Film look

A forum to share ideas and opinions on the equipment and technical aspects of film, video and AV making.
Peter Copestake
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Re: Film look

Post by Peter Copestake »

Point taken, John, sorry to miss it before.

When I was a student in the early 50s I saw a cinema feature film that was shot in 'something colour' which as you can see I have largely forgotten where the colours were so gentle and natural as befitted its subject which I think was to do with a rare bird, perhaps in Norfolk; I thought Muriel Pavlow was in it but can't see it in her credits.
If this rings any bells with anyone my follow up questions are - do the pro cameras have settings that can achieve this, are there filters either to fit a camera or in post, and can one achieve this softer effect at all with the colour balance settings of editing systems?
Peter Copestake
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John Roberts
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Re: Film look

Post by John Roberts »

No problems Peter, I think this thread has headed off in several directions, my own input included! :D

I think all optical lenses suffer from vignetting to one degree or another, not only projection lenses but also filming lenses. At large apertures this can be quite pronounced with a full stop of exposure or sometimes even more away from centre. So I would imagine the chain of cine lens to record to film, projector lens to replay it, camcorder lens to 're-record it' and finally another projector lens to replay the re-recording, can wreak havoc with exposure across the frame. These days the on-board camera computers can adjust for lens deficiencies - my own GH system 'knows' what lens is being used from its EXIF data and can correct for lens distortion and CA, although I'm not sure about vignetting. Vignetting correction doesn't concern me too much, as I tend to add a vignette in post anyway.

As regards sharpness and filters, just about anything is possible! I occasionally use ND or Grad filters when filming to control exposure, other than that everything else is added in post. Personally I try not to muck about with the colour balance or sharpness too much when shooting, as it can all be done during editing, and if you don't like it then you can alter it. If your raw footage is too soft or washed out, and you decide you don't like it after all, then it's very hard to correct this in post without introducing other artefacts such as noise.

Everyone has their preferred way of recording footage - mine is as clean as possible, possibly borne out of having a recording studio for many years: Once a guitar has been recorded with a certain effect - it's there to stay, like it or not, so record the guitar 'clean' and add the effect afterwards :)
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TimStannard
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Re: Film look

Post by TimStannard »

John Roberts wrote: Once a guitar has been recorded with a certain effect - it's there to stay, like it or not, so record the guitar 'clean' and add the effect afterwards :)
As a producer (which I'm not) I'd agree. As musician (which is dubious) I'd say Noooooo...! The sound/effect is part of the moment and it is that which inspires the next note, phrase or chord voicing. But I see film production as a lot more "pre planned", it's difficult to imagine people improvising or jamming a film. Music on the other hand ...
Tim
Proud to be an amateur film maker - I do it for the love of it
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John Roberts
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Re: Film look

Post by John Roberts »

TimStannard wrote:
John Roberts wrote: Once a guitar has been recorded with a certain effect - it's there to stay, like it or not, so record the guitar 'clean' and add the effect afterwards :)
As a producer (which I'm not) I'd agree. As musician (which is dubious) I'd say Noooooo...! The sound/effect is part of the moment and it is that which inspires the next note, phrase or chord voicing. But I see film production as a lot more "pre planned", it's difficult to imagine people improvising or jamming a film. Music on the other hand ...
I agree with you Tim, if music is improvised or jammed then I would 'go with the flow' and simply record whatever is happening at the time. But 9 times out of 10 recording sessions are pre-planned, well rehearsed and the final product has a definite vision, and I would try and go with the clean version every time. The musician can monitor his instrument with effects added, but have it recorded dry and effects added in mixdown. In that sense, it is very much like film production :D
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