Film like look by opening F-stop up?

T

tuinboy

Member
Hi Everybody,
I need some advice, please. I recently worked on a commercial and the focus puller, who's been in the biz a long time, (they were shooting 16mm) said he had worked on a lot of digital sets also. He suggested to me that a great way to get the 'film look' and enhance the shallow DOF is to open the iris all the way up, then dump all the built in ND filters on the camera ( i have a dvx100b) and also (if you're outside and the light is very bright) use a mattebox and just carry on dumping in filters as necessary until you get 'the look'.
then i spoke to a director and DOP and they said it sounds like rubbish. I haven't gotten around to trying it yet but, is there any merit to this theory? Could it work and if so, why?
cheers
 
Shoot 24p first and foremost. Then open the iris up as much as possible to get a more shallow depth of field. It helps. Certainly not "rubbish", it's a very valid technique -- but it's not the only thing to do, it's not like it's some "magic switch".
 
The more you open up the lens (t-stop) the shallower the DOF. Also, the longer the lens the shallower the DOF. So if you want less DOF, the foreground object is sharp but the background is soft, use less lighting or use the filter wheel to add ND on your video cam, or put ND filters in front of the lens, and back the camera up and use a longer lens (zoom in).

Steve
 
This has prompted me to kick off a thread series I have been holding off for awhile now.

I will start a thread of my own on the subject soon.

Be on the look out.
 
The trick is to get what you want in the frame. By using a longer lens, you get a shallower depth of field. Since you have a smaller CCD, it is harder to get that shallow DOF look. This is where using a redrock lens adapter comes in to giving that shallow DOF. Also you have to have your foreground in focus and your background out of focus or VICE VERSA, your foreground needs to be closer to the camera, while still being zoomed in. It is hard to frame a shot this way without having at least a medium closeup. But it does make a difference. I wouldn't necessarily say film look, I would just say it is a technique used in film to draw your attention to specific subjects. Don't try and make video look like film. You're much better off trying to make a video that draws emotion and tells a story than worry about film look. Shoot 24p and transfer to film if you want film look, but if you don't have a decent movie/short/commercial/trailer/etc. then why bother making it look like film?
 
Everything said here is right on, and certainly a technical knowledge of film, video, optics, etc, is essential. I'd just like to add in addition, that the most important thing is knowing what you want, creatively. The sky is the limit when your imagination is your eye.
 
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