Rich "Hollywood"" look - how to with Adobe pr

[cnknudson]

Finished movies have a rich saturation that I would like to emulate. For example, on a DVD the movie itself looks substantially different from the "extra" footage sometimes included as a bonus feature. These extra clips appear to contain original footage from the movie that have been cut from final production, and as such do not pocess this quality which I seek. Clear as mud?

Can I achieve this with home DV footage & Premiere or is this a "film thing?" If I can do it, would someone explain the process?

Thanks,

Carl

[energy80s]

Remember that film has a contrast ratio (difference between light and dark) of up to 1000:1 whereas video has a contrast ratio of 30:1. When film is telecined to TV it is usually printed onto low contrast stock first to reduce the difference in ratios and make the film watchable on a TV screen. It's impossible to do this with video footage and make it look convincing, although there is a process called "film look" which tries. However it usually ends up making the picture look a lot worse rather than better. If you are in the UK, have a look at an episode of Hollyoaks or Brookside as that is now shot with "film look" filters.

[cnknudson]

Thanks

[markums2k]

Most of my productions follow a rule from David Fincher: Get the blacks REALLY BLACK. If you read up on all the processing they went through on Seven, you'll see that there's just no way to get that kind work done on a digital source... unless you convert it to film, blah blah blah

But there are ways to emulate it.

You may stumble upon a good look or balance if -- on the video -- you turn the brightness down and the contrast up. It gives a nice depth and richness to almost any video... I just love the look.

A lot of times, the extra materials on DVDs are highly compressed (causing artifacts or distortion), or are taken from VHS or some like source. Something to keep in mind.

Digital is the way of the future for sure, but 80s is correct in stating that film is still far superior in many ways. George Lucas wanted to distribute Episode 2 soley on digital media for the theatrical run... do you know how many theaters had digital projectors at the time of release in the entire United States? Eight.