I am new to the xl1s and I am very interested in setting the camera up manually so I can get a unique warm film look. (i do not use frame movie mode, only shoot at 25 for shutter speed). I would like sopme tips for achieving this in the custom preset menu etc...

You could start out by 'warm-balancing', which is white-balancing to a slightly blue-ish card. Some videographers have a couple of these cards with them. The camera will compensate for the blue-ish tone by warming up the image a little (or a lot, depending on how blue your card is...).

Bar3nd

I'd definitely go with frame mode for such intent. Color correction/
timing in post can also do miracles!