Movie look from Video

dannyoneill wrote on 9/1/2008, 3:32 AM
Hi, One trait of Video captured from a Sony FX1 is that the video looked washed out on screen. Blacks are grey and colours arnt as vivid as film. Now I know you cant make it look like film as its not film. But what can I do to give it a better look? I want brilliant colours and black blacks.

Ive tried brighness and contrast but this can have a bad effect on tanned skin or when the lighting shifts (I film live events).

Tried colour curves but this can cause a brides dress to become blown out and any other borderline over exposure to also become blown out.

Ive got VASST's Celluloid and while the Warm and Cuddly preset gives a nice look it can suddenly go wrong on some shots. The film look preset offers a nice allrounder but colours can still look washed out.

What presets do you have for a nice, warm film look from a video source?

Comments

ritsmer wrote on 9/1/2008, 5:33 AM
Saw this thread about it last year:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=12&MessageID=548752

Might give you some hints.
farss wrote on 9/1/2008, 4:07 PM
You can use various FXs and techniques to make video sort of look like film. Nothing will make video respond to light like film does.
The key to success would appear to be lighting and exposure.
As you've seen, not an easy thing to achieve during a live event.

Bob.
Serena wrote on 9/1/2008, 6:42 PM
This subject, as Bob has indicated, covers a range of techniques and there isn't a brief concise answer. The FX you need to become familiar with are Sony Levels, Sony Curves, Sony Color Correction and (possibly) Sony Secondary Color Correction. Don't use Brightness & Contrast. A good first step is Levels, which is powerful tool for adjusting the range of image brightnesses between black and white. I think that might fix th problems you've mentioned. Of course the first step is always to get the exposure right in shooting, but for now you're concerned only with adjustments in post.
GlennChan wrote on 9/1/2008, 6:58 PM
How come detail is blowing out on a bride's dress for you? Applying a s-shaped s curve should gently roll of the highlights. Yes you could compress the highlights too much, but this is far better than using brightness and contrast which will clip detail.

Also check that you're mapping the superwhites into legal range if the exposure on the bride's dress is a problem... try the presets linked to in this article:
http://www.glennchan.info/articles/vegas/color-correction/sony-vegas-color-correction.htm

EDIT: Here is the link:
http://www.glennchan.info/articles/vegas/color-correction/curves-and-secondary-presets2.veg
dannyoneill wrote on 9/7/2008, 10:11 AM
Hi Glenn, just seen your video on your website, the colours is are close to what I am trying to achieve. Which filters did you use? Just curves or levels and colour correction as well.