Film Look

[Glenn_Taylor]

Hi there, does anybody use dv film maker to give their footage that film look? Would it give as good a result as seen native on the dvx100a?

[HorseFilms]

You wouldn't get the same look. Mainly due to the fact that you'd be taking interlaced footage and making it progressive. You lose resolution when you do that.

[dakotapod]

I was under the impression maker converts without reducing resolution at all. ??? :-/

I was going to get it because it seems to run very quickly compared to other programs and is a hell of a lot cheaper.

I know Marcus from DVfilm is a member here but not sure how often he drops by to comment…

Can anyone comment a little more on this product? I was ready to grab a copy and now a tad leery. It seems to run very fast and I like the look. :)

Thanx!

[HorseFilms]

Hey, maybe I'm wrong (and I hope I am, because that's a pretty cool product if it doesn't hurt resolution).

[disjecta]

Just by the very nature of how interlaced footage works, you have no choice but to lose resolution. You are either going to throw away one field and duplicate the remaining one or you are going to have to combine both fields by some kind of meshing technique (like a blur, for instance or something synthetic). Either way, you are not getting full resolution once it goes through this filter.

The DVX takes full progressive frames with no interlacing artifacts. The difference is like night and day.

I know this because I used DV Filmmaker on my nicely exposed Sony DSR-250 footage and, while it gave it a vaguely filmy look, (kinda like 30p), it didn't come close to the clarity and detail you can achieve using the DVX. I also used Magic Bullet on interlaced footage with much better success but still not progressive-quality.

Great if you have no choice but to shoot interlace but if you are considering this as a potential replacement to getting a DVX, don't do it.

[dakotapod]

Not a replacement but for backup cam that has no 24p

How bad is the resolution loss?

[disjecta]

It's not all that bad and you could probably say that the average person wouldn't even notice. The point is that you are essentially trying to create the look of a progressive camera. This kind of thing can only be simulated, not created. There is no substitute for a progressive scan camera.

[Policar]

I'm not sure it's that big a difference. Dancer in the Dark was gorgeous (I think it was digibeta, though). Its motion looked half way between 24p and 30p with weird artifacts whenever there as fast motion in large parts of the frame. Still, it was better looking than anything I've seen here (although some stuff has come really close.) With a huge budget, custom adapter, and 2/3'' CCDs it should look great, though.

[dvpixl]

you people trying to say that dv film turns interlaced footage into simulated progressive image? or just deinterlaced?
it's like what dis said. night and day. can't compare the two, imo.

[dakotapod]

Trying to improve the look of footage from an XL1 :-[

You figure Magic B is a better option?

[dvpixl]

magic bullet would be the better option.

[disjecta]

Magic Bullet is a sweet program and can make interlaced footage look the best it can look so I'd definitely recommend that.

Regarding deinterlacing, that's exactly what the procedure is to turn interlaced footage into simulated progressive.

[dakotapod]

groovy - Thanx 8)

[BLUESPIDER]

Hi there, *does anybody use dv film maker to give their footage that film look? *Would it give as good a result as seen native on the dvx100a?

Learn how to light and frame your shots. Lighting makes a huge difference when it comes to making your video look film. I'm sure you already know this stuff.

[Glenn_Taylor]

Thanks alot guys(and gals of course) I'm trying to decide between cameras and this "film look" thing is important to me so the decision has been clearer for buying the DVX over the XL2. Everything else considered it seems, for what I need, the DVX is a better choice.

[ajalali]

Hi Glen - I've used DVFilm before as well (on some DV footage from a cheap Sony TRV18 camera), and was pleased with the results. There was definitely some resolution loss and artifacting due to the deinterlacing, but I thought the results looked slightly better than simply deinterlacing the footage with Vegas (my NLE). I think DVFilm claims that it tries to minimize resolution loss in the non-moving parts of the frame (i.e. static background).

Also, DVFilm seemed to slightly reduce the overall contrast of my video (blacks seemed a bit lighter), but you could probably compensate for this by increasing the contrast of your rendered video (prior to processing with DVFilm).

Overall I thought it was pretty good software for the price. But, as other have mentioned on this thread, it is definitely no substitute for the DVX's progressive modes.

[Neil Rowe]

Thanks alot guys(and gals of course) I'm trying to decide between cameras and this "film look" thing is important to me so the decision has been clearer for buying the DVX over the XL2. *Everything else considered it seems, for what I need, the DVX is a better choice.


glen,

..not to make things harder, but both the DVX and the XL2 shoot true 24p so you wouldnt have to use DVFilmmaker with either of those cameras. *the difference in the image between the two is gamma and color rendition as well as image sharpness. *i and many others prefer the DVX gamma and color rendition to the XL2 but the XL2 has a noticeably sharper image, and its image rendition could for the most part be adjusted in post through color correction to be similar (if not the same in some cases)as the look of the DVX.

[dvpixl]

can extra stuff like grain and film-like softness from Magic Bullet be transfered over to film after? or is there another process for that?

[BLUESPIDER]

can extra stuff like grain and film-like softness from Magic Bullet be transfered over to film after? or is there another process for that?

I don't think you want to do that. You are going to risk your picture looking blury on the big screen. But there are other ways, none of which I know yet.

[dvpixl]

I wonder if that's the secret the Orphanage keeps in order to stay in business.
http://www.theorphanage.com/

[Neil Rowe]

..its still a very viable solution for enhancing small format video releases.