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Film look from video?
I am currently trying to find a cost effective solution to the old problem of trying to make video look like film.
The source material is mostly shot on Digibeta (PAL) but there are also a number of other sources such as DV, DVcam, Beta SP (NTSC). These will be on-lined on an Avid Adrenaline suite. Now I KNOW you can do the drop-field solution, but as this project may also be transmitted in NTSC countries, we aren’t allowed to do this. Equally, the budget will not stretch to a full film grade in a post-production house.
I’ve had a look at the free demo of the Magic Bullet plug-in, which produces some impressive film colour effects, but still doesn’t give that distinctive “jitter” of 25fps (and it also requires massive render times). I’ve also heard about other plug-ins like 55mil or composite suite but haven’t tried them yet.
Any ideas out there?
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3 Replies
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DFT 55mm and composite suite are great, has some excellent beach bypass filters and others. you can also try to strobe your video as well, with duplicated fields. nothing really over 2, unless you are going for something dramatic.
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Try the FLuidMotion preset for interlace to progressive to create 25p. Then use a variety of filters and color correction to make it look more like film.
See some of the related articles on my resurce page at http://www.24p.com
Michael
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I would second the above.
Color correction is the first step. Most clients we work with agree. Interesting though that we reduce the dynamic range of video to make it feel like the increased dynamic range of film. It is certainly a trick. Crush the blacks, blow out a few highlights, etc. If it fits your program, take your color correction in a direction of a “look” by using a color wash like the agency favorite “blue-green” wash or the warmer look you would see on CSI Miami. This is sheer “slight of hand”.
Second, newer Avids do a great job imitating the 24fps + pulldown feel of film to video transfers. This is the FluidFilm effect Michael mentioned.
The combination seems to satisfy most clients and we have used it very succesfully to cut video footage into predominately film originated pieces.
Personally, I think adding grain is overkill…unless you want the clip to feel like an effect. Most digital formats when pushed through color correction will develop slight artifacts or noise. This feels enough like film to me. Obvious grain would be an indicator of poorly exposed or shot film. The idea is to go low grain.
IF you like the grain thing…make sure you find a workflow where you can apply this grain before any motion effects. You want the grain moving at your simulated 24fps+pulldown too.
Chris Magid
RTVF
chris@gortvf.com
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