Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

How do I get the gritty look with the RED ONE?

O

omar robles

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2008
Messages
325
Reaction score
0
Points
16
First of all forgive me if this is the wrong section to post this question.


While I adore the gorgeous look of the red one camera. I am working on a film which requires the gritty look of a 70's film. The look Steven Sodenbergh achieved in the Ocean 11 series. What is the best method for getting this look in post? I ve toyed with magic bullet in final cut. But somehow it comes off as looking like a cheap knock off film look. I want to get the organic feel of 16mm. Robert Rodriguez got a good look in his grindhouse film and he shot it with the panavision genesis. And no I am not interested in the scratches. I want the naturally organic gritty look.
 
I am trying to get banned.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I would desaturate the image slightly, add no sharpening whatsoever, and avoid overly crushing the blacks. I would also avoid excessive color correction. No secondaries, no obvious toning of the highlights vs shadows, etc. I'd also either shoot with old glass or throw a light pro mist on newer glass. Most of it is about what you dont do to the image. Don't use the bells and whistles in post that weren't available in the seventies. I'd start with a straight tungsten or daylight balance and more nor less take a printer lights approach to color toning. Dont be afraid to let the skintones drift if you start tinting and toning. Id cheat and use stuff like saturation controls and contrast controls though. Also maybe you could add grain, ugh to be honest I haven't found any plug ins that do a great job of this. In the stills world, alien skin exposure has some amazing grain simulation. I once ran every frame through Photoshop to put this plug in to use. It took ages to do every frame, adjusting the grain pattern for each one. Thank god. It was a three second clip only.
 
Omar,
I'd also think about shooting on some exotic lenses. Maybe some old Lomos or something, to get an old school softness that isnt overly crisp.

I love the look of shadows that are polluted with a color tone, like gold or magenta. as if the print wasn't done perfectly, or the neg was flashed or something. it reminds me of the frame at the end of the 35mm roll that you probably shouldn't have shot. try doing that.

remember that you have to 'forget' that your image was born digitally to allow yourself to be 'tricked' into believing it is organic and 70s.
 
Andrew Wilding said:
In the stills world, alien skin exposure has some amazing grain simulation. I once ran every frame through Photoshop to put this plug in to use. It took ages to do every frame, adjusting the grain pattern for each one. Thank god. It was a three second clip only.
Click to expand...

I agree, Alien Skin film curves, color and grain structure is very good. If used judiciously it's extremely difficult to spot the difference between digital acquisition and something that was shot on film.

In the motion world, IMO this is the now the missing link in terms of completely recreating the look of film.

The soft and organic grain structure of film is so elusive... the subtle inconsistencies and imperfections are hard to mimic (but it is being done in the stills world, so why not in motion)?
 
Yeah, alien skin is really top notch in that regard. Even the scratches and dust options look incredibly real.

we should petition Alien Skin to make a motion version of Exposure for FC, AE, Color etc etc. I cant see why it wouldn't be easy as pie for them to port it, since motion is just a series of stills, after all. I'd be the first in line, without a doubt. Exporting things to image sequences and running them through photoshop is just too tedious to be an option.
 
Andrew Wilding said:
Yeah, alien skin is really top notch in that regard. Even the scratches and dust options look incredibly real.

we should petition Alien Skin to make a motion version of Exposure for FC, AE, Color etc etc. I cant see why it wouldn't be easy as pie for them to port it, since motion is just a series of stills, after all. I'd be the first in line, without a doubt. Exporting things to image sequences and running them through photoshop is just too tedious to be an option.
Click to expand...

I would gladly pay $$ for Alien Skin in the motion world !
You going to get in touch with them Andrew : ) ?
 
Tap Tap not it!


Im wondering if a petition would be the way to go. Not sure how to drum up the support though...
 
Shooting on M or MX sensor?

On the MX sensor I sometimes like to underexpose by 2 to 4 stops, then push the iso.

This adds a really organic grain. Some people call it Noise - I call it grain on the MX.
 
Andrew Wilding said:
Yeah, alien skin is really top notch in that regard. Even the scratches and dust options look incredibly real.

we should petition Alien Skin to make a motion version of Exposure for FC, AE, Color etc etc. I cant see why it wouldn't be easy as pie for them to port it, since motion is just a series of stills, after all. I'd be the first in line, without a doubt. Exporting things to image sequences and running them through photoshop is just too tedious to be an option.
Click to expand...
To mere mortals like you and I it seems straightforward. If it's available in PS, then why not in AE? Unfortunately they're both built using different SDKs so it's a case of their starting from scratch - and also knowing about the particular needs of moving images, which in a computer is more than just an image sequence.

I've been talking to Photomatix about porting their HDR prog to AE (it is available as a plug-in for Photoshop) and they say it can't be done and the only way to use it for video is currently to batch process in the stand-alone version. Or, I would guess, in PS CS5.

Back to the thread's main subject - take a look at the Varicon to get a desaturated image in camera - I posted on another forum here about it.
 
lomos

lomos

As others have suggested, I love older glass as a starting point. Lomos have a smoothness that's really nice. If you're in LA you can look at my set. I would consider Cooke S2/Speed Panchro too.

Cheers,
Morgan
 
I did a Music Vid last year and ended up exporting out an image sequence of still tiffs to a folder... opened one, and recorded an action in photoshop and then batch processed the folder for all of the frames.... then imported the folder back into quicktime and saved as a prores movie... then dropped that clip over the original for the audio. Turned out pretty decent and only took a few hours.
 
You won't match 35mm grain without heavy post-processing. A plugin that would look at each pixel and simulate how a grain structure would see it would be the best bet, not sure there's an advanced plugin for that.

Research and check if shooting 2-perf isn't what would suit your project best. Underexposing Kodak 500T by a bit can give you a nice gritty look.

Test, test ,test.
 
christopher witzke said:
I did a Music Vid last year and ended up exporting out an image sequence of still tiffs to a folder... opened one, and recorded an action in photoshop and then batch processed the folder for all of the frames.... then imported the folder back into quicktime and saved as a prores movie... then dropped that clip over the original for the audio. Turned out pretty decent and only took a few hours.
Click to expand...


I havn't worked with this option in other ways to just export some frame grabs, but in PS CS5 you can import movies. Alien Skin looks really great! Isn't it possible to apply it to the movie and render it out in PS?
I will give it a try...
 
Kim Frank said:
I havn't worked with this option in other ways to just export some frame grabs, but in PS CS5 you can import movies. Alien Skin looks really great! Isn't it possible to apply it to the movie and render it out in PS?
I will give it a try...
Click to expand...

I wonder if the grain would "randomize" if you just batch processed or applied it to a movie. I'd worry that the same grain pattern would be applied to every frame. When I used it on A still sequence I adjusted the grain settings ever so slightly on every frame. It paid off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top