Cheapest way to capture to achieve a film look
 

Hi

I have written a few screenplays, Ken Loach, Shane Meadows type stuff and I want to film a few scenes. What is the cheapest way to capture, achieving a film look?

I have an old Sony consumer video camera, small tape type that I have not used for years, but also pro mac studio for my photography work if any of that could be used?

Regards

Canon XM2?

I don't know too much about this since I haven't payed too much attention to the whole "film look" movement, but I can at least give you a start!

Usually, when people talk about a film look, they are referring to a combination of several factors:

1. 24fps
When video is recorded to film, it is recorded at a rate of 24 frames per second. Consumer camcorders usually only have the option to record at 30fps.

2. Shallow Depth of Field
Since you're a photographer, I assume that you're familiar with DoF. Film cameras use separate high-end lenses that allow an operator to dial in the options in such a way that they can achieve a very shallow DoF and throw the background out of focus. There are converters that are available that you can mount a consumer camcorder onto and then attach professional photography lenses. This is a possible route to go, but they usually cost upwards of $800 as far as I've seen.

3. Great Lighting
Sometimes one of the most overlooked qualities of "film", setting up good lighting (and good composition as well) is important in achieving a very nice look. Often, this means filming indoors using a bunch of lights that give you control over how they are lighting the scene. Depending on the screenplay, you may want to have a dramatically lit scene and the only way to achieve this is by having control over the lighting. This means either renting or purchasing lighting equipment (or if you can film in a local theater or on a stage somewhere, they should have lights set-up already that you could use).

I hope that might give you a bit of a lead to start doing some research! There are a ton of posts on this forum about achieving the "film look", so I would just explore a little bit and you can find practically all of the information that you need!

In case you had not noticed, there is an entire section on this very forum devoted to the subject. (click here)

I would suggest scouring this section before asking a lot of questions that have likely been asked and answered many times already! Remember, the search function is your friend!