Film FX Software Settings

4thorder wrote on 10/26/2003, 1:03 AM
After reading through the various posts about some of the programs such as Magic Bullet, Cinelook and FilmFX I decided to try the demos of each of these to see how they work and I was stumped by the dozens of settings in each.

Can anyone tell me what the optimum settings they use to achieve the effects of film. It seems like it would take a lot of time to experiment and render everyone.
thx.

Tygrus

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 10/26/2003, 6:49 PM
It all depends on the "film look" you are after. All Hollywood films have a different look, so there is no one magic setting that will make anything and everything look like a Hollywood film. It also helps to have some experience with real film so you know what parameters do what. It also help if your video was shot with "film style" lighting. The honest truth is that it is going to take a lot of time and experimentation to find what pleases you. Sorry about that, I know that's not what you wanted to hear.

John
4thorder wrote on 10/26/2003, 7:11 PM
John, thanks for the response. Its actually digital stills that I am trying to video-ize in VV and want them to have a more film based appearance and have more depth and perspective. I don't have any experience working with film, but I have seen some cinematic productions from Hollywood that I would sure like to emulate.
filmy wrote on 10/26/2003, 7:43 PM
Each of these programs has presets. What look you want will be up to you but my advice is try them and see what you like.

BigFX FilmFX has presets for film stock so if you know what film stock you want to duplicate just find it and click on it. There is also a folder for "Special Effects" that are self-explaintory.

Magic Bullet has pre-sets as well and in a nice touch they show you a still preview of the look. Just scroll down the looks and see what you think you might like and try it.

CineLook too has presets however Cinelook is complex and probably the longest of the film looks to render. This is my least favorite plug now that there are so many others to choose from. At one time it was pretty much the only one.

Digital Film Tools 'Digital Film Lab' has presets as well and they are self explaintory for the most part. This is my new favorite.

In general if you want the quickest render than use the least 'effects' . For example in BigFX Film FX if you only use the color curves it would take far less time than if you used the color curves, gamma, glow, grain, tint settings as well as the various dust, flicker and dirt settings.
The same can be said for the other plugs as well. Also keep im mind doing the 3/2 pulldowns and/or the deinterlacing will eat up more time as well. Bottom line for what is "optimum settings they use to achieve the effects of film" will be based on what you, or your client, like more than anything else. As I say - the pre-sets are a great place to start.
mfranco wrote on 10/27/2003, 2:37 AM
I'd like to add that there is a lot of information on the web on various techniques you can use while you're shooting your project that involved various lighting tricks and using multiple lenses and/or filters.

"Film Look" in google brought up 263,000+ hits (or whatever they're called).

I specifically remember a project using digital b&w photography and animating the subjects of the photos slightly to achieve a film look. I'm sorry I don't have a link, but It was one of the larger DV websites. There was also tutorials on their techniques, If I find the link I'll post it.