring one part of the shot closer. (Or maybe they would need a two lense option for that... maybe I just invented the next camera craze!) Focus both pieces, and then move and smooth the edges of one piece as you move it forward or backward in the photo. I'd imagine it could give you a similar effect to the moving dolly. Maybe.

[@OneZombieTrain]

I love that episode of father ted with the cow in the field and the toy XD

[@benters3509]

I grew up in Sheerness. I knew that beach very well. Believe me, it is not lovely!! I would like to spend some time with these two, though, they look like fun.

[@ColinRichardson]

We have the same Monopod... I don't know why that given me as much joy as it did..

[@loncarnik]

When you circle the ship in the photo you took of it without the big lens - did you miss? Seems like the ship is just a bit to the left...

[@IsellPIE]

Top Gear hair

[@MrJGWIN]

I'd love to see Matt sitting in the bushes with a long-lense camera xD

[@BoterBug]

Aw, thanks Matt, I've always liked my eyes :3

[@ItsNickFox]

I didn't think it was possible to dislike dogs... but I'll be damned if Matt didn't just prove me wrong. Did a dog kill his family or something?

[@404Anymouse]

look up tv show mr. pickles

[@danielkelly1335]

+404Anymouse i just did

[@trevorWilkinson]

+Nick Fox I react the same way, having noisy aggressive dogs as neighbours and seeing them dragging away a younger brother.

[@Jwend392]

+Nick Fox Some folks like me prefer cats to dogs.

[@proefslak]

+Nick Fox I had too much footballs (soccer) ruined by dogs in my childhood to really like dogs.

[@Lino1259]

Is that a RODE NTG-2 in your hand? How did you get it to sound as powerful as it is in the videos? Mine sounds totally flat...

[@mattandtom]

Yep it is. Normally all I do is add a load of dynamic compression, and eq out sub 100Hz in post. --Matt

[@atomicmrpelly]

Random question 4 months later, after having seen that video that you guys filmed using a drone - if you did decide to film on a boat, would a drone camera make it easier to get a stable shot? Or would you not risk flying such a valuable piece of kit over water?

[@gwenynorisu6883]

Well, they do normally float, and are moderately waterproof... you'd need one of those which are semi autonomous though, which can hold a steady altitude and position by themselves. The bigger problem would be that the camera would hold steady, but they'd be bobbing up and down whilst trying to talk to it. Better to have a steadicam on deck instead, the pitching of the horizon would be less distracting.

[@MBKill3rCat]

That semi-whistle happens to me all the damn time lol.

[@topilinkala1594]

The Vertigo shot was the one that clicked to me what a focus puller is. You need one guy there to change the focus as the dolly moves, so that the actor stays in focus.

[@erictaylor5462]

Well David Johnson had time to get on the radio and say "Vancouver Vancouver, this is it!" before the blast from Mt St Helens obliterated him. Of course by the time someone responded "What is what?" he was already gone... BTW He wasn't calling BC. he was calling Vancouver Washington, a city just north of Portland.

[@finlaycassie2852]

What are you guy's take's on 360 video, would you use it for something like Citation Needed?

[@hullinstruments]

You’d be incredibly surprised how much water can suppress an explosion like that. Not sure how deep it is there, but it doesn’t take much water to suppress an incredible amount of energy. If you actually run the math…. and even if using the worst case numbers… the entire blast wave would be contained, sure it might create a wave but that is doubtful you’ll probably just see some bubbles. The shots from below the surface looked like it was pretty deep, but it must not be that deep if it ran up on a sandbar, however that’s also move constantly. Would be really interested to see someone who specializes in that type of thing run the numbers….you might get wet… But I highly doubt that it would be much worse than that. All according to the waters depth

[@mich8050]

What's wrong with the Wirral Tom? I've been there and sure it's not Liverpool that's just across the mersey, but it's still nice

[@G7OEA]

Tom, when are you doing your Wirral rant?

[@myladycasagrande863]

Very late question, but did they ever explain why Tom doesn't like the Wirral? If so, what video?

[@TheAMboom]

Small correction. Depth of field is mostly down to aperture and not focal length. A shallow depth of field (background blurred) would be a large aperture and a deep depth of field (nearly everything in focus) would be a small aperture. Depth of field is less prominent at longer focal lengths, for example at 50mm f. 1.8 You can get really nice depth of field. but at say 100mm you won't be able to get as much depth of field because depth of field is getting part of the picture out of focus and with a smaller aperture mire is in focus

[@DerTobiTM]

Small correction. Depth of field is down to aperture *and* focal length (and sensor size, and distance to subject at given focal length, and and and and and...)

[@steviecandtheplace2b]

a decade later, Tom returns.... "there he is, seat 3F!"

[@putnopvut]

Dogs always seem to know to go directly to the people that don't like dogs.

[@notthere83]

Tom only apologizing when he benefits from it reminds me of the philosophical conundrum surrounding an apology. (Well - at least it seems a "standard" line of argument that it's a contradiction to apologize and really mean it. I never understood why.)

[@theswaff699]

what size lens did you use?

[@MattPriceGuitar]

As I was watching the other vid I expected the long still shot to be a set up to a cheesy special fx explosion out in the water behind you, not that you have a habit of cheesy fx or anything. ;)

[@wenchbyatt]

6:25 Well, now that there has unfortunately been an explosion like that in Beirut in 2020, we know that it looked pretty much like that. People peaking their heads to see what's the deal with the big flash, then being blown away by the blast

[@Doule162008]

It reminds me of the 2000mm tinker tailer soldier spy shot of the plane!

[@zapfanzapfan]

Lurking in the bushes with a long lens camera 🙂

[@nicksteffensmeier5776]

which video are they talking about in this video?

[@joelmulder]

The shot at 5:30 is (officially) called a Dolly Zoom or (more often/unofficially) a Push/Pull

[@TheFlatulentCow]

Did Tom go a bit Alan Partridge at the end there?

[@ThatGuy-nv2wo]

That is a groyne! My geography revision taught me this :P They stop LSD

[@thhori2727]

+That Guy To clarify to anyone reading this, that's Longshore Drift, not N,N-Diethyllysergamide.

[@ThatGuy-nv2wo]

Thomas Hori Well it would also stop any drugs being pushed up the beach by waves

[@thesizzlingicetray6312]

It'd stop LSD from carrying LSD (drug) along the beach, so no LSD (drug) in the kids area. :p I did geography GCSE :|

[@ThatGuy-nv2wo]

TheSizzlingIcetray I'm doing it :P Gonna do it for AS too, maybe A level depending on teacher

[@thesizzlingicetray6312]

You probably don't want to do it for AS.. unless you LIVE for coursework and complex terms:D

[@b2air1921]

Still haven't told us why you hate the Wirral. I have lived there for all of my life and I still do. I'm not offended. I'm just really curious as to which "feature" ticked you off to badly😂

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

Don't worry Tom, Sheerness isn't particularly nice even during the summer...

[@erwinjohannarndt4166]

Thefense... goooood

[@jackchatham3947]

Edgar Wright calls that shot a "contra-zoom"

[@ronleitch7788]

You never DID do a shot of the Montgomery!

[@mikelangdon2534]

Shame you didnt venture a mile or 2 in the opposite direction your facing, you have a much nicer area in minster, cliffs a bit further on and an Abbey built in the 800's. Agree with you its worn down but most industrial parts of any town are, you just seemed to find the best of the worst part of the island! Also Warden / Warden Bay are nice filming areas and Harty and Elmley would be fantastic parts to film also. That mermaid also is very tongue in cheek humour, also causing controversy as people didn't see the joke, Eastchurch was where the Wright brothers tested there first planes and the bouncing bomb was also tested in the waters of that area.

[@TrevorJr26]

Ain't no long shore drift happening on this beach

[@EddieHart]

Did you ever tell us why you dislike The Wirral, Tom?

[@thany3]

I thought it was called perspective compression.

[@bastiaan1brink]

is tom's hair getting gray?

[@ndgoliberty]

they were trying to enlarge tom's member for video production.

[@Ziffwolf]

What's to hate about the Wirral? Except Tranmere... and Birkenhead... and Rock Ferry... and Moreton... and West Kirby... Actually. Never-mind.

[@pulsywulsy]

Well New Brighton is nice

[@gwenynorisu6883]

Hmm, I must have got lucky with my flying visit to the place... I fetched up only in Parkgate and Hoylake. Well, that and Seacombe, but I was expecting it to be industrial dockland anyway so it wasn't exactly a disappointment. Just wanted the view across to Liverpool, which was slightly spoiled by the works around the drawbridge but still got some decent shots.

[@ALFIE19]

I have a very similar lens, canon 24-300 :D

[@catfish552]

"Everything in that video is true... from a certain point of view."

[@TheGreatSteve]

My reaction to dogs is similar.

[@iriscandy6377]

Matt's hair doesn't follow this universe's laws of physics.

[@KiSeaKatikka]

20/10 vision my eyes are brilliant

[@otakuribo]

If, in life, you must ever choose between "haircut" and "Ben & Jerry's," the answer is always, always, always Ben & Jerry's.