Most aesthetically pleasing footage you have seen from a digital camera?

A

amathie

Member
I would like to ask the cinematographers amongst you: what is the most aesthetically pleasing (or appropriate to the mood) footage you have seen from a digital camera?

I'm trying to avoid any thought of technical specifications, camera price, lenses, lighting or what was done in post-production.

I know this is an open question but I would be fascinated and grateful for your opinions. If you are able to give a reference (name of film, advert, link on the internet etc) and the camera used, that would be great.

Thanks.
 
Dancer in the Dark
Trailer
Shot on the Sony DXC-D30WSP
And parts with the
Sony DSR-1P
Sony DSR-PD100P
Sony DSR-PD150

Of course, nowadays we have the digital cinema cameras that produce the most gorgeous images right out of the box, but never have the quirks and imperfections of digital video looked as good as in Trier's Dancer in the Dark.
 
I thought Collateral made brilliant use of the Viper Filmstream for it's aesthetic, the noise and digital edge to the image gave it a really modern feel without ever seeming out of place or distracting.

Benjamin Button was one of the awe-struck moments of "I can't believe it's not film!".

But I think Drive was the first time I saw a digital picture and thought, "wow, this looks nicer than film" (mainly for the cleanness of the image, but it was also one of the earliest screenings I'd seen in pristine digital projection - which undoubtably played a part in that).
 
Drive was already mentioned, but I really loved the cinematography in that film. To me it was the biggest cinematography snub at the Academy that year (of course, Richardson's work on Hugo was impecable, as always). Skyfall was this year. Roger Deakins is an amazing DP and I think his work on Skyfall was among his best to date and looked no different than his work on film. It's one of those movies that proves the digital looks just as great as film.

But here I'm sitting in the Alexa camp. RED does deserve a good mention for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Cronenweth/Bäckar did some really amazing stuff on that one, with a great dark and cold look.
 
Apocalypto was the first digital film I remember that wowed me. The Social Network and Slumdog Millionaire are two of my favorites for digital cinematography (that weren't already mentioned).
 
Apocalypto was really impressive, especially for when it was done. There was some weird shutter smear on a few shots that made it look like it was shot with a HD broadcast camera, but otherwise it was really impressive. Being unaccustomed to watching digital footage I found a few shots to be so sharp that they took me out of the movie.

I believe the first season of Downton Abbey was shot on the Arri D21 and I would have never thought it was anything but film.

I've seen a few features that were shot on the F35 and they also have a very organic look. I believe the Tron remake was shot on F35. The F35 noise really looks like film grain.

There are several shorts on vimeo that were shot with the Ikonoskop A-CAM II. Very nice color, especially the skin tones. Nice organic looking footage without that muddy / green contaminated look you see from a lot of digital cameras (<cough!> Red!)

The one thing all of the above have in common is a CCD sensor. Hmmm....

'Oblivion' was shot on the F65 and looked really, really good. I had a chance to examine some of the raw footage on that film and the exposure latitude of the F65 sensor is absolutely staggering. You could a shot with an explosion and print it down by several stops and either the highlights never clipped or if they did clip it was a case where you probably would have also experienced reciprocity failure on film. IMO the F65 doesn't get anywhere near the recognition it should.

Drive looked great. IMO properly shot Alexa footage is probably the most attractive I see (not a lot of F65 footage out there).


David Fincher's digital efforts look really good and he's always made the most of the available technology. Dragon Tattoo had some really beautiful winter scenes.



 
Russian Ark is a fav of mine, not in the sense of "most aesthetically pleasing footage" but rather considering the fact that is was a first and it looked better than most digital stuff for quite some time.
 
Gangster Squad blew me away, but that was probably more the DP than the cameras they used.
Dion Beebe is a bloody genius and one of the most underrated DPs ever IMHO.
Nevertheless the Alexa did a great job there. Most pleasing image, as far as it concerns me.

Watch in full rez

 
Postmaster said:
Gangster Squad blew me away, but that was probably more the DP than the cameras they used.
Dion Beebe is a bloody genius and one of the most underrated DPs ever IMHO.
Nevertheless the Alexa did a great job there. Most pleasing image, as far as it concerns me.

Watch in full rez

Click to expand...
Never did see gangster squad, I mean it look good visually but I heard it wasn't that good. Still I might just have to give it a watch.
 
My picks would be Hugo, shot on the Alexa looks great and I originally thought it was shot on film when I saw it. And The Curios Case of Benjamin Button was a great example of mixing film with digital so well I can't tell the difference.
 
SIN CITY was one of the most original films of the last decade IMO - although I wasn't too keen on the story. But RR really gave us something new...
 
Postmaster said:
Dion Beebe is a bloody genius and one of the most underrated DPs ever IMHO.
Click to expand...

Underrated? He's already won an Oscar and is still pretty young! But yes he is a bloody genius; from GEISHA to COLLATERAL, both totally different cinematography, both equally brilliant :)
 
Like some others mentioned, seeing"Apocalypto" on the big screen a couple of months ago blew me away. Only halfway the movie I realized it was shot on the Genesis.
 
A good DP always works with the Art Director, Wardrobe and others to create beautiful footage. Anyone who has been in the business for very long working on large scale productions realizes the importance of all the departments. Yes in some eyes it is the Director and/or the DP that get most of the credit but it is their shoulders that the decisions and running the entire production rest upon. Who do you think chooses the locations? Not the art director, although there may be input since film making is a collaborative form. Ultimately it is the director and DP that makes the decisions that effect the look of the film. The rest of the departments work to make things look the best that they can.
 
My comment was in reference to the op's asking about a camera that made pleasing footage. All high end cameras, Alexa, Red, Sony make pleasing footage in the right hands. In the right hands a Canon 5D can make pleasing footage.
 
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