What makes a movie look like one?

Azmyth

Azmyth

Veteran
the common phrase... "it doesn't matter what camera you shoot on..."

but, what makes those things we go to the local cinema to see, look like they do?

Even the "big budget" movies that were shot with our beloved prosumer/consumer cameras (28 Days Later, Crank 2, etc.) still "look" like movies to me.

What did they do differently? What makes a movie, look like a "movie". I'm not talking about "film look". There's just that atmosphere, and certain "look" that makes a movie a movie, and not a home video or a documentary or music video.
 
Simple, production design. Big films have the money to build sets, paint them, dress them, allowing for lights to be rigged in impossible places, and they have wardrobe and make up people and cinematographers who knows how to assemble a color palette that will look good on camera.
 
http://techyoumedia.com/toyfa_scope/z_spider.jpg

http://techyoumedia.com/toyfa_scope/z_spider.jpg

Release it on film. Even the stuff I shot recently has that clean digital look,

couch_a_portrait_of_two.jpg


reach_for_the_sky_a.jpg


reach_for_the_sky_close.jpg


science_gun.jpg



z_spider.jpg


boiling_cassandra.jpg


room_hug_master.jpg


forest_ponder.jpg

but I already know that if its printed to film that will change.
 
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-Color, and its manipulation
-Lighting
-Composition and Framing
-Art Direction
-Hair and Make-Up


All those things go into making a movie look and "feel" like a movie. That's why the studios spend the big bucks on it.
 
I agree completely with the above post.

and would like to add or reiterate:

-the 24fps and appropriate shutter give that little bit of dreamy motion blur that we are used to seeing on the big screen and grown to love.

-Of course the shallow depth of field used at the right times/right reasons.

-Quality of Sound is a big one for me all the way up to and including music soundtrack choices.

-Coloring seems to be trendy in recent years...whatever the latest is.

-Good photography: as in composition/framing blocking and well planned and executed cameras in motion (ie; dolly, cranes, steadicam, etc.)
 
I feel a lot of it is within the subtle camera moves not the big dolly or stedicam shot but the slow pushes or slight height changes. Also the amount of coverage gotten for every scene. I think a lot of non-pros get their wide shot and then their close ups and thats it (generalization). But if you watch a scene in a film and look at the amount of different shots they get you'd be surprised.
 
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im with phil.

Get off the tripod. get a small jib, and instead of tilting up and down, try jibbing up to a new height for framing adjustments, like a person sitting up and kneeling down to take a closer look at something.

The lack of a change in perspective, makes it look more..... "natural". thats the best way i can describe it.
 
Fahad said:
do you guys think that good editing is underrated?
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Of course, great editing is editing you don't notice. Same with good cinematography I think. There is a reason why everyone thinks making a film is easy, they don't see all the subtle things that go into making a professional looking film.
 
yeah that's how i feel about it too.

what i've notice about good/successful movies, is that no one single element of the production brings too much attention to itself needlessly.
 
Somewhere within the cinematography section is a link to some videos on Polcan99's youtube account. This guy is awesome. One of his best videos compares a RED with a Canon prosumer camera and shows that either can look bad and both can look great depending on the choices the DP makes.

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZA9r0iWbdw&playnext_from=TL&videos=RQUal8kpqv0

EDIT: Polcan's videos are in a sticky at the top of the Cinematography Section
 
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Huy Vu said:
Simple, production design. Big films have the money to build sets, paint them, dress them, allowing for lights to be rigged in impossible places, and they have wardrobe and make up people and cinematographers who knows how to assemble a color palette that will look good on camera.
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lol
 
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