50s/60s television look to my video?

M

mattd43

Hello,
I'm new to this site and fairly new to film making. My goal is to achieve a convincing 1950's-1960's television look to my video but I'm not sure how to achieve this. By this look, I'm referring to the camera look of such shows as The Andy Griffith Show or the Munsters, that era of television. My problem, however, is that I just don't know how to make it look this way or what exact qualities those shows have that I'm trying to achieve with my dslr. Obviously its black and white, but in terms of exposure, focus, lighting, and possible film grain, can anyone give me some tips or advice. I just can't seem to make it look authentic. Thanks!
 
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Hi,
first of all make sure you can rebuild this vintage atmosphere on the set: Proper studio, clothes, performances etc These things must feel right out of the camera, because no matter what you do in post it just won't work. Light flat and frame with 4:3 in mind.
In post go black and white and crop it 4:3 with black bars. Soften the image with gaussian blur, add some realistic 16mm or 8mm film grain and dust scratches from here, just follow the tutorials. That's all I can think of.
Good luck!
 
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the majority of the 'look' aside from set, clothing, hair styles, etc - as has been mentioned - is going to come from lighting.

However, the specific shows mentioned were not lit flatly, there are a LOT of shadows. Specifically a lot of shadows of the actors on the surrounding set pieces, and in the case of the Munsters, a lot of shadows on the actors and on the background.

Your best bet would be to pick a specific scene you want to emulate, and experiment with lighting until it looks mostly right in camera.. then add more lights so that even the shadow areas have some detail, though noticeably darker than the highlight areas. Crush the blacks in post, and as has been said give it a bit of softness and perhaps some film grain.

Test, and then test some more.. and when you think you have enough light, you are probably about halfway there.
 
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