quality of the camera important but also the format it uses. DV, or Digital Video is the lowest quality format you should be using. Ideally, shoot on HDV – a highly compressed High Definition version of DV or a professional HD variant.

So just what creates a ‘Film Look’ on video ?

Been to the theater recently? Film looks very different to raw digital video. There are a number of reasons for this but the

What's wrong with Video?

Maybe you shoot video for a living - doing corporate work, TV documentary or adverts. Perhaps you are a student film maker or an enthusiastic amateur. Regardless of what you do with video, the likelyhood is that you want to make films - even if only for yourself and friends and family. If you are new to video production, then the idea of 'film-look' - in other words giving video the look of film might seem quite new to you. If you are new to the idea of film look, or only know that you want to make your video look like film then it can be a daunting task to try and discover just what you need to do to make your video look like it was shot on celluloid.

Looking out for a 'Film-like' look!

The term 'film-look', or filmize (as it is called by wikepdia) is a generic term that has been applied to lots of process, some physical, some chemical and now – many digital. Celluloid (film) is expensive, wasteful and time consuming to develop - not to mention risky - destroying film footage is too easy! Tape is cheap and easy to use and the quality of video cameras has improved vastly in recent years. With the advent of digital video it has become possible for almost any camera to record acceptable quality video – analogue cameras were generally unsuitable for film look unless they were of a high end professional nature. Now, with DV, HD and HDV it has become more easy than ever to make a high-quality movie that has the look and feel of film.

DV, High Definition and 'film-look'

It is important to realise that the higher quality camera you shoot on, the better your filmized piece will appear. Not is only is the quality of the camera important but also the format it uses. DV, or Digital Video is the lowest quality format you should be using. Ideally, shoot on HDV – a highly compressed High Definition version of DV or a professional HD variant.

So just what creates a ‘Film Look’ on video ?

Been to the theater recently? Film looks very different to raw digital video. There are a number of reasons for this but the

ook of film might seem quite new to you. If you are new to the idea of film look, or only know that you want to make your video look like film then it can be a daunting task to try and discover just what you need to do to make your video look like it was shot on celluloid.

Looking out for a 'Film-like' look!

The term 'film-look', or filmize (as it is called by wikepdia) is a generic term that has been applied to lots of process, some physical, some chemical and now – many digital. Celluloid (film) is expensive, wasteful and time consuming to develop - not to mention risky - destroying film footage is too easy! Tape is cheap and easy to use and the quality of video cameras has improved vastly in recent years. With the advent of digital video it has become possible for almost any camera to record acceptable quality video – analogue cameras were generally unsuitable for film look unless they were of a high end professional nature. Now, with DV, HD and HDV it has become more easy than ever to make a high-quality movie that has the look and feel of film.

DV, High Definition and 'film-look'

It is important to realise that the higher quality camera you shoot on, the better your filmized piece will appear. Not is only is the quality of the camera important but also the format it uses. DV, or Digital Video is the lowest quality format you should be using. Ideally, shoot on HDV – a highly compressed High Definition version of DV or a professional HD variant.

So just what creates a ‘Film Look’ on video ?

Been to the theater recently? Film looks very different to raw digital video. There are a number of reasons for this but the

pplied to lots of process, some physical, some chemical and now – many digital. Celluloid (film) is expensive, wasteful and time consuming to develop - not to mention risky - destroying film footage is too easy! Tape is cheap and easy to use and the quality of video cameras has improved vastly in recent years. With the advent of digital video it has become possible for almost any camera to record acceptable quality video – analogue cameras were generally unsuitable for film look unless they were of a high end professional nature. Now, with DV, HD and HDV it has become more easy than ever to make a high-quality movie that has the look and feel of film.

DV, High Definition and 'film-look'

It is important to realise that the higher quality camera you shoot on, the better your filmized piece will appear. Not is only is the quality of the camera important but also the format it uses. DV, or Digital Video is the lowest quality format you should be using. Ideally, shoot on HDV – a highly compressed High Definition version of DV or a professional HD variant.

So just what creates a ‘Film Look’ on video ?

Been to the theater recently? Film looks very different to raw digital video. There are a number of reasons for this but the

– analogue cameras were generally unsuitable for film look unless they were of a high end professional nature. Now, with DV, HD and HDV it has become more easy than ever to make a high-quality movie that has the look and feel of film.

DV, High Definition and 'film-look'

It is important to realise that the higher quality camera you shoot on, the better your filmized piece will appear. Not is only is the quality of the camera important but also the format it uses. DV, or Digital Video is the lowest quality format you should be using. Ideally, shoot on HDV – a highly compressed High Definition version of DV or a professional HD variant.

So just what creates a ‘Film Look’ on video ?

Been to the theater recently? Film looks very different to raw digital video. There are a number of reasons for this but the

quality of the camera important but also the format it uses. DV, or Digital Video is the lowest quality format you should be using. Ideally, shoot on HDV – a highly compressed High Definition version of DV or a professional HD variant.

So just what creates a ‘Film Look’ on video ?

Been to the theater recently? Film looks very different to raw digital video. There are a number of reasons for this but the most basic and obvious concepts are the differing nature of a film and video camera and more importantly that film stock is a chemical based medium whereas video is a digital / magnetic medium. The chemical nature of celluloid ensures that it records color in similar way to our eyes, has a much larger brightness range and does not harshly clip shadows and highlights. Digital Video stores image data in a finite range and brightness is stored in a linear fashion – quite different to how the human eye sees. Motion is different too, with far less motion blur in an image.

The Evil Legacy Of Analogue Video: Interlacing

One of the tell tale signs of video are the sawtooth like jagged edges that are produced by the interlacing process. In short, interlacing refers to the half frame display of video. Each frame is split up into odd and even lines and these are recorded and displayed out of time to increase the amount of motion recorded. This means that still pictures have higher resolution and moving pictures have more motion (although less resolution). Creating an authentic film look requires the use of a 24p or other progressive format camera or a deinterlacer to make the interlaced video progressive (or a single frame) . This progressive frame will not feature motion artefacts caused by interlacing assuming that it has been deinterlaced well.

Color Correction / Grading

Much of film look comes from grading / colorising. Video is given a more film like appearance through the use of Gamma and Contrast adjustments. The most common way to give an image a more film like approach is to use a curves tool to create a soft s like curve. The s cu