CC for my film

F

FatBird19

Well-known member
I started shooting this film in early November, two weeks after I got my DVX. I'm not quite sure what to do with these shots to make them more filmic, I'm trying to figure out which version is best. What do you guys think?

BTW, these were in squeeze mode.

ORIGINAL(defenitely not):
Diner_Movie1.jpg


CURVES(pulled the bottom end way down and the brighter end just slightly up to give a filmic contrast):
Diner_Movie2.jpg


CURVES(like last one)+Brightness(8)+Contrast(17):
Diner_Movie4.jpg


CURVES(like last one)+Brightness(11)+Contrast(28):
Diner_Movie3.jpg


I like the last one, but I'm afraid it looks too digital(especially in the washed out sky and windshield). Maybe not though. Maybe you guys could suggest a combination of some sort. I like the last one because it has the most brightness and color. Maybe I should goof around with the Curves more first before moving to brightness/contrast.

So tell me what you think(btw, it's an overcast day at about 8am).

Thanks
-Justin
 
So I know you didn't ask anyone to do CC as well, but I wanted to have some fun. Personally, the scene to me looks a little, well, blah, like nothing is really standing out. So here is what I came up with. I did it in photoshop, but everything I did can be replicated using most any NLE.

carCC.jpg


I basically went through, and warmed it up a little bit since it was shot on such a cool day. I also crushed the shadows a little bit, added contrast with curves, and blurred very slightly the highlights, just to soften them. I think it is very important not to blow out your highlights, as that is what gives it the DV look right away.
 
I gave a stab at it as well. This is pretty much how I edit most outdoor stuff but this one required a serious contrast modification. Here goes:

diner_edit1.jpg


I dropped the brightness down, dropped the gamma down (always a must if you want film like), raised the contrast, seriously reduced saturation, softened it a bit, and added a slight celluloid brown tint.
 
<I think it is very important not to blow out your highlights, as that is what gives it the DV look right away.>

I don't know that I follow you. If anything, the major mistake many video shooters make is allowing their footage to be too bright. Your footage looks terrific and like a piece of art, but it is a little unrealistic to think that celluloid is going to look that saturated when projected. Celluloid is quite dull with the colors.
 
Lakmir0 said:
<I think it is very important not to blow out your highlights, as that is what gives it the DV look right away.>
Click to expand...

You've got a good point here Lamir0. blown out high lights are usually a dead give away. But I think that if there is a certain look or tone you are trying to achieve, blowing stuff out can help you a lot. The thing I'd still stay away from though is doing this with sunlight. If you can expose things to be bright and still not make everything in the sky or coming through windows completely white, then that's pretty impressive.
 
scharky said:
So I know you didn't ask anyone to do CC as well, but I wanted to have some fun. Personally, the scene to me looks a little, well, blah, like nothing is really standing out. So here is what I came up with. I did it in photoshop, but everything I did can be replicated using most any NLE.

carCC.jpg


I basically went through, and warmed it up a little bit since it was shot on such a cool day. I also crushed the shadows a little bit, added contrast with curves, and blurred very slightly the highlights, just to soften them. I think it is very important not to blow out your highlights, as that is what gives it the DV look right away.
Click to expand...

how did you get the bloom in the trees and car hood?
 
That is something that can be done depending on your NLE, I personally use vegas, or from within photoshop as an action. I actually use Photoshop quite a bit to color correct footage, and add effects, I just export the frames from the timeline, and then run an action in photoshop. The way I got the blume was to got to:
select,
select color range
I then set it to highlights
I then copied that layer and pasted it to make a new layer.
I then applied a very high guassian blur,
and finally I adjusted the opacity of the "blur" layer to taste.
I find this meathod to be much more accurate than using the "glow" effect in vegas, and since you are telling photoshop to select only highlights, this can be run completely as an action, and it only takes about 1.5 seconds per frame to do the whole color correction.
 
Sometimes if things seam a little lackluster, all it needs is a little vingetting, and and a crazy leprechaun with a giant shoe to intensify the suspense.

Diner_Movie1.jpg
 
I don't find any of those grabs attractive. Not the CC aspect, just...I don't like the grabs.

-EDIT-

Peter Murphy is a Genius
 
So that's where me shoe went. good one murphy.

I agree with the highlight bloom, gamma, and the desaturation. If it'll stay on a small screen, you may think about an effect like "gaussian blur" or "edge noise soften". These will make your movie too soft if it's projected though.

-a
 
if you want a softer look, it's easy to accomplish it optically. many options. 35mm adapters for those who like super soft looks, tweak the focus SLIGHTLY, filters, etc. Just study films and pick out every single detail, and learn how to do that with a digital video camera. Just shoot, shoot, shoot. Keep throwing those ideas in your head onto that screen! You'll find a way. And of course, keep coming back to dvxuser.com for the great responses. I know I've learned a lot here.
 
Lakmir0 said:
I gave a stab at it as well. This is pretty much how I edit most outdoor stuff but this one required a serious contrast modification. Here goes:

diner_edit1.jpg


I dropped the brightness down, dropped the gamma down (always a must if you want film like), raised the contrast, seriously reduced saturation, softened it a bit, and added a slight celluloid brown tint.
Click to expand...
Wow....This is WAY too dark...EVERYTHING looks underexposed. You do all your daylight stuff like this? Almost looks nite.
 
<Wow....This is WAY too dark...EVERYTHING looks underexposed. You do all your daylight stuff like this? Almost looks nite.>

No, not all that dark...this one I did because it was overexposed so it took dropping that low to get the brights out. If I were the shooter, I would have used ND6 in this shot.
 
Oh, another reason why I made it dark is b/c he said it was overcasty outside...really doubt overcastly is supposed to look so bright.
 
Go with your gut, Lakmir0. I've recently decided that this is a GREAT place to come to learn things to progress your filmmaking skills, but not a very good place to come to when you want to display your own creative look on things. Because, being a message board, there is always someone who won't like what you did. So I'd say come here for technical help, cc help, or any other kind of help. but if you think that what you did looks right, then go with it.
 
Well put Lawsuit...I have learned quite a bit on here already. But I suppose part of the CC phase is dependent on what the contextual use will be. When I saw that car, I thought of a car in a parking lot when a storm was approaching. That other fellow must have envisioned spring blooming b/c his frame looks beautiful and soothing. Context is a great deal of it.
 
I see what you mean lakmir0. If that is the situation then your idea of how it should look is much more accurate. Some people tend to get a little too crazy with trying to make "video look like film".
 
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