Consumer level camcorders to give film look is there any?

[Jim Rog]

Hello


Are there any consumer pro level camcorders out there that can give a proper film look? Costing around the same price as the Z1? I see the JVC HD100 but even though its 24P still don’t look like proper film.

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

The XL2 and DVX100.

But you have to know that it isn't the cam that makes your video look like film. It's primarily lightening, and then camera movement/placement, professional acting, production values...

Light your set very good... and your consumer cam will shoot filmlike results!

Once somebody said on these boards, and I can say this is true, seen badly lit 16mm at school vs good lit video:
Give Spielberg a Hi8 camcorder, and his video will still look like film/cinema.
Give uncle Joe who films birthday partys a 35mm cam, and it will still look cheap...

[Jim Rog]

Hi


I hear what you are saying but surely the camcorder must play a big part? i have done much filming in side and out with good lighting but yet still doesn’t have the film look. when i heard about the JVC HD100 i thought this was going to give the real film look as it says real 24P but it seems not.

[Shane Ross]

The camera has a LITTLE to do with it, but darn little. If you get one that shoots 24P, then you'll be better off than one that shoots straig 30i or 60i.

But the truth be told, lighting is the BIGGEST part of this. That and a very full audio mix. NEVER forget audio. Audio is as important, if not MORE important, than picture.

28 DAYS LATER...shot with a Canon XL1. Looked like a film, because it was LIT well, and a full audio mix was done.

AVOID the JVC, as so far NO EDIT SYSTEM supports the HDV 24p format yet. Believe it or not.

[Glenn Chan]

The film look forum here rehashes this all the time.

Different ways of looking at it:
1- Why limit your thinking to making things look like film?

2- You can examine the differences between film and video. Many threads in the film look forum.

---

A- As far as audio goes, I don't think it affects the film look. It does make a difference in the overall presentation. However, you have to consider what the audience is hearing your footage on. A full theatrical mix won't translate well on cheap computer speakers.

B- Light like film: Film has more exposure latitude than video. If you have really strong backlight with film, that's ok. For video it'll blown out into white more.

C- Color correction/enhancement can make a big difference. See:
http://www.glennchan.info/Proofs/dvi...comparison.mov

Or look in the DV for the masses forum... "broken", "the silencer", "sundowning" are good examples of color graded films. Interestingly enough, the silencer and sundowning were shot on the Canon GL2 (not the best camera by today's standards). The filmmakers would've used a better camera had they the option or money.

None of the cameras used in these pieces mentioned (except for broken) can be tweaked to get additional dynamic range/exposure latitude. You'd probably get better results with cameras that can do so.

[Jim Rog]

Hi glenn

I don’t shoot so it can just look like film but i wanted to do a short piece and wanted to try and get the film look to my project. there are many filters that claim to give you this look but none of them work.

Someone please move this to Film Look Methods & Techniques

forgot it was there

Thanks

[Marc Colemont]

Not possible to achive the film look with the HD100? Then you didn't downloaded footage yet of some users on the HD100 forum...

[Jim Rog]

Originally Posted by Marc Colemont

Not possible to achive the film look with the HD100? Then you didn't downloaded footage yet of some users on the HD100 forum...

do you have the link to the video you are talking about?

[Marc Colemont]

http://www.hdvinfo.net/articles/jvcp...ini35test4.php
http://www.hdvinfo.net/articles/jvcp...ini35test4.php

Clip made with HD100:
http://homepage.mac.com/nweaver/Sites/dirthouseext.html

Here you go.

[John Marion]

I'm new to this forum as of today, but this thread has gotten my attention right away.

A while back I read a few articles in American Cinematographer magazine and distinctly remember reading that the film look is in the film itself, the chemicals and composition that make up the film. And different types of film are used to create different looks.

Another impression I had was that the film look can be somewhat duplicated in post production with DV. In other words, getting the film look with DV is not really in the equipment and lighting.

Yes, DV does have lighting requirements that differ from shooing with film. So I'm thinking that it's best to use lighting that is best for getting the lighting effect you want in general for shooting DV (don't try to make it look like film during the shoot) then in post production break out the software that makes the footage look like it was shot on film.

John Marion
Kabul Film and Media
http://www.kabulmedia.com

[Kevin Red]

Any one product will not automatically produce a film look. A professional look comes from professional technique. A filter or brand of camcorder will not endow anyone with professional technique.
-Study film cinematography
-Different camcorders have different strong point like color or defenition. Figure out what's important to the look you are going for.
-Lighting is very important. Not just "enough light" but light control.
-Look into post production color correcting and image tweaking.
-Read the film look forum.
There is no quick fix for the video look. But there is alot of information to help.

P.S. Dont use gain on camcorders if you can avoid it.

[Jemore Santos]

There's elements to film and then there's techniques.

The elemental factors are 24p and the JVC does fine because I have one, the Gamma stretch and a short Depth of field. Then on the technical side you have lighting proper production, casts, camera shot and movement and descent actors directed by someone who knows what to do.

If you have that then you must have a pretty good producer!

Its all about factors, production

[Justine Haupt]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned mini35s... even when not shooting with a shallow depth of field, they tend to soften the harsh "cluttered detail" look of video without necessarily loosing sharpness. IMHO, this is the single most important thing for really achieving a great film look after color grading (great enough that 9/10 will think it was shot on film).