Do you want your video to look like film?

I’m sure you’ve been poking about on the internet and come across many differnent forums.  Have you noticed that everyone is talking about this mysterious thing called “film look”?  I’m sure you have.

The way people talk about it, it seems like making your video look like film is the holy grail.   I’m sure in your mind this has raised many questions.  What is film look?  Do I need it and why? How do I get it?

The truth about ‘film look’

If you float around the message boards long enough…you’ll probably be really confused as to what this whole concept is about.  Obviously, people are trying to make their digital video look more like film…but how….and why?

Let’s talk about the “why” aspect first.

Why make your video look like film

Many people just assume film is better so it only makes sense to try and make your video look like film.  That may be your opinion, but you can get yourself into trouble thinking this way.  Many people who think film is better will do anything to make their video look like film, even if that means putting ‘dust and scratches’ effects on their video.  The result of doing something like that is video that looks like it has scratches on top of it.

The real reason to strive to make video look like film is because audiences are used to the look of film when watching a movie.  If your movie is shot on video, people will notice that the movie looks different than what they are used to seeing.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Video has a look of realism and if you are trying to portray a gritty realistic story then video great.  However, if you are trying to portray a mystical fantasy world, video could be distracting to your audience.

Ultimately though, you have to shoot with what you have.  So rather than strive to make your video look like film, make it your goal to make the best possible looking image for the medium you are shooting.

That being said, lets discuss some of the differences between video and film, how to compensate for them,  and when you should just leave things alone.

Film look demystified

There are a variety of components that make film look different than digital video.

1. Dynamic Range - Film has the ability to capture much bigger variations in light intensity.  Have you ever seen video where the sky is completely white?  The sky is white because when the camera’s CCD chip sees something so bright it can’t translate it.  Instead it says “that is so bright…its just white”.  The same is true on the dark side.  If something is too dark, the camera just assumes it is black.  Digital video has a very limited range of intensity it can see, while HD is slightly more, and film is drastically greater (several F-stops.)
   • How to compensate - This is probably the hardest thing to overcome when working with video.    In some very expensive cameras you can do somethings to slightly improve this…but that is a subject way  to complex for this article.  Instead, the best thing you can do is to prevent this limitation from distracting your audience.  The number one distraction caused by this is blown out highlights..aka the white sky.  You should try to do everything you can to avoid blown out highlights.  You do this by exposing for the brightest thing in the scene.  Outdoors, this could cause your subject to become very dark, so its a good idea to have a big reflector to bounce light onto your subject.  Or block out some of the suns light with what is called a butterfly scrim.  Here is a great tutorial on how to build a scrim.
   • When in doubt underexpose - That statement probably sends chills down the spine of a professional cinematographer because it sounds like such bad advice.  However, rarely do I see a single shot that seems so underexposed that some post production treatments can’t save them.  Shots that are too bright, however, are very difficult to treat.
2. Gamma Curve - Film reacts in a non linear fashion to light, while video is completely linear.  If you want a good (but very technical) explanation of that, check out this wikipedia article.  But all you need to know is that film colors look different because of this, and there is very little you can do about it.  However, some of the higher end prosumer and professional camcorders actually have gamma correction features which help it to mimic the look of film.
3. Noise - Video CCDs produce noise due to the way it picks up light as well as the way it digitizes the image.  You can’t completely eliminate noise, but you can minimize it by keeping your camera’s electronic gain settings at their minimum.
4. Dust and Scratches - Since film is a physical thing, dust and scratches can easily end up on the film negative.  Alot of people get so into the ‘film look’ thing that they think this is important to add to their video.  Don’t be stupid.  There is no reason to purposefully degrade your image.  This is the one area that digital has a significant advantage over film, so be happy and keep it the way it is.
5. Resolution - Film technically doesn’t have a resolution because it doesn’t actually have pixels.  However, just like video, if you project the image of a 35mm film big enough, it will start to look soft just like video does.  Most experts estimate 35mm film to be about equivalent to a 4K resolution.  That is about 4 times more resolution than 1080p
6. Depth of Field - This is the big one.  Most digital cameras have a small CCD that is about 1/3″.  Higher end cameras sometimes have a 1/2″ or 2/3″ CCD.  This is much much smaller than a 35mm frame.  Because of the way light goes through a lens, the result is that the smaller the CCD size, the more of the image is in focus.  That means that on 1/3″ chip the entire shot will be in focus, where as on 35mm film the DP can control the focus to be on the subject and blur out the background completely.  This can be of huge benefit to the filmmaker as it forces his audience to look at the subject.  With video, you have much less control over what is in focus and what is not.  Because of this, you have to be very careful not to have a cluttered distracting background that will pull your audiences attention away from the action
   • Back up zoom in - You can get some of the same effect of a shallow depth of field by backing your camera up as far as possible, and then zooming in to get the shot type you want.  Technically you haven’t changed your depth of field, but you can achieve close to the same look with the subject in focus and the background out of focus
   • 35mm adapters - There is an entire industry now of 35mm adapters.  These are devices that allow you to put a 35mm lens on the front of the a device, which then is projected to an intermediate screen which your digital camera focuses on.  These can be a bit pricey and difficult to work with, but they are a bargain compared to shooting with film.    Here is a trailer for a short film, Wide Asleep, that we shot with a 35mm adapter.  The shots look beautiful, but I can tell you from experience these devices are often quite a bit of trouble to use.

There isn’t a whole lot more to it than that.  But remember, the idea isn’t to make people think that your movie was shot on film.  Honestly….who cares?  Your goal should be to make the best film possible, using the techniques and tools available.

What is the best camera (part 3/3)

So, you want to buy a digital camera. How do you decide what will give you the best bang for your buck? Well, even this is somewhat difficult to decide. First off, you should know a bit about the features

Manual controls – In particular, manual focus and manual iris (exposure). Most cameras will have this, though cheaper cameras will require diving into the menus to turn it on. If you have anything on automatic the image will may rapidly change focus or exposure rapidly…this is the trademark of amateur cinematographers.

XLR audio – Its unlikely you’ll find XLR audio on most cameras under $1000. XLR is the type of input that allows you to connect most good microphones. Most cameras under $1000, and even some between $1000 and $3000 only have a 1/8th inch microphone input. Don’t buy the microphones that fit these plugs…they are pretty much useless (except for one, but that’s another article). Instead, if you have to settle for a camera with 1/8th inch plug, you can buy an adaptor that will allow you to hook up XLR microphones. Its not the best solution, since it could result in noise, but its better than nothing.

Zebra – Zebra is a function that shows zebra strips over areas that are overexposed. It’s a quick and dirty way to make sure you don’t overexposure the picture without having to resort to carrying a light meter around with you.

Gamma curve – Gamma curve is essentially an adjustment to the way the camera’s DSP is handling the signal coming from the CCD. Film tends to react in a nonlinear fashion in response to light, whereas up until this feature was introduced, video reacted linearly. If all that sounds confusing to you, suffice it to say that a good gamma curve setting makes the colors appear more like film. You won’t find this setting on cameras under $3000.

Real buttons – The more features actually have real buttons as opposed to a “soft” menu the better. If the iris is a dedicated wheel you can adjust it very quickly. Beginning cinematographers and directors never give much consideration to a camera’s ease of operation. Be sure to check out (LINK) the importance of an easy camera.

24p – This means that the camera has the ability to record 24 frames per second progressively (not interlaced). A typical video camera records interlaced frames, meaning it records every other line, then comes back and fills in the gaps. This is what causes those jagged lines on fast moving objects, or when the camera moves suddenly. Conversely, a camera that records in 24 frames per second progressive has a more film-like blur on motion.

Other Electronic options – Some cameras allow for adjustments of contrast, black-knee, (ADD OTHERS). These options are less necessary because they require some level of expertise to adjust them. However, its better to have the option, than to need it and not have it. I’ll be posting an article on how to adjust some of these parameters soon.

High frame rates – If you want to do really impressive looking slow motion you’ll need a camera that shoots 48 or even 60frames per second. In the past you needed a $120,000 varicam to do this digitally. However, cameras with this function are finally being introduced into the under $10,000 market. However, one warning…most of the cameras that currently have this function require expensive more recording media, or more difficult acquisition techniques. If you are on a low budget you should probably avoid these cameras for now.

So….what camera?

Geez you guys are persistant. Well, I’m going to avoid going into really specific recommendations for right now. After all, camera’s are being updated every day, so there is a chance that any specific recommendation I’d make would be out of date in just a few months. I intend to do a few camera reviews as I can get my hands on different models. For now I’ll just say I’ve always been a big fan of the DVX100a, so if you are looking for a DV cam in the $3000 range find one you can borrow or rent and check it out. But stay tuned for upcoming camera reviews.

What is the best camera (part 2/3)

Since in the last article, I just told you to spend your money on mics and not cameras, I suppose its a good time to get into the second most important consideration when it comes to deciding on a camera. Yes boys and girls I’m talking about the budget.

First off, I want you to stop thinking about things in terms of the “budget” you have said aside to buy a camera, and start thinking about the budget of your production. This is not one of those “buying vs. renting” arguments. Instead I’m just trying to get you to change your thinking. Your goal is to produce a film. You put in X dollars plus Y talent and you get Zfilm…everything else you have left over doesn’t count for anything. Fixed assets, aka things you buy that can be reused, do not count directly towards the budget of your production!

Always, write your budget as though you won’t own a anything, except a finished film, after its done. If you’ve bought a camera already, when you write the budget write it as though you’ve rented the camera. Find a standard rate, and rent the camera from yourself. This holds true for any gear you actually purchase. It may seem sort of strange to think in this way, but it achieves two things.

• You have a better understanding of what the production actually cost. If you bought gear and just ignore the cost, then you are going to think you spent almost nothing. If you add the entire cost of the gear you’re ignoring the fact that you still have the gear when your all done.
• You find out if it was really worth buying the gear. If you can imagine yourself as the production spending $400 to rent a camera, you can imagine yourself as a rental company earning $400. Its not a bad idea to actually write it down this way and keep a tally. Then at the end of the month you’ll add up all that imaginary rental from all the projects that you’ve worked on, and compare it to what the camera is really costing you (if you bought the camera on credit this is pretty easy…if you bought it cash you’re going to have to learn a bit about amortization). So what do the numbers look like? Are you a profitable “rental house”? If so then buying a camera was a good idea…otherwise renting was probably a better way to go.

Like I said earlier the budget is the second most important consideration, and it’s a distant second. Why do I say this? Because, if you know your goal you can find the means…

What I mean by this is that, if you have a script that is worth being produced into a full theatrical 35mm film…if you try hard enough you can get it done. Even completely untalented people have done it…all it takes is convincing someone to invest in you.

That being said, something like that is a lofty goal, and if your new to filmmaking you should be looking at a 35mm feature as more of a long term goal. After all, would you rather produce a big budget 35mm extravaganza…that turns out to be total crap because you didn’t know what you were doing…or would you rather cut your teeth on a few shorts and low budget features? I hope you choose the latter because I’ve seen plenty of the former and I’d rather if those people hadn’t wasted my time and/or some poor investors money.

Another reason budget is very secondary is that there is a good chance that even if you have no budget you can find a higher end miniDV camera that you can borrow or use for free. I personally have shot most of my shorts on borrowed cameras. Public access TV often have cameras you can use…you’ll probably have to take some sort of orientation class, and it may have restrictions on what you can do with the finished footage. Also, some universities arts, media, and film programs have cameras their students can use. Go to a college and see if you can find someone who would want to shoot your film with you. I’ve gotten a DVX100a twice this way, and a friend of mine got a HVX200. Third, you can make friends with someone else who has gear. And finally, you can rent get some very good camera packages for pretty reasonable prices.

So for that reason, this break down has a lot of gray area in it, but in general. And here I am talking about the production budget, not the budget you have available to buy a camera.

• 0 to $5000 - Whatever you can get
• $5000 to $15,000 - 3 chip miniDV cameras
• $15,000 to $100,000 - HDV, or HD
• $100,000 or more - Film or high end HD cameras.

Ok, I hear you saying this is obvious. It is! But yet somehow still people insist on believing that there is some best camera. More often than not though, when people are asking “What’s the best camera?” they just aren’t asking the right question. What they really want to know is ‘What is the best digital camcorder I can buy for X dollars?”

I bet some of you clicked this article thinking that that is what it was all about. Well, get ready because in the next installment we are going to get into that …and from an engineers prospective…so you are about to get way more info than you’ve ever wanted.

What is the best camera (part 1/3)

All over the internet where new filmmakers meet, on the message boards and chat rooms, one question is repeated over and over: What is the best camera?

Have you ever wondered this? Are you stuck with almost no money, and need to get a camera now to start filming? Or maybe you have a ton of money, and just don’t know what to do. Either way you need to know what is the best and you need to know now!

Well, let me ask you a question: What is the best hammer? Is it a claw hammer, a sledge hammer, M.C. Hammer? I think you know where I’m going with this…

It all boils down to a more important question: What are you trying to do?

Start at the end and work back to the beginning.

If you wanted to go on a rampage killing zombies, you’d probably pick a sledge hammer. If you wanted to make a crappy reality TV show with has beens from the 80’s, you’d probably pick up a claw hammer and hit yourself in the face (or at least you should).

In the same way, its best to make your initial decisions based on what you want to come out with. Since, this whole blog deal is about indie film, I’ll assume what you are making falls somewhere in the ball park of film, short, series, or documentary. But for simplicity we’ll just use ‘film’.

So lets consider the factors that go into your final product:

Distribution

Are you thinking about distribution yet? If not you should be. So how is the most likely way your film will be distributed?

• Theatre
• Festivals
• Television
• Internet
• DVD

Even if you haven’t thought about it, you have a good idea of where you stand. You may have totally discounted some of them (probably theatre and television) altogether because you don’t think you could break in. You can…but that is a subject for another article. For now, lets go through them:

Theatre
If you are going for a theatrical release then your film should probably be…well…film. As in good old fashioned 35mm celluloid. That is how it will be shown, so why not just shoot and edit that way. Alternatively, you can go High Definition. HD will probably save big money on production costs, but it may be costly to get the initial blow up to film. Nonetheless, it’s a good alternative.

Festivals
Depending on the festival your going for, you could practically shoot with anything. However, most of your competition will be shooting with 3-chip miniDV cameras such as the DVX100, some of the newer HD and HDV cameras in the $6000 to $10,000 range, a $100,000 “real” HD camera, or on film. That’s tough competition if all you have is a $300 miniDV camera. But a compelling story, and good acting trumps all of that. If you all you have is that $300 camera but you think you’ve got the talent, then by all means go for it.

Television
These days television is sorta tricky. Most of your reality shows are filmed either on digiBeta, or on 3-chip miniDV cameras. Sitcoms are shot on million dollar studio cameras (I personally don’t even know what you’d call them, but if I had to guess I’d assume Ikegami makes them). Episodic shows, like HBO series, most of the time are now shot on 35mm film just like movies.

It’s also a tough market to crack, so if you are shooting a movie you probably won’t get any major television deals unless you’ve either had a theatrical release, or you make Sci-Fi originals. Either way your shooting film or HD. On the other hand, you can get docs and shorts onto channels like IFC that were shot on miniDV. And if cartoon networks “Saul of the Molemen” is any indication…you can probably get on TV with a rectal biopsy scope up a goats ass if you are good enough at negotiating.

Internet
I’m talking here specifically about streaming video…we’ll get to selling DVDs on the net next. Lets face it though, your video is going to be about 320 pixels wide. Unless you are sponsored by some car company trying to tap into this “trendy new internet thingie”, there is very little reason to shoot on anything that costs more than $1000, unless you just so happen to have something better already.

The internet audience is widely accepting of video…even really bad looking video, so long as the content is entertaining and the audio isn’t terrible. Just look at programs on YouTube like Ask a Ninja, or webseries like Pure Pwnage, or sketch comedy like that produced TeamTeam (produced by Zach and Andrew, writers for KillerFilm which I also manage). Now I’m not saying these look bad, but its just plain old hand held video. On the internet, cinematography takes a back seat to entertainment. Spend your money on good microphones, not cameras!

In the next article I’ll cover budget considerations, and finally in the third article we’ll discuss how to go about buying the best digital camera.

The Red: It looks like a machine gun because its made to kill film

Over at Indie4k Chris Kenny has an excellent post about the Red Digital camera’s 4k workflow. For those of you who haven’t heard about this camera, visit the website .

The Red is a very strange looking camera, but it may very well be one of the most advanced camera’s on the market. It contains features that literally mock the Varicam, and even give the Dalsa origin (an insanely powerful, but so expensive its rarely used camera) a run for its money. The varicam is way more expensive, and the Dalsa workflow is much much more complex. With Chris Kenny’s article, I’m starting to believe that film doesn’t have much time left.

For those of you who know nothing about the camera let me give you an overview:

• 4k resoultion - That is 4 times even the higher end 1080p HDTV resolution. Film doesn’t technically have a “resolution” in terms of pixels…but if you were to estimate it, 4k is pretty close.
• 35mm sensor - The sensor is a full sized 35mm CCD. It uses 35mm lenses. This means that the depth of field you would get on 35mm film is the same as you get on this camera. Your lens options range all the way from very cheap Nikkor still photo lenses, all the way to film lenses that cost more than the camera.
• 60fps - For killer slow motion (without resorting to tricks like time remaping) you need 60fps. Only panasonic’s varicam and HVX200 can compete with this, and the varicam is twice the price.

The Red camera retail price is $17,500, but honestly that isn’t the “real” price. That’s pretty much just for the most basic component. For the total package that you’d really need to shoot, it will probably come out to around $50,000. Still, for those who can afford it, or if the rental houses pick it up, that is quite a deal for an “film killer” with such an easy post workflow.

Filed Under: Cinematography, Filmmaking, Producing
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What every director should know before deciding on a camera

by Matt · Leave a Comment 

The thing beginning directors and videographers overlook most often when choosing a digital camera is how easy it is to use. It’s a perfectly understandable phenomena. We get bogged down in all the neat features, the 24p, the high resolution, the interchangeable lenses, and so on. It seems convenience and ergonomics don’t just take a back seat…they aren’t even let into the car. The more I shoot with different cameras the more I’ve come to believe that ease of use is the absolute most important thing to consider when deciding what digital camera to use for your production.

For example, I’ve a short using an out of the box $300 Canon Optura 40 and made it look absolutely beautiful. So why spend 10 times that much on a DVX? Because, getting that beautiful look on the Canon Optura was a huge pain in the ass. If I had to play with the exposure at all I had to dive into the menu using a flimsy button, then I had to set it to lock so that it wouldn’t auto iris (also the iris does not have units, but is instead just +7 to -7 and is probably actually accomplished through electronic gain). Manually focusing involved turning what essentially doubled as the filter ring. This meant that sometimes while trying to focus, I’d start unscrewing my UV filter.

Conversely, with the DVX the iris (exposure) has a dedicated wheel that adjusts exposure in F-stops (the commonly accept photographic unit). Though most people consider the DVX’s focus ring “amateur”, I personally find it a vast improvement on the tiny Optura. You turn it…it focuses…and without unscrewing the filters.

Most of the time, this ease of use is what you are really paying for. But be warned…this isn’t always true. Some very expensive cameras are a huge pain due to very backwards engineering.

My personal favorite is the DVX100a. It has controls in logical places, neutral density filters, and a host of other professional features. The canon XL 1 is another good camera with a more professional focus ring, but that can be equally a curse as much as it is a blessing. When working with an XL1 with a micro35 adaptor the inability for the focus ring to lock had us often accidentally hitting the camera out of focus, and thus no longer focusing on the micro35 ground glass. If all that sounds greek to you, then just know this…every time it happened it took 10 to 15 minutes to fix. I would say it wasted at least two hours each day.

It’s not my intention to delve too deep into the ease of use of all the various cameras on the market. There are simply too many and that sort of info is better left for reviews of individual cameras. However, my main intention in this article is that you understand the important of finding a camera your comfortable with and not just looking for the camera packed full of the most features.

So if you are a director and you are shooting your own film, make sure to rent or borrow as many cameras as possible to try them out. Take into consideration the layout of the controls, the ease of operation, and how comfortable you feel framing up a subject. Also, take note of the weight. Are you going to be shooting handheld? If so then a should mount will do you much better than a HVX200, whose weight centers mostly around the battery in the rear…unless you feel like investing some extra cash into camera rig. Or maybe you’ll be shooting mostly on a tripod with a micro35 adapter. In that case, a front heavy CanonXL1 is likely to get tipped over and broken when the extra weight of a micro35 , 35mm lens, and matte box are added to the front.

It all boils down to this: time really is money when you are shooting a film. Your actors get paid by the day, you rent all your equipment by the day…essentially everything has a time component to its cost. If some particular inconvenience costs you as little as 5 extra minutes every time you set up a new shot, and you are shooting 30 different shots per day (a pretty decent average), then that inconvenience is costing you two and half hours every day! For every four days of your shooting schedule, you lose a whole day to that “minor” inconvenience.

So remember, your camera is just the brush that paints the canvas…it is only a tool. The absolute best camera is the one that gets out of the way of the artist.

Filed Under: Cinematography, Directing, Filmmaking, Producing
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