Getting your video to look like film

[Dave Haynie]

While it’s true that an HDSLR will shoot excellent video as well as photos, it is still largely a photo device from the workflow point of view. There are many things that aren’t quite tuned for video.

For example, on the D7000, you can’t change your aperture while shooting video… I can, with my Canon 60D. This is largely because Canon reacted to user feedback, like enabling manual controls for video, in the early days of the 5D Mk II, and added them as they went along.

Auto-focus is another issue. If you don’t use it, no worries. But both of these cameras get it wrong. Canon knowns they get it wrong… autofocus in video works like it does in stills — you press the shutter release to force a focus. Nikon has it free running, like you’d expect of a video camera. The problem — and this is true of nearly every still camera that added video — is that they still use a still camera focusing algorithm. When you’re shooting a still, the object is the fastest possible focus. So the camera will rapidly seek up and down to find the focus. In video, what you want is a fairly slow autofocus, that doesn’t make minute adjustments that’ll be visible in the video.

And then there’s audio. No HDSLR has good microphones. I could extend that to claim that no camcorder has good built-in mics, and that would be true. Only, they’re just worse in the HDSLRs. And of course, you can’t even connect a professional mic direcly to any HDSLR, you need an interface for XLR + Phantom power, like one of the Beachtek adapters. Or a secondary recorder… the Zoom H4n is kind of the standard for HDSLR use these days, largely because it’s not much more expensive than a Beachtek adapter, records audio at 96/24, takes two XLR mics, provides phantom power (though honestly, if you’re doing much shooting, you need external power to keep it going), and can pass audio through to the HDSLR’s audio input.

Video rates vary quite a bit, too… most consumer/prosumer camcorders shoot AVC at 24Mb/s peak. The D7000 offers something similar, around 22Mb/s, and also a 12Mb/s mode; the 60D shoots at 44Mb/s. However, both simply stop recording after the file size hits 4GB (even on an SDXC card, which is not subject to the 4GB limits).. meaning the Canon gives me a maximum of 10-12 minutes, while you’ll get about 20-something minutes on the Nikon, before you have to re-start the shoot. For some kinds of video, that’s a deal-breaker (I shoot lots of soccer — I use my “real” Panasonic HMC40 camcorder for that).

Anyway, enough of that. If you’re trying to shoot video that looks like film, yeah, 24p is the way to go. You want to shoot 24p (probably 23.976), not resample or convert from 30p. You may also want to adjust the color curve of the camera to something more film-like, though that’s possible in editing, too. And where possible, you’d like to shoot at a fixed shutter speed, maybe even thinking in terms of “degress of shutter” as one would for a film camera (eg, 1/48th second at 24p is a 180-degree shutter). What we accept as a proper film look is tied to amount of motion blur you’re going to capture. So bring ND filters.

Also, read the COW print article on “Film Fading to Black” https://magazine.creativecow.net/issue/film-fading-to-black. Make one wonder if the look of film will last, or if it’s maybe going to fade away as well.

-Dave

[Stephen Mann]

[Gary DePaola] ” I was wondering if anyone knew how to get the “film look””

If you want the “film look”, shoot on film.

Ask ten editors the definition of “film look”, and you will get eleven different replies.

Here’s an interesting blog titled:
“The ‘film look’ is a Crock, Shallow depth-of-field is Banal and Rack focus is Lazy. Would all you indie filmmakers please Get Over It..! ”

https://blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc.com/digitalbasin/entry/20090920

If your destination is a film transfer, then shooting at 24P eliminates any frame count mismatches. You should never use the in-camera effects. You have more options available in third-party programs, but if you apply any effects in-camera, then fixing it in post is not an option.

Here’s my definition of “Film Look”:
Film Look: The art of damaging the video to look like it was shot on film.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Steve Rhoden]

Shooting your footage at 23.976fps is the best way to get that
great film motion and top it off with excellent color grading
using Magic Bullet Looks 2 for vegas….

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Maker
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956
https://filmex-creative-media.blogspot.com/

[Angelo Mike]

Heh. Stephen’s right, you’ll get lots of different answers. I’ve watched and read lots of tutorials on it, but in the end I go with my own instincts.

For a film look I shoot in 24p, have a shutter of at least 1/48th if not faster, and very importantly, try to light things well if I have control over that. Which, many times I don’t, since I’m shooting events. There’s a big difference between a well lit (whatever that may mean for your shoot) video and one that’s poorly lit.

Also, I gave up adjusting brightness and contrast in Vegas in favor of adjusting color curves. Look up tutorials on those. In each video I end up setting them differently, some more than others since adjust the high tones higher can make already bright video blow out. Though if it’s not too bright in the first place, that’s usually not an issue.

And move your camera like a film camera-again, whatever that may mean for you. That can mean hand held, on your shoulder, or on a dolly or crane. Maybe lots of close ups, inserts, or wide shots. But that’s all up to you. No one can decide these things for you.

[Gary Depaola]

Thank you all for your answers. As I mentioned , this is just a hobby for me. I do this for fun. I’m not looking in investing thousands upon thousands of dollars on equipments. I just see alot of nice little short clips on youtube where there using the same camera and software as me and was just wondering how they were getting that look. I consider myself a novice and Im just learining. Thanks again !