How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

S

stephenbuck

Member
I need to produce a short 30 sec clip of footage that simulates what one might have captured with a home movie camera back in the 1960's -- black & white, grain, perhaps a bit of frame flicker, etc. This will need to be combined with normal 24PA footage. I've got a DVX100A and use FCP. Any ideas on the best way to do this?

Thanks,
Steve
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

In Premiere the QuickTime effects will give you a grainy b&w footage look, or in Vegas you can do similar.

If you want it to look authentic, grab a Super 8 camera off ebay for $10 and shoot a roll of Plus-X. It's very easy and it will give you the most accurate, exact look possible.
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

The other option is to shoot 16mm color reversal. It looks great for that look...
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

Stephenbuck -- shoot in 24P mode and then when you get it into FCP mess around with these:
Nest the sequence
Add STROBE and set to 5 (ish)
Add BLINK and set to 14/1/90
Add a filter where you won't have BnW so much as maybe a hint of sepia... HINT of sepia.

Adjust salt to taste

CaptM
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

Something often overlooked in reproducing an 8mm film look is the frame rate. Many 8mm cameras shoot either at 18 fps or 24 fps, and many home movies were shot at 18 fps, but then shown at 24 fps, which kind of gives that jarring "moves kind of just a little too fast" look. What you could do is shoot at 24Pa, remove the dummy frames, and then set playback speed at 133%, thus resulting in the look of 18fps played back at 24fps. This sells the look. Add whatever filters you like to it, but in my mind, this sells the look more than anything. Also, this is the one situation where using an on-camera light may improve the look, as far as making the look more authentic like a early 1960's home movie.
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

Correction to above post - it should be 125% speed. :o
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

Double correction - no it should be 133%. I haven't had my coffee yet. ???
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

[quote author=sdjames link=board=news;num=1083862508;start=0#7 date=05/08/04 at 07:53:01]What do you mean by "remove the dummy frames?"[/quote]

He's talking about removing the pulldown. If understand FCP correctly (I've never used it), like Vegas, it will do this automatically in a 24p project.
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

I hate to be obvious but make sure that you have some period furniture and props on the set and you're most of the way there as far as look goes. And don't forget wardrobe and hair.

Also keep in mind that those films were usually edited in camera - and looked amateurish.

Good luck.
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

[quote author=John Hudson link=board=news;num=1083862508;start=0#10 date=05/08/04 at 12:57:02]I suggest hot chicks in 60's garb.[/quote]


LOL. Good call, John. Hot chicks usually never fail to add to the production value of any project.
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

Yeah, but it was your old avatar that made me buy the Fight Club DVD and watch it for the first time. ;)
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

LOL, right on! :) I still have the "Fight Club" avatar waiting in the wings; I just had to switch it up and check out Indy. What did you think of "FC," by the way?
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

Man, I don't even know where to start.

I didn't know what the movie was about prior to watching it and had preconceived notions based on trailers, etc.

Once I realized who Tyler was it tripped me out. It definitely makes you think. I'm gonna watch it again tonight to pick up on the clues I didn't realize were there.
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

I recently did an "old look" test which came out great. One thing I did that isn't mentioned here:

I made a black 720x480 image in photoshop and did a circular gradient from black to a white center, airbrushed a little more white toward the corners so it wasn't so circular, then did an overlay on top the video which gave it a rounded vignette at the corners.

The final product looked like the Zapruder film.

If you have access to Vegas, a little known secret I came up with is to add the Bump Map effect and set the bump height to 0. Select "spotlight", focus it all the way up, then change it's intensity and position to your liking.
 
Re: How to simulate 1960's home movie look?

First of all, I disagree with your premise of using black and white. I really don't know how old you guys are and how many 8mm films you watched from the 60s. I'm not trying to come across like a know it all, because I know very little. However, my dad got his 8 mm in the mid to late 1950s and used it well into the mid to late 1960s and it was color (he replaced it with a silent Super8, also color). I'm 44 and my siblings and I were the "stars" of many an 8mm movie. So were my cousins, my friends, etc. These cameras were popular and they were all color, as far as I can tell (now maybe it was different in the 40s to early 50s). TELEVISION may have been primarily in black and white back then (I remember it well). However, I've never seen a home movie in black and white! A gal at work whose 10 years my senior wants me to help her transfer her stuff (all 1950s) and its color.

With that said, try Joe's filters at www.joesfilters.com which is a set of plug ins for Final Cut and Final Cut Express. it will let you control most variables related to your project. Also, the "AgedFilm" filter in Digieffect's Aurorix package looks to do a really good job of the process, especially legitimate looking scratches and hair (http://www.digieffects.com/products.shtml#AURORIX). I've used the Quicktime grain and scratches in Premiere and was never impressed.
Just click on this and see how joe's filters can make footage look like an old 8mm: http://www.joesfilters.com/joesframerateadjuster.php  just click the normal NTSC then the 12fps and you'll get what I mean. You'd still need to add other adjustments. The nice thing about Joe's filters is that there are many enhancements you'd use in other Final Cut projects. For $100, your not going to find another package of Final Cut plug-ins this good and this cheap.
 
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