Question regarding Enhanced "Filtered" Color

[hordeprime]

So I'm relatively new to my DVX100A, still trying to wrap my head around the potential of the camera. One thing I'm interested in is varying the image quality to gain different looks resembling film color filters. For instance, Michael Bay's films always have a certain look wherein colors like oranges and blues and purples are PUSHED, as well as the deep blacks. Now, I know how to attain the richer blacks, a nigh-Black Hawk Down look, but I'm a little hazy on how to replicate these color "tricks." Is this more of a "post" procedure?

Thanks

 

[Joshua Provost]

Well, it could have a lot to do with the film stocks used, how they are exposed, how they are processed, and then also how they are color corrected. Here is a little tutorial I put together relating to one film, Tony Scott's Domino. The look of the film has a lot to do with the lighting, shooting, film stock, and proecessing, but you can get similar things just in post (always better to get the look at least a little in-camera and finish in post).

http://www.matterofchance.com/tutorials/domino.html

There are certainly things you can do in the camera, but perhaps not really radical looks. There are various color matrixes which control the saturation and hue of certain colors, you might try some of them and see if they are what you want. The fluorescent matrix in particular is intended to compensate for fluorescent lighting. However, it might give an interesting look if use under normal lighting.

You can adjust the Color Temp and Chorma Phase scene settings, but there will simply give an overall warm/cool or green/magenta tint to the image, not necessarily make any one color or set of colors pop.

You could always shoot "flat" NORMAL matrix, CINELIKE_D gamma, and get normal color balance and reasonable exposure. Then, you'd have all the flexibility in post to create a look. As in the tutorial above, your main tools will be Curve and Hue/Saturation. You can use Hue/Saturation to selectively increase or decrease certain colors. You can tweak which colors are affected and how much so. Sometimes rather than increasing the color you want to highlight, it is more effective to cut some other colors out.