Making Red look more like film

[Ralph Wong]

Let me start off this thread by saying, if you are one of the people who like how the footage is looking... great! Just please don't post a bunch of responses saying how Red is digital, and we should give up on trying to make it look like film. I imagine for a good number of us, we do prefer the film look but hate the expense of developing and telecine. Red is giving us that hope that we (people who want to shoot digital to pass as film) can have the benefits of both worlds. With that said, here are some of my observations.

When I saw the stills then the footage, I have to say they resemble an in between. It doesn't look like video, but there is something missing from it that film has. I watched the footage over and over again, but couldn't put my finger on it. Being frustrated, I imported two stills of the soldier yelling into photoshop... one from the red.com site and the lower res version on the reduser.net site. I tinkered with saturation, curves, grain, etc.

Adding grain didn't seem to help the look at all. It just made the picture look muddy. By lowering the saturation and using an S-curve, I got both stills to resemble more of a film look, but it still wasn't right. Here is the strange thing. When I applied a sharpen filter to the Hi-res version, I barely saw any change. I kept sharpening more and more until really bad artifacts showed up with little improvement to the film look. However, when I applied the sharpen filter to the lo-res version, I pretty much got the look I was going for. I thought it resembled film.

So here is my question. Why does it do that? I don't understand. I would think a Hi-res version would be better to work with, but the Lo-res version is the only one I can use to get that specific look I'm going for. I don't mind shooting at 2K and putting a sharpening filter over the whole thing. However, I have heard that sharpening introduces a lot of unwanted artifacts which is something I want to stay away from. I am not that technically savvy so I hope somebody here can point me in the right direction. It is good to know that it is possible to make a Red still look the way I want. I'm just not sure if it will apply to moving footage.

[Ace]

Dread, one possible reason the sharpen filter was not working for the large versions was most probably because you werent using an "unsharp" mask feature in which you have greater control of all the aspects (such as radius and threshold). Stock standard sharpen filters are actually designed to work with in a set limits as a "one click" soloution. I personally never touch the sharpen feature, always use the unsharp mask.

[David Mullen ASC]

Maybe since so many 35mm movies go through a 2K D.I. and are digitally sharpened to compensate, people now think that sharpened 2K "looks" like 35mm -- sort of sad actually. Film itself doesn't have any sharpening other than grain acutance.

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

Bloom is actually more effective then the film grain filter in photoshop.

It really comes down to color correction in the end.

[Simon Blackledge]

Standard PS filters are pretty poor compared to other plugins out there. Which is what will mostly be used to filmic up digital footage.

Try adding some blooming to all highlights.
Also adding subtle grain in only certain areas will actually sharpen your image when it's playing as a clip.

many more tricks out there.


s

[Leo Ticheli]

Almost any high-end HD camera that shoots 24 fps/180° shutter can achieve a "film look," if your lighting, composition, and camera work rise to the expected standard.

I believe the subtle motion blur of the 1/48 second shutter and the blanking period when the shutter is closed are key factors in both smoothing the action and engaging the brain to fill in the "missing" visual information.

Of course you've got to have camera settings that give you as much detail as possible in the highlights and avoid artificial sharpening or detail that screams, "video."

In the end, I believe it's production values and fine cinematography that are most important.

I will share one little trick that can produce a very filmic effect that mimics that produced by putting a slight diffusion filter in the chain in telecine. Since you are working with negative, this blurs the highlights in the negative, thus the blacks in the final picture.

On layer one, slightly blur the entire clip. Above this layer place a copy of the clip and key out the black areas only with a gradual feathered edge. This will reveal the slightly blurred blacks below. Adjust the feather and blur to taste.

Makes a nice velvety look with tack-sharp whites and soft blacks.

Good shooting and best regards to all,

Leo

[Ralph Wong]

Thanks for the responses. I'm going to try some of these things and see if I can post some stills. I assume all of these methods will work on Red footage.

[Justin Anderson]

I personally think film should look more like RED. :weight_lift:

[Jeremy Hughes]

I personally think film should look more like RED. :weight_lift:

Same here. I once said that someday film guy's will be going for that RED look.

[Ralph Wong]

I was wondering what this "Bloom" thing was that everyone is talking about. I assume that it is not a photoshop filter since I couldn't find it anywhere in the program. Is this some type of film grain software?