Achieving The "Film Look" With Video

Elemeno-P

Elemeno-P

For a while now i have been trying to achieve the elusive 'film look' with video... i went out the other day to get some practice shots, and this is what they turned out like.. just wanted opinions etc..

i think im getting there, but not quite there yet.

Here is the link to watch in HD: http://vimeo.com/2825297
 
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As far as film look goes. The image is a little soft (which is normal with 35mm adapters) and the whites are blown out (which is the surest giveaway that you're shooting digital). Other than that, it looks really good. I'd just lower the exposure a bit and push your mids up to compensate in post or in camera.

Outdoors are hard to shoot with video due to the extremely narrow exposure latitude... if your goal is to make it look like film... which you won't be able to acheive due to constraints of the technology. However, you can get a vvery cinematic look that is still obviously video, but not the handicam look (which I think is what most people who are shooting for the "film look" are trying to get away from).

There's also a bit of vignetting on the corners of the image which can be resolved by zooming in the camera a smidge more.

The shots are awesome though.
 
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knightly said:
As far as film look goes. The image is a little soft (which is normal with 35mm adapters) and the whites are blown out (which is the surest giveaway that you're shooting digital). Other than that, it looks really good. I'd just lower the exposure a bit and push your mids up to compensate in post or in camera.

Outdoors are hard to shoot with video due to the extremely narrow exposure latitude... if your goal is to make it look like film... which you won't be able to acheive due to constraints of the technology. However, you can get a vvery cinematic look that is still obviously video, but not the handicam look (which I think is what most people who are shooting for the "film look" are trying to get away from).

There's also a bit of vignetting on the corners of the image which can be resolved by zooming in the camera a smidge more.

The shots are awesome though.
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Yeah fair point, outdoors, and especially at the beach is hard to keep away from blowing out the whites.. i did a few other test shots to try and not blow out any whites, but i would loose way too much light in other areas, although i didnt try fixing it in post, which might work.

I know ill never actually achieve the film look but i want to try and get as close as i can, i was searching the net for other vids that try and i cam across this!

http://www.vimeo.com/1759615

It has to be the closest iv'e seen to that 'Hollywood Film Look" would love to know how he did it.
thanks for the compliments.

meaneye said:
Hey mate you guys are freakin nuts for lidding with all those Noahs around! Cool clip though reminded me of my bodyboarding days!
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Heh, yeah i know.. its a bit intense, and usually when there are dolphins swimming around humans like that, we all think they are trying to warn us there are sharks around, there have been more shark spottings on poular beaches in the last three weeks then there were for the past 2 years. Crazy!
 
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Perth is beautiful

here's some tips to using a 35mm adapter:

1) Make sure there's no vignetting
2) ALWAYS avoid white blowouts - they are one of the surefire giveaways of video (use zebra stripes) - Film quite possibly never blows out if exposed properly because it has nearly 25 stops of latitude currently. The best video will top out at less than half of that. One way you can gain latitude is by shooting with a flatter gamma curve (some cameras have this), and reduce contrast in the options. Then, crush it in post. It takes more work and its not as pretty to watch dailies, but trust me, you'll gain a good 3-4 stops.
3) use the DOF adapter for what its for - namely - to get the shallow DOF effect. Lots of closeups that exploit the DOF effect that video cannot achieve.
4) In Media Hero's film "Shooters: Get the Picture", there is a line, "Its always about the light". This line has stuck with me because it is dead on accurate. Always shoot with long light. Never shoot at noon unless thats the look you want.
5) if you're going to be doing a lot of outdoor shooting get yourself a long telephoto or zoom like a 300-500.
6) Finally, looks like you've got a sharpness issue. Figure out whats causing that.

Get those surfers up close, long light on their backs as the sun set or as the sun rises, flints off the boards... itll look nice.
 
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Really informative thread guys, sweet deal.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think white blowouts refer to when you overexpose parts of the frame resulting in a loss of detail. Many cameras have the zebra function, which will tell you which parts of the frame are potentially losing detail.

I know vignetting is a mistake, but goddamn, does it look cool sometimes.

Is a DOF adapter some sort of add on or lens?
 
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ad: white blowouts - each pixel can is represented by the amount of light it presents back to you once it's captured... 0% to 100%. Any pixel that captures light over 100% gets chopped to 100%, meaning a loss of the detail in that pixel.

When exposing for the subject outdoors, the skies will be lost to this by being over exposed and the details of clouds and birds lost by being recorded as 100% of white. A circular polarizer will help control this as will either adding light to the subjects and/or shooting with the sun to your back.

When you're outside sometime (not within an hour or two of noon though), turn slowly around and notice how the sky is brighter in relation to the ground/buildings in one direction, and more closely lit in others. The closer you can get the brightness of the sky to the brightness of the other stuff, the better your images will look. You'll lose less detail to over exposure and less to under exposure as well.
 
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I know its cheaper to shoot digital but if you want the footage to look like film then you might as well just shoot it on 16mm film. The images on the chrissy holiday film were strikingly beautiful though good work
 
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No one I've ever heard ask for the "Film Look" is actually looking for the film look (hell, film manufacturers are looking for the video look with super wide lattitude and have been for a hundred years). They've all been looking for a "cinematic look" which is completely independant of the whole film/video thing. It has next to nothing to do wiht the capture medium at all. More to do with everything else that happens to make it cinematic. Do a search on this forum for film look and you'll see all of the regulars here commenting to these ends with specifics and resources to figure out how to achieve that thing that you think is the "film look" and is just a magic combination of DoF and color correction.
 
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Yeah, I agree. The subtle styles achieved with any color correction technique means nothing if the film isn't planned and executed to begin with. The look is the least important aspect to a film compared that everything else that makes a film cinematic. But I think considering the look is still worthwhile. The "film look" adds a specific texture to the film. Other lenses and color correction technique would give your film a totally different texture. 28 Days, one of my favorite films, is shot mostly on digital unapologetically gives the entire film a very unique and bleak feel. Boyle resorted back to a film look during the happy ending, and the contrasting look adds substantially to the emotional feel of the scene.
 
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Haha, true. The ULTIMATE film look.

Hey, suppose he shot that with a red instead of 35mm, would that look better? Isn't that camera supposed to have surpassed film, or maybe I'm wrong and it only matches.
 
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That may be, but the Red series has made it's name comparing itself to the film format as well as lesser digital cameras.

I phrased my question wrong. I'm wondering what would happen if you tried to emulate the film look using the best digital cameras. If the image is better, I suppose you really didn't emulate the film look though...
 
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To get the analog "warmth" to the image that the film folks are going on about, you'll have to degrade the image by adding grain. I know Shake has a bunch of filmstocks built in and the ability to use selections from a frame to generate custom ones based on the grain in existing images. This function is used to blend CG stuff into 35mm film footage more seamlessly. I'm sure After Effects has the same ability. So the fx industry makes CG stuff fit into film stuff all the time, often well enough that you can't tell the difference.
 
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MacV said:
That may be, but the Red series has made it's name comparing itself to the film format as well as lesser digital cameras.
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Of course, film is Industry standard. I wonder if after all this technology if it will cost less to shoot film :eek:.
 
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