Film look
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Film look (also known as filmizing or film-look) is a process in which
Differences between video and film
- SDvideo. Modern video cameras shoot 24 and up as well.
- Shutter angle: Shorter (90° to 210°) for film, often ~350° for old video. Modern video cameras have adjustable electronic, or – in Arri's video cameras – mechanical shutters.
- Dynamic range: film and video systems have widely varying limits to the luminance dynamic ranges that they can capture. Modern video cameras are much closer to the dynamic range of film, and their use is better understood by directors.
- Field of view and depth of field: Depth of field is tangentially related to the size of the image plane, however, it is a popular misconception that the image plane is directly related to DOF. Smaller image planes (whether film or sensor) require a proportionally smaller lens to achieve a similar field of view. This means that a frame with a 12 degree horizontal field of view will require a 50 mm lens on 16 mm film, a 100 mm lens on 35 mm film, and a 250 mm lens on 65 mm film. And a 250 mm lens delivers much shallower DOF than a 50 mm lens does. It follows that standard lenses on most consumer video cameras with small sensors provide much larger depth of field than 35 mm film. Digital cinema cameras like the Red One or Panavision Genesis, as well as some digital SLR cameras with video capabilities, (such as the Canon EOS 5D Mark II), have sensors roughly equal in size to 35 mm film frames and thus show the same field of view characteristics.
- Photo-chemical color-timing/grading: only possible with film; white balance adjustment for video performs a similar function.
- Noise type: film grain noise generally differs both statistically and visually from digital sensor noise. However, artificial noise can be added to video, to simulate film grain.
- Jump & Weave: Images projected from film do not always align properly from frame to frame when projected on screen due to minor variations in sprocket hole size.
Frame rate
Today, most digital cinematography video cameras in use feature 24p format (24 progressive frames per second).
When shooting with old cameras, 50 Hz interlaced video (usually used with most forms of PAL and SECAM) can be relatively easily processed to give 25 progressive frames per second, which is the framerate that the PAL/SECAM telecine process also uses. Every two video fields can be "blended" together, every other field can be decimated and the remaining fields can be shown for double the length (this noticeably reduces vertical resolution), or a motion estimation process can be applied to achieve one frame out of every two fields. This technique is sometimes called Field-removed video or FRV. Some modern PAL video cameras do offer the ability to produce 25 frame-per-second progressive video, negating the requirement of post-processing the video to get a temporal similarity to film.
On the other hand, it is much more complicated to convert 60 Hz interlaced video (used with
Many computer editing programs can de-interlace video to give it more of a film look. An interlaced frame is actually the combination of two fields, one providing the odd-numbered scan lines and the other the even-numbered. Interlacing results in a type of motion blur known as "combing", and also shows "interline twitter" where vertical details approach the resolution limit, neither of which occur in film. De-interlacing can remove or reduce these artifacts, resulting in an appearance closer to that of film.
Some inexpensive consumer editing programs achieve de-interlacing by deleting one of the fields.[citation needed] The result gives half the vertical resolution of the original frame, and sometimes adds a jagged effect to the picture.
Shutter angle
For each frame, video cameras normally expose their sensor as long as they can, while film cameras only expose the negative up to half this time, so that they can transport the negative in the remaining time. Many video cameras now allow adjusting the shutter timing manually, though, so this is no longer a big concern.
Dynamic range
Old video technology only had a 5 stop exposure dynamic range. Modern HD video cameras have up to 14 stops.[3] The exposure range is therefore less of an issue than before, although there is still a popular belief that video is considerably worse than film in the shoulder of the gamma curve, where whites blow out in video, while film tends to overexpose more evenly and gracefully.[4]
Grading
The footage may also be
Jump and weave
In a standard film
When film is scanned so that an electronic (video) copy can be made, various means are used to help ensure that the variations in frame position as a result of sprocket hole wear are minimized. The more effective these means are, the less of a 'film look' the result will have. On the contrary, if this compensation is reduced or disabled, the resulting electronic copy may exhibit more jump and weave, giving the result a sense of constant jitter.
Filmized productions
US productions most often use actual film for prime time dramas and situation comedy series and filmizing is more common outside North America. Video production is cheaper than film.[citation needed]
Television series, specials,
- A.N.T. Farm (high-definition video)
- All My Children (2006–2009)
- Alys (high-definition video)
- Bad Girls
- Brookside
- Choo Choo Soul
- Coast
- Derry Girls
- Doctor Who (2005 onwards)
- FilmLookprocessing)
- Family Affairs
- Footballers' Wives
- Good Luck Charlie (high-definition video)
- Grange Hill
- Hall of Mirrors(2001 film)
- Hannah Montana (only Season 4)
- Heartbeat
- Holby City
- Hollyoaks
- Home and Away (high-definition video, since 2003)
- Hot in Cleveland (high-definition video)
- iCarly (high-definition video)
- Last of the Summer Wine
- MTV Video Music Awards (2002, 2003 and 2006 editions)
- Neighbours (high-definition video, since 2007)
- Night and Day(high-definition video since recent seasons.)
- Outnumbered
- Reba
- Red Dwarf Remastered
- Red Dwarf VII
- Salute Your Shorts
- Sam & Cat
- Sonny with a Chance (high-definition video)
- Spaced
- Survivor (beginning with Gabon)
- The League of Gentlemen
- The Mighty Boosh (Series 1)
- The Office (high-definition video)
- FilmLookprocessing)
- The Young and the Restless (used on the April 2, 2008 episode)
- Trollied
- True Jackson, VP
- Tyler Perry's House of Payne (high-definition video)
- Undressed
- Victorious (high-definition video)
- WWE SmackDown (June 12, 2009 edition. Used since September 26, 2019–present.)
Many digitally-shot Television and film productions have been filmized during mastering.
Limitations
Footage that has been shot with the knowledge that it will be subsequently electronically filmized is usually shot in a very different way, with film-style
BBC hospital drama-soap
The fantasy series Neverwhere was a video-based production which suffered as a result of having been shot and lit with filmization in mind. The decision to filmize was later reversed, resulting in a negative response to the film-style lighting which came across poorly on the unprocessed video footage.
Filmizing success stories include
The Fox show
The 1970s BBC TV show Porridge provides a stark example of the visual differences between film and videotape. The show employed videotape for scenes inside Fletcher's cell, whereas film was used for scenes outside of the cell. The difference in lighting style and frame rate is very noticeable. Many British television series from the 1960s through the 1980s used videotape for interior scenes and film for exterior shots due to equipment limitations. This was parodied in the 'Society for Putting Things on top of Other Things' sketch in Monty Python's Flying Circus (Series 2, Episode 5).[5]
See also
- Depth-of-field adapter
- Digital cinema
- Digital cinematography
- Digital intermediate
- 24p
- Progressive scan
- FilmLook
- Film emulation
- Filmmaking
- Independent film
References
- ^ Roberts, Alan (December 2002). "The Film Look: It's Not Just Jerky Motion" (PDF). BBC Research & Development. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-31. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
- ^ "VidFIRE". Archived from the original on 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2011-05-19. Retrieved October 4th 2015
- ^ Dynamic Range Archived 2012-07-10 at the Wayback Machine at ShutterAngle
- ^ The Film Look Archived 2009-01-31 at the Wayback Machine by A. Roberts, BBC
- ^ "Monty Python's Flying Circus – Series 2, Episode 5 transcript". Archived from the original on 2009-03-08. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
External links
- How to Make Video Look Like Film
- Filmlook Basics Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
- The Film Look Archived 2009-01-31 at the Wayback Machine by A. Roberts, BBC
- Film look Techniques For Video Archived 2013-07-04 at the Wayback Machine by Dan Coplan