Finding that film look...

[MachinePhilby]

I've been searching through many of the posts in the dvx site, and in a lot of the forums people talk about that 'film look'. I've seen a few examples (and one in particular I found in the XL2 forum pages) where peolpe have twisted and tweaked with post effects, searching for that perfect visual. One user's tweaked image looked different from another's - although all seemed very acceptable to me.

But after seeing some of the examples, and the way each person 'tweaked' the image in their own way or too their own taste, it made me wonder about what makes an image look like film?

So, to begin with what seems to be an important topic of discussion, I thought I'd be brave and ask the question: 'what does constitute a film-look'?

 

[John]

I'm no expert but honestly.. alot of things.. You can compare whatever you have achieved against a standard, unedited blatant video look of let's say 60i with poor lighting to really see what you can achieve.

For a shoot to compare against you have an indoor scene. Your target person is up close with a far with the background objects being covered by a softscreen. You've softly lit your target person in the foreground. You've invested in a mic and the sound alone is rich and deep. After shooting you stick your shot through magic bullet to enhance the ever-so-wanted film look. The end product looks like it could be film.. But is it? No. It may be considered film-like.

Since joining these forums, I've learned that all these little tricks or workarounds will help that visual appeal.. There is alot you can do for each shot to give the film look but you shouldn't worry about it so much. People dwell more on the "film look" than on a good script or good actors which is even more important. Just practice with lighting and different colors or filters.. See what works for you.

Stick around these forums though, these guys are wizards.