Particular color and tone look
 

hey all,

hoping you can be of help. I have am noticing a common look in some films now and i am very fond of it. It seems to come from a lot of movies shot in Prague and of similar Genre.

The look i am referring too is this quite dark and grey kinda feel. The league of extraordinary gentlement used it, as well as Underworld, blade 2 and many other films i am seeing coming out where a lot of night shooting is used as well. These are a look that goes through the entire movie not just particular scenes, but it becomes more noticable in dark night shots. Also seems to be a lot of movies coming out of prague using it.

Anyways, just wondering how that look is achieved, on film and how i could apply that to using it with dv. Is it a particular filter, or process or combo they are using, this look seems to be almost identical on many features lately, especially ones relating to vampires.

Thank you for your help.

Zac

Film Noir is a common style that started back when films were first starting out.

Easy to explain, tedious to achieve. You have to light only those areas you want to see and set your exposure for them alone, insuring that the areas you want dark are truly down the exposure curve for whatever medium you are using.

Sort of like shooting an actor in a spotlight. Actually exactly like that except you must control the shadow illumination so you don't get full blacks except where you want them.

Nahh i know about film noir and that common look. I am talking about a particular treatment they are doing to the film or in post production, not so much the lighting style.

Zac

I think I know what you're talking about. It's kind of slick and synthetic while somber. Sorry I can't recall other movies to add to the description.

I got a plug-in with Premiere Pro call 'Movie Looks' that is part of the software from Red Giant called Magic Bullet. It has 10 pre-set 'looks' that may be what you are looking for. Check out:

http://www.adobe.com/special/premier...t_descrip.html

I understand the full version does a lot more than color correction and is spoken very highly of. I don't know what editing programs it works with, but you may want to check it out at:

http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/

Even if the thought is lovely I dont think Hollywood is posting the above mentioned films in Premiere using a Premiere plugin just yet.

My guess is that this is some new Inferno 2K/4K flavor someone invented when doing digital grading and now everyone is using it for a while. Just like "instant sex" or "ENR/Bleach Bypass" or "Matrix Green". I'd ask around in some Discreet forums about it.

I think the look you're talking about is what I call the antique look. It has a look of really old film, but at the same time it's clear, slick and modern looking. There's always one color, like gold or blue, that stand out. I think it's just experimenting until you get the look you are looking for. Get a copy of the Special Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. On disc four, there is a section on Digital Color Grading and Compositing. They illustrate how they got the look of the "Mines of Moria" by reducing the color saturation and bumping up the silver and blue colors. It's fascinating.

i followed that link for the "movie looks" plug-in and for the life of me i can't figure out where/how to download it...

did anyone get it?

matthew

http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/magbulsuit.html

Costs about $1000. I believe theres a demo and manual you can download off the above link.

The Movie Looks are a registration incentive for Premiere Pro. If you bought Premiere there is a link on the page. From my knowledge (not a Premiere user anymore) the presets are just that...presets. They are uneditable and act as a global filter. For greater control of your film look, it's best to purchase Magic Bullet from the link already given.

My guess is that the look is probably acheived in a Flame using the Anvil plug-in from the foundry. They have a sort of an equivalent (although not totally) with an Old Film plug-in in Tinderbox 3 for After Effects that I believe has a color aging filter (don't quote me on that..it's been awhile since I played with the demo). Might get you looking in the right direction...otherwise play with levels, reduced saturation of the red channel, channel mix towards the blue, reduce global saturation for every channel, and mix in a little bit of the instant sex.

Thank you i will have a play with doing that.


Zac

i must be dense, i am a registered premiere pro user, if i login i can't get anything to show up on the page to let me download the limited version.

it only shows up if i follow the link posted in this thread, if i login and then goto the plug-ins it is nowhere, and if i paste the link and go back it doesn't show any download page.

i'm not sure if their system is setup so that if you are already logged in and you go back it remembers that...

does anyone have any insight?

matthew

I don't think you can get it from the Magic Bullet sight, it's on the Adobe site (courtesy of RedGiant). Try this:

http://www.adobe.com/special/premiere/redgiant_descrip.html

Once there, try the help button, apparently there are several issues regarding the download.

yes.....
 

I've been wondering the same thing... its being used in a lot of TVC's in Australia too. Has anyone seen the new Mitsubishi Lancer commercial? I love that commercial. Awesome editing but the image has that same effect. I was wondering if it was done in post or was it a result of a new filter set that has been brought out. Its as if the colours have been washed out slightly and the blacks and highlights have been exaggerated. I think it's being used in the Rugby World Cup and Telstra Bigpond Broadband TVC's aswell.

....."They illustrate how they got the look of the "Mines of Moria" by reducing the color saturation and bumping up the silver and blue colors...."

This sounds about right... Does anyone know if this can be done in FCP at all?
Cheers, Tim....

Antique/ Mines of Moria Look in AE
 

If we were to try to reproduce these looks, how would we boost "silver"? Would this be a matter of desaturating everything, then boosting hightlights and tinting them slightly blue? Somehow we'd need to capture the highlights off inorganic objects (concrete of buildings, slick leather jackets) and affect them separately.