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The proffesional look?
How do you achieve that look that all movies from the late 80’s on seem to have?
I recently purchased a Sony HDR-HC1 108i HDV camcorder. I was delighted with the quality of the image I could get out of box with minimal care using simple difuse sunlight. With very modest effort in post production I can replicate the look of a well shot film from the 1970’s. The easiest to mimic is what you might expect from some BBC costume drama–white white skin & bright. My best stuff looks a lot like the Jeremy Brett sherlock holmes series made by Granada TV–yes it was shot on film. With a little more effort in post I can do the higher contrast stuff similar to Roman polanski’s Macbeth or ET. Using the standard advice on achieving the “film look” I can get something very near what you might have expected from hollywood at one point.
What continues to elude me is the polished/slick look of almost all professionally made films and TV shows today. In fact I have trouble articulating exactly what this look is. Films have a great range of color schemes but they all have this common element–it shows most consistently in skin tones. Compare your typical teen comedy say american pie or she’s all that with something similar made 20 years earlier say taxi, marathon man or all the presidents men and you should see what I’m talking about. Modern audiences have been taught to associate the look with a proffesional high budget production.
No not the “film look” most films shot before the 80s and many 35mm indie films do not have this look. Digital films and TV have this look–even ones like Bamboozled–suposedly shot with a sony VX-1000 or Dopamine-a film with a $60, 000 budget. Resevoir dogs was shot on 35mm but with a budget of only $24, 000 yet the cinematography is almost indistinguishable from the best hollywood has to offer.
I’ve had some limited sucess shooting in very bright direct sunlight using a neutral density filter and will continue to experiment along these lines but as this look is so common there must be a fairly standard technique to achieve it. I know it must be some combination of lighting, lens configuration, and color correction but the question is How DO YOU DO IT and what is the minimal hardware requirements to get the job done?
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22 Replies
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“Resevoir dogs was shot on 35mm but with a budget of only $24, 000 ”
based on the Charlie Rose interview of Quintin T – QT stated R-dogs was made for 1.3mil
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There are so many reasons for this look. I could argue that that look starts well before the 80’s but I will address your notion as you offer it.
In the early 80 Zeiss and Panavision came out with breakthrough prime lenses. Kodak and Fuji came out with much faster breakthrough film and a new light form was invented and quickly adopted by everyone, called HMI.
Before 1983 it was hard to shoot, you needed lots of experience to light for 100 asa film and shoot on location with minimal lighting. After 1983 with those fast fantastic lenses but most importantly the new fast film stocks, anyone could shot fantastic looking stuff just by getting the exposure right and keeping things in focus. This was a God sent for all the no talent music video directors/DPs. I would say the professional look is a product of new equipment and film not talent. But that equipment and film is not cheap.
I could go on but this is my minirant and I doubt you want the maxirant.
Chris
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The “Professional Look” that virgilxavier asked about is certainly not attributable to any technological achievement.
The, “professional look,” is the bringing to bear many disciplines and the skills of artists. It’s all about talent; if you want to know how it’s done, just study the credits on a film.
The production designers, cinematographers, set designers, wardrobe designers, and many others all working in harmony under the direction of a talented director create the, “professional look.”
Good shooting!
Leo
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So you think that its a matter of getting a proffesional grade lens and maybe a little better lighting? Fair enough. Are you sure? Presumably there are similar gadgets for digital? I have no problem reading a maxirant as long as it is informative.
What exactly is this look–the color and texture of the image specifically, not as another poster has suggested the sum total effect of all aspects of production. Can it be described in technical terms? Whats this about the exposure? Can you give men any referernces specifically on creating this look?
many thanks
virgilxavier -
HMI
are you refering to
Hydrargyrum medium-arc iodide-HMI bulbs rely heavily on the mercury vapour for light output, and the other metal halides mixed with the mercury to give it the spectral peaks in output wavelengths that bring it to approximately 5600K, or the color temperature of noon sunlight. Bulbs seem to be available in the 600-1200w range for between $100 and $250 with proffesional studio equipment including mounts, electronics ect. running into the tens of thousands of dollarsHowever–as you say shooting in sunlight uses no lights leaving the film and the lens’s? Clearly this look is possible using digital and not just the $60-120k camera’s. quoting
“CNN’s Showbiz Today observed Tuesday. Director Spike Lee told the cable magazine show that he shot his latest film, Bamboozled, with a $1, 200 Sony VX-1000 digital camcorder, which allowed him to make faster set-ups than would have been the case if he had used studio equipment. “We did not have a lot of money to shoot this film, so we really needed to move, ” he said”So does this leave some truly high speed lens’s and a modicum of skill in thier use? What does these lenses do to light?
virgilxavier
“some men see things as they are and ask “why”. I see things that never were and say “why not” Robert F Kennedy -
another movie Full Frontal by sondbergh that meets the “look” criteria
“turns out he’s shooting with a “bare-bones” XL-1s with a Century wide-angle attachment from Birns & Sawyer. The editing for the movie is being done on Final Cut Pro 3.0.”elswere sondbergh when interviewed stressed the importance of the use of white balance zebra and histogram controls as well as the careful control of video gain and color gain as essential to achieving a quality product using available natural light.
virgilxavier
“there are stranger things on heaven and earth than dreamt of in our philosophies” Hamlet -
Cinematography is a craft, and it takes years to develop the skillset necessary to do the job.
Buying the same Fender guitar isn’t going to guarantee you’ll sound like Eric Clapton.
Enjoy the journey. -
You’re not going to get “The Look” with a consumer video camera, at least not the same look as you will with 35mm film cameras… You’ve got almost triple the dynamic range with the film camera, you’re going to end up with blooming being an issue with just about every video camera, (Do a search on pixel blooming for more info) the tonal range of color in the film world is unmatched in the video world, although high end video cameras are fast catching up… They’re typically in the $100,000 range and higher with lens included… It’s as simple as this… if Sony and company sold a camera for one tenth the amount of another, and it was capable of the same quality as the more expensive one, what sense would that make? On the other hand, most consumer cameras are far more capable of better looking footage than what most people think… The computer plays a much larger but largely ignored role in this… Bottom line is, read some books and practice what you learn. I’ve been trying to push my own limits for going on 10 years, and I have much to learn…
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Cinematography is definitly a craft and an art form, and it’s the sum of multiple talents, often requiring multiple people very skilled in select areas. Pick your favorite movie and pay attention to the lighting, the color pallete, the angles used, wardrobe, camera movements…all of these areas had different people dedicated to just that.
In my opinion, lighting goes a long, long way to a “professional” look. Choosing whether you want rich, deep colors or a flatter, almost monotone look. And don’t forget that a lot of work is done in post by professional colorists. Ever watch deleted scenes that aren’t finished? They often look more harsh–more detailed, and the colors don’t “pop” like the finished piece.
The best advice I could give you is find someone who is good at lighting and ask, beg, plead, bribe, blackmail them (ok, maybe not blackmail) into letting you shadow them. Learn, learn, learn. Do the same with DOPs, editors, colorists, directors, etc. etc. etc…heck, even actors. There is no one quick fix or piece of technology that will give you the look you want. Best of luck…it’s a lot to learn, but an awesome field to be in.M.
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I am not sure where this thread is going but I will be glad to answer a question or two. I don
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