Help me achieve this picture style on my Canon?

S

Snapper123

Well-known member
Hey guys, I'm currently watching a very pleasing-but-natural film called Splinter (2008). As soon as the very first shot came on, I instantly thought that it was generally something that could have been shot on a DSLR - it may not have been, but the color schemes don't look far away from what's seemingly possible with these cameras. If you don't care about the whole film, the first five minutes (gas station, car ride, nature scenes) really show examples of production styles that seem as naturalistic as humanly possible, but simply color graded/shot very well:

(Link removed by moderator)

Some things to notice is how this film doesn't pay much mind to having every spec of detail recovered (trees and things are contrasty), how no fancy techniques are applied to make the actors look pretty (the whole feel of this film looks very flat, but comforting), and how generally, it really seems that the camera is shooting this footage just plain out, bare bones techniques. The cars have quite a bit of shine, the skin tones are flat (but not bad). If I didn't know any better, I'd say it didn't even look color graded. It looks like something you could possibly get right out of camera as long as you knew what you were doing.

So any tips on how to get our footage to look like this? Obviously, this is an acceptable look for outdoor productions, and I think it'd be the type of look that many folks could get out of these cameras if they had the know-how.

P.S. This film was shot on the Alexa, just as a bit of info!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Arri Alexa came out in 2010...how was a 2008 release shot on it?

Anyhow, I really doubt the images came straight off the camera with no grading. In fact, the presence of colorists in the crew pretty much confirms that some modification was done to the original image.

To answer your original question though, you're going to have a tough time getting your DSLR footage to look like that. Install the Technicolor CineStyle, light your subjects and backgrounds well, and make sure that your shadows and highlights aren't clipping so that you have the most flexibility in grading the image.
 
Well, for one, it's impossible to light things like forests and things of that nature, and from this film I do not think lighting was used in the outdoor shots. Also, there are also some color graded scenes later on in the film, but the outside scenes do look very alike to what I already get out of my camera (I just need methods on exposure, picture style, white balance, ect ect) I just would never consider using a camera that has such an unequal light sensitivity that you have to light forrests (impossible with airplane shots as well), but I don't believe DSLRs require extreme measures like that.
 
Often there are threads simular to this asking how to get a certain look seen in a film right from the camera and it is almost always impossible. Any decent budget film has had color grading done along with extra lighting even though it may look totally natural...in fact if it does look very natural but still nice you need to acknowlege the skills of the DP and colorists, they fooled you. Shoot flat with the new Technicolor style like others have said and grade natural in your color correcting app.
 
Last edited:
Are you posting links to DVD rip sites on this public forum? These posts are reached by spiders and are part of search engine results. I recommend not posting links to sites that ignore international copyright law, especially if you want to work in intellectual property development and production.
 
I posted "a" link and StageVu is surprisingly enough an extremely professional website that operates in the same way Youtube does, though it's moderators are purposely pretty lax when it comes to films. I personally feel like the website is an extremely educational one; without it, the majority of the films on it would be lost to the general public, with the closure of rental stores. The guys behind the website are extremely professional; no marketing gimmicks, no pop-ups, excellent security, ect ect. And if any distributing companies want the files taken down, they do so in an instant.

Anyway, beyond that point, again, much like the makers of Hills Green specified on, I think the most that this film used for it's outdoor shots are reflectors - and that's just a beauty technique. I am looking for advice mainly on how to record NATURE scenes, how to expose the sky, how to expose the trees, what suaturation, white balance, or contrast tips are the best, ect ect. Is it that no one knows how? The reason these threads keep popping up is because there's no answers and all the folks who don't know what they're talking about continue to throw around malarky instead of either giving good advice or refusing to get educated themselves.
 
Last edited:
lmao give me a break. I can buy this movie on ebay for $5. Don't try to get all sanctimonious about pirating movies.

Also, we gave you advice. Don't clip highlights or shadows when you expose. I don't know how that is confusing in any way. Shoot with a flat picture style and push the image in grading. We're not going to give you a step-by-step analysis of every setting to use because every situation will be different. We weren't there shooting that film, and while I'm sure a lot of us could eyeball some general settings, dialing into that level of pedantry about camera settings isn't going to help you.
 
I gave you some advice about not making a record of your illegal activities public by not posting links of that nature here. You can still go back and edit your post should you choose and remove the offending link. FYI.
 
Link removed. Please refrain from posting pirated content on the forum. Even if the website is legit, the content is not. Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top