That film look!

[newpball]

Some people go to great lengths to make their videos look like film.



What do you think or do?
Does it make sense? Do you like some things about it but not other things?

Or do you think it is all nonsense?

What's your opinion about it?

[Nurz]

May I answer a video question by referring to audio.

This maybe is a passing trend (as to the methods used), like mimicking the sound of vinyl LPs. Audio processing nowadays actually is going through a marital stage between digital and analog, the innovations of technology allow to capture and manipulate pure analog forms of signal. It's funny how we always try to perfect things, then go the other way around. While music albums and cinema passed the other side, now we miss exactly those unique characteristics we wanted to eliminate - the harmonic distortion and frequency limitation of vinyl, the grungy texture of the film. Analog is more interesting to the human senses because of its random "errors", as everything in nature. Digital makes the experience sterile in comparison, because it's predictable to our brain, analog is all about contiguous dynamic changes. Everything flawless misses character, and the warm organic feeling of analog is irreplaceable, these tiny deviations of individual elements reacting freely in their guided course. That's why analog feels alive - it's trapped and wants to escape, in antithesis to digital where bits and bytes follow directions passively. But I'll stop here before extending this to a matter of a larger scale.

All in all, it's personal preference. Besides the given qualities, one reason film attracts people who grew up with it, is familiarity and nostalgia. Newer generations do not suffer from such sentimentalism, they carry on with what they have. But among them, there are those who took a look to the opposite shore and felt comfortable with it, for all the reasons explained, and try to reproduce this chaotic order of things in order to keep the feeling.

[Clockwork]

Or do you think it is all nonsense?

Yes.

[Skiller]

I think shooting digital while trying to make it look like film is nonsense, yes.

Personally I like the look of real film. I especially love film grain, I would never ever want to filter it out. I cannot understand why so many people hate it. It has always been there. It adds character and atmosphere. Yes, in the end it is just a limitation, but not in a bad way for me.

I'm also not at all a fan of the overhyped 24p everyone with a DSLR seems to love for no apparent reason. Unless you're a professional camera operator with a few thousands worth of camera equipment for smooth panning, do your audience a favor and don't use 24p.

[Nurz]

I think shooting digital while trying to make it look like film is nonsense, yes.

I don't think it's nonsense to try for your favourite look you can't otherwise afford to have it. Film cameras are very expensive and bulky, working with it requires tremendous amount of work, you have to deal with various accessories and consumables, surely not suitable for the average consumer. So what you do when you want the best out of your equipment for a film feeling? Simply simulate it. For you are deeply fond of it, not because you're trendy.

I do believe it's nonsense when you don't know what you're doing. I'm also somewhat tired of hearing about the film look, mainly because most people try it for less than half the good reasons, plus I don't like the results. You can't overlay a 35mm film grain plate scan over the footage and expect to achieve a film look. Real film image is a combination of many elements, like selecting the right lens, properly lighting the scene, knowing how to colour grade in post production. Then, there are effects like grain and vignette, but a lot of people seem to overuse those (the trend we were talking about). They won't even bother to have a reference capture from their favourite film movie on the screen, just for comparison. Fine subtle touches can make all the difference. Know how to handle and pan the camera with modesty - remember film cameras are heavy. Light penetrates through lens and reflects on the sensor differently between film and digital. And this is not all, only what I know myself. So many parameters to think of, certainly not an easy task.

Personally I like the look of real film. I especially love film grain, I would never ever want to filter it out. I cannot understand why so many people hate it. It has always been there. It adds character and atmosphere. Yes, in the end it is just a limitation, but not in a bad way for me.

I love film, too. But the future is digital, either we like it or not. I only hope there'll be a way to pull the multiple parameters out of film, similar to how late audio applications catch convolution dynamically. It's a whole new world.

I'm also not at all a fan of the overhyped 24p everyone with a DSLR seems to love for no apparent reason. Unless you're a professional camera operator with a few thousands worth of camera equipment for smooth panning, do your audience a favor and don't use 24p.

I agree, ~24fps is not a bad thing at all, IF you know how to handle it.

[newpball]

Good discussion folks!

Video only now is able to reach/surpass the resolution of film. However on the color and dynamic range front it is still not quite there although we are getting close.

I am a bit in the middle wrt to film look, I think just adding grain to make it look like film is just idiotic (unless it is for something specific like a scene that is supposed to be showing a film) however I do like the look of film.

[budwzr]

The idea behind Technicolor is to create a surreal experience. It's the final "patina" that elevates the video to the professional level.