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DSLR Film Look - How To

Hey folks,

This past summer I embarked on a crowdfunding campaign where I ended up raising $19,200.

Throughout the campaign we often got asked what did we shoot the footage with. Upon answering with a 5D we would get bombarded with questions about settings and lenses and everything else. So I've made this little tutorial that talks about the basics of getting the "film look"

This is what our footage looked like.

8342333536_7b82cf983b_c.jpg



Here is the tutorial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnL4Z0ebcBc

I must say, I'm not a professional, everything I've learned has been through making mistakes and researching ways to correct those mistakes. So if you hear me making some incorrect terminology, you know why. haha :)

Lewis
 
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I'm slightly more interested in how you did your funding campaign but will check this out

haha well I've also just started producing a fortnightly mini tips & tricks series giving away any knowledge and what I done/learned from the crowdfunding experience. First video is up on the channel :). Second one out this Sunday.
 
Great tutorial man.

I just purchased a t3i yesterday, and I'm still kinda playing around.

Now , could you suggest the best settings for a film look?(apart from 1080p,24fps). I'm talking about the AWB. Most of them sugest to shoot a flat image.What does it even mean?And how to go about it?
 
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Great tutorial man.

I just purchased a t3i yesterday, and I'm still kinda playing around.

Now , could you suggest the best settings for a film look?(apart from 1080p,24fps). I'm talking about the AWB. Most of them sugest to shoot a flat image.What does it even mean?And how to go about it?

What it means is to shoot with your sharpness, contrast, and saturation turned down. I am not sure if you are suppose to turn down the color tone though.
 
Great tutorial man.

I just purchased a t3i yesterday, and I'm still kinda playing around.

Now , could you suggest the best settings for a film look?(apart from 1080p,24fps). I'm talking about the AWB. Most of them sugest to shoot a flat image.What does it even mean?And how to go about it?


No problem, I'm hopefully going to make another video about this topic.

What people are talking about are picture-styles. The Canon DSLR's shoot in 8bit and have a very poor dynamic range. When you use a picture style it removes as much as the standard (contrast, sharpness, etc...) properties as it can in order for you to put them back in while in post later on. Which is what you always want as it allows greater versatility with the picture. Say if you want a heavily stylized look like Sleepy Hollow, if you haven't shot on a flat profile and your pushing colours around the image will soon fall apart.

I suggest downloading this colour profile. It was design primarily for the Canon 5D Mark II but it works just as well with over Canon DSLRs.

As for AWB. I'm assuming you're talking about (Automatic) White Balance. I suggest you buy one of these. This going to help you get the perfect white balance.

Hope this helps.

Lewis
 
No problem, I'm hopefully going to make another video about this topic.

What people are talking about are picture-styles. The Canon DSLR's shoot in 8bit and have a very poor dynamic range. When you use a picture style it removes as much as the standard (contrast, sharpness, etc...) properties as it can in order for you to put them back in while in post later on. Which is what you always want as it allows greater versatility with the picture. Say if you want a heavily stylized look like Sleepy Hollow, if you haven't shot on a flat profile and your pushing colours around the image will soon fall apart.

I suggest downloading this colour profile. It was design primarily for the Canon 5D Mark II but it works just as well with over Canon DSLRs.

As for AWB. I'm assuming you're talking about (Automatic) White Balance. I suggest you buy one of these. This going to help you get the perfect white balance.

Hope this helps.

Lewis

Hey Lewis, what or where do I install the color profile?
 
Hey Lewis, what or where do I install the color profile?

So you want to go to Canon's website and download the EOS utility - here

It says "5D Mark II" but don't worry about that, the software that downloads is the same for all models.

Install the software.

Connect your camera to your computer via USB and switch it on, I'm pretty sure you need to have the dial switched to M.

Start the software you just installed 'EOS Utility'

And look for the option/button that says "Camera Settings/Remote Shooting"

You want to find a camera icon which should take you to the picture styles.

Click ‘Detail set’.

Now select one of the profiles you are able to customize. "User Def 1." May be different on your T3I.

Then a pop-up window should open and you select the Picture Style I suggested you download earlier.

This will then be uploaded to your camera under the "User Def" you selected. When you get to this you switch to this profile by pressing switching picture profiles via the menu or via the picture profile button if you camera has one.

You'll notice when filming, the picture will look quite muddy, horrible and be quite 'flat' - This is exactly what you want as it allows you to do extensive post work to the image.

Hope this has helped.
 
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this thread is a great example of good marketing.. not being sarcastic or unappreciative. I can think of no better way to generate attention to your project then by doing good deeds.. answering question, creating tutorials and the like. Good job, and thank you no only for your awesome tut, but also for your good example.
 
I have no idea what 180 degree thing is... I feel so restarted... also why do I have to film in 24fps? the picture is smoother in 50fps I dont see any blur when objects move... Im new to all of this... Im just playing around...
 
this thread is a great example of good marketing.. not being sarcastic or unappreciative. I can think of no better way to generate attention to your project then by doing good deeds.. answering question, creating tutorials and the like. Good job, and thank you no only for your awesome tut, but also for your good example.



Wheatgrinder, I can see where you're coming from and I know you said you're not being sarcastic. But I was initially offended at this statement.

If I wanted to market my project, I would be marketing my project. A lot of time goes into making and planning these tutorials. I'm doing them because of what someone else stated in this thread. "I wish this type of tutorial was around when I was learning". When I was coming to grips with the DSLR for filming purposes the people I learned from was filmmakers like Philip Bloom and Vincent Laforet. While they have amazing tips they always demonstrated with really expensive pieces of equipment (rigging, lights, lenses). There was no-one really around the give good tutorials with basic equipment. I've just bought a RED and thought it would be a nice gesture to give away whatever knowledge I've learned slumming away with the basics. (I apologize if this came off as nasty, haha)
 
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I have no idea what 180 degree thing is... I feel so restarted... also why do I have to film in 24fps? the picture is smoother in 50fps I dont see any blur when objects move... Im new to all of this... Im just playing around...

Here's the link I talked about in the video about the 180 degree shutter - http://tylerginter.com/post/11480534977/180-degree-shutter-learn-it-live-it-love-it

If you want to film in 50fps, by all means you can do so.

But if you're looking to try and imitate the look seen in the films you might want to change your fps to 24. More or less since 1927 the standard frame rate for motion pictures has been 24fps. Audiences associate cinema with 24fps. Just look at the backlash The Hobbit has received for switching up to 48fps. Some critics have said it looked like a BBC soap opera.

So if you're after the film look. Stay with 24fps.
 
Alright, I'm a little slow, so please gimme a leeway... ;)
ITREF
After thinking about this overnight, and not to get very far off-topic, for those of us short of 24fps tech and posessing only a lowly yet common 30fps camera, the math from the linked chart should/could also work for us to create that 24fps "film look."

http://documentarytech.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Screen-shot-2010-01-03-at-5.36.21-PM.png

See EDIT at bottom:
If
(24 x 360)/50 = 172.8
(8640)/50 = 172.8

or
(24 x 360)/48 = 180
(8640)/48 = 180

then
(30 x 360)/50 = 216
(10800)/50 = 216

or
(30 x 360)/48 = 225
(10800)/48 = 225

In theory, of course.

Two bits of common sense tells you that a faster shutter speed is going to let in considerably less light.
Don't futz with the ISO.
Crank open that aperture <2.0 and light up your subject like a football field!

I don't have my camera on me at the moment, but maybe this weekend I could do a little 30fps test with the shuter manually set ~200 - 300, upload it to 29.97fps NTSC & YouTube, and we can all see how this turns out.

Anyone else wanna give this a try with their 30fps cam with shuter speed set from 200 to 300 and post it that'd be great. :yes:


>> EDIT! <<<

I buggered the math for the lowly 30fps camera crowd.

30fps x 360º / 180º (target) = 60 shutter speed or 1/60.

However, 1/60 still looks a little choppy, so try 1/30.
1/15 also doesn't look too bad, but below that big movements get blurry.

Mostly what I'm noticing is that I definitely need a variable neutral density filter, especially outside.

After a bunch of internet snooping around I determined Hoya is likely the best entry level V-ND filter with a name attached, (you can get $20 no-name Chinese who-knows-what quality V-ND easy, but I've been burned on that route.)
They're around $110 - $150. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
Conkins are fairly decent, too.
Tiffens get a bad rap.
 
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