Filmlike.com - Achieving film look for video

“Some little fat girl in Ohio is going to make a beautiful movie with her father's camcorder...”
Francis Ford Coppola

"Filmlike" or "film look" are both terms relating to filmizing, process which makes video productions appear as if they were shot on film.

Many indie producers cannot afford principal photography on 35 mm film. Even the most modest production that shoots on 35 mm film will need a production budget in excess of $100,000.

The costs accrue throughout production and include camera rental, lens rental, film stock, lab costs. Once you move to post-production, the bills will mount up quickly: more lab costs, mixing, grading, etc. You end up with a 35 mm print that you can now show in theatres and festivals.

At the same time, the recently introduced Panasonic HVX200 uses a tapeless recording mechanism which brings media costs down significantly. A variety of other HD cameras exists as well so in terms of acquisition, there's plenty of choice for producers who cannot afford 35 mm film.

So the $100,000 question then becomes:

"Can I do it all on video but make it look like film?"

Filmlike video (tutorial)

This is a short video tutorial about achieving filmlike video:

Right-click video, then select "Save Target As..."

Producing filmlike video

There's much debate about the best approach to achieving filmlike video. Some will simply recommend getting a camera like Panasonic HVX200.

Others will claim that all HD cameras are the same. You just get whatever camera is available (Sony FX1 or Sony HC1 being the cheapest) and shoot with it. The film look is a simple matters of applying the right After Effects™ filters.

The first step, however, needs to focus on what makes video FILMLIKE, or rather, what are the differences between shooting film and shooting digital video.

Filmlike video is sought after by game developers as well just check out the new Diablo 3 trailer.

Differences between film and video

Going from most important to least important:

Frame rates
Depth of field
Interlaced vs. progressive
Exposure latitude
Shutter angle

Film supports a whole range of frame rates: from interval recoding to hundreds of frames per second.

The speeder sequence in Star Wars™ was shot at 1 FPS (frame per second). The camera operator simply walked through the forest with a Steadycam®.

Each of these deserves a separate page - coming soon.