Making Video Look (more) Like Film

A Reel Women Workshop presented by Kevin Wild kevin@austinfilmmaker.com

OVERVIEW
"We see life as video, we dream and remember in film."
The only way to get TRUE "film look" is to shoot on...FILM! There are products like "Magic Bullet" and "The Process," but why pay when we can do it for free? There are 2 main reasons to "film-look" video: 1. T o make video look like "old-time" films (Make it look bad.) 2. T o make video look like theatrical films. (Make it look good.)

TECHNICAL COMPARISON BETWEEN FORMATS FILM 24 fps progressive 7 f-stops of dynamic range* Smooth rolloff from dark to bright (non-linear) Tends towards warm, magenta midtones Has gateweave, movement Grain at all tonal levels Motion-blurred due to 24 fps VIDEO 30 fps interlaced (60 fields/second) 5 f-stops of dynamic range Steep or fast rolloff from dark to bright (linear) Tends towards cooler, greenish midtones No weave, rock solid. (HD is great for FX) Grain mostly at lower levels of light Motion mostly insensitive due to 60 fps

*DYNAMIC RANGE COMPARISON

Film="S" Curve

Video="Z" Curve

Film has higher dynamic range than video, meaning it can capture more of the blacks and more of the whites than video. Video will crush the blacks and blow out the whites much sooner than film. Film acts softly as it goes from what it can't pick up to what it can. Video hardclips the signal. p. 1

BRIDGING THE GAP

The 6 key areas to work on:

1.Motion Characteristics 2.Production Techniques 3.Grey scale/Contrast 4.Saturation 5.Grain Patterns 6.Depth of Field

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PRE-PRODUCTION

-Film and video are only formats/media. Be sure to choose right one for the end use. (Theatrical release? (Made for television? Film festivals? Resume reel?) -Be realistic about the end-use and budget accordingly. (Underbudget=unfinished. Overbudget=expensive demo reel.) -If you are going to shoot on video and transfer to film later, make sure you prepare. Find a transfer house/lab and discuss the production process with them. Follow their instructions! -As a rule with most labs, do NOT do any film-look techniques if you plan on transferring to film later. Not sure? Leave a submaster duplicate that has no film effects. -Camera tests can do wonders. Noone has ever regretted doing a pre-production camera and filter test. This is the time to experiment...not on the set!

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PRODUCTION

-Focus on lighting! Light like the movies! Light for depth, perspective and composition. -Avoid high key, low contrast lighting. Light more dramatically with less fill light. The trick is to limit the dynamic range in the shot, but to keep some contrast. "Have something black and something white in each shot, but nothing too black or too white!" -Optically diffuse the image with filters. (Tiffen Black Promist is very popular) Filters soften picture and give a more film-like look. -Use high production values on set design, props, color palettes, camera moves, etc. Pretend you have a million dollar budget with a crew of 100 as you set up your no-budget, DV shoot. -Decrease camera's electronic enhancements. Turn off sharpness. Edges will soften more like film. Turn off auto focus, auto iris, etc. -If at all possible, don't go handheld! A 5 lb. camera moves differently than a large film camera. If you have to go handheld, use wide-angle lense and shoulder mount to avoid shakiness. -Use zebra stripes to get in range and then reduce gain a touch. Do NOT overexpose. No info=no pics. -Experiment with different white balances and lighting to achieve a non-standard "look." Be sure to use gels on your lights only AFTER you white balance or effect will be negated. -Much more of the picture is in focus with video. Use long focal lengths and/or selective focus to blur the backgrounds...OR, you can learn to love and use the all-in-focus. -Don't over-do any film-effects if projecting onto big screen! Projectors already "soften" image. -Don't bother to shoot in 16 x 9 unless you have an anamorphic lense or better-than-prosumer camera. (>$5,000) Leaves your options open for later, quality is same.

If you are certain you will not blow up your video to film: -Experiment with shutter speeds to give motion blur to panning/tilting, but will give strobed look (1/30th) -Shoot using frame mode to add easy motion blur
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POST-PRODUCTION

-*Letterbox footage to give a cinema-like aspect ratio. (1.85 to 1) -*Add motion-blur to clips (after rough edit is finished) by de-interlacing footage. (see "TRICK" at bottom) -Color correct every shot. Reduce brightness and add contrast. Reduce or add saturation for "look." Don't put one color correction on entire movie! -Use color correction to add subtle (or not subtle) tints to shots/scenes. Film never has "perfect white balance," but instead temperature. Add warmth by adding reds, oranges and yellows. Blues and greens will feel "colder." -Add touches of magenta in midtones to give subliminal warmth to shots. -Add touch of grain, hairs or scratches using plugins. These should work subliminally and not be very visible, unless with purpose of old-time feel. -Some plugins for grain, hairs and scratches: CineLook and CineMotion by DigiEffects, Twixtor, Grain Surgery, CGM, Eureka's Film Grain and Silk Stocking, DVFilm -Can get companies like FILMLOOK to "film-look" your video. Realtime sessions are ~ $95/minute of footage with a 10 minute minimum. -Quicktime has some built in film-look settings. Open clip and click "Export," then "Dust and Film Fading" TRICK: To deinterlace footage to give a motion blur in post, make a copy of your layer 1 and put it exactly above it as layer 2. Apply deinterlace plugin to layer 1 and choose "lower" field. Apply deinterlace to layer 2 and choose "upper field." Reduce the opacity of layer 2 (top layer) to 50% and render. Now, you are looking through the top layer to the bottom layer that is rendered differently. This gives a nice motion-blur that looks more filmic. A bonus to this method is you can control how much of the blur you want by changing the opacity of layer 2. Want less blur? Choose more opacity on the top clip, thus minimizing the "see through" and blur effect.

*Be careful of re-sizing and color correcting AFTER you have deinterlaced, as a frame may have info from a shot before and after the edit point. Difficult to deal with. Always deinterlace and letterbox last to avoid problems.
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QUICK RECIPE FOR FILM-LOOK

-Shoot 4 x 3 with letterbox in mind. (Tape that viewfinder!) Letterbox in post. -Shoot in Frame Mode if you have a camera that will allow it. If not, do the de-interlace trick in post. -Use high production values and nice camera moves. (tripod, jib, dolly, etc.) NO handheld! -Light it like film, but with less dynamic range. -Include contrast in the shot. (have dark areas and light areas) -Use selective focus by moving camera back and zooming in on subject. -Use color correction to add a "look," adjust saturation levels, tint mid-tones -Use plugins to add a touch of grain

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LINKS

-www.austinfilmmaker.com -www.adamwilt.com -www.2-pop.com -www.urbanfox.tv -www.victorfilmgroup.com -www.digitalvideoediting.com -www.kenstone.com -www.apple.com/finalcutpro -www.cineshare.com -www.dv.com -www.lafcpug.org

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