The ultimate film look for video...

...is impossible and unattainable. There, I've said it. If you want video to look like film, shoot on film. If you look around the various internet forums you will see a lot of advice floating around about how to make video look like film. Some will tell you it is in the final grading of the picture or progressive scan, some will tell you it is down to the use of Promist filters. Others still will say that it is down to the lighting, while some say that it is down to adjusting the camera setup menus. Yet more say that it is down to depth of field (so how do they explain the 'film look' of 8mm?!)

None of these however will get you a film look.They might get you a more 'filmy' image in terms of emulating some of films aspects, but they will in no way give you a full emulation of real film.

Lighting for film

This is one of the biggest fallacies about film look. You will absolutely not make your video look like film just because you light it nicely. What happens for example if you shot with a real film camera and didn't bother lighting the set? Would it stop looking like film just because you didn't light? Of course not.

So now that I've destroyed the idea of film look lets talk about what you really want to do.

In all honesty I think what most shooters are after these days is a 'high end look', or a 'cinematic' look. For me the term 'cinematic' would apply to something that had great cinematography, great sound and great editing. So lets concentrate on the former.

The High End look

Once again this comes down to basics. Absolute basics. I'll keep reitterating this over pretty much every article that I write. You must have the basics down in order to get the look you are after. There is no magic bullet that will achieve things for you (and that includes the software Magic Bullet too!) You must develop a good eye for composition. Practice is the only way.

Now, after what I said about lighting earlier you might think that I am now being rather hypocritical when I tell you to develop your lighting skills. Yes, lighting is extremely important, even when you are shooting in natural light. A 'high end' look takes more effort than normal. For those that are a bit patchy on lighting (and we are all constantly learning) I'd recommend going on over to Nino Giannotti's EFP Lighting website. He charges for membership, but his advice and tutorials are invaluable.

If shooting outdoors you need to be more selective about where and when you shoot. Gaining a high end look to your production has a lot to do with knowing exactly what you want the final production to look like, and the steps needed to make sure that you get that look. 

Do not chase a film look. Chase a high end look, and the rest will take care of itself. For too long video has been looked upon as the poor cousin of film. Film is an exclusive club, but it will fall by the wayside eventually. People who use video should embrace what is good about it and utlilise its strengths

I have neglected to mention one aspect though, progressive scan. This will give you the cadence of film. Progressive scan is important as I believe that it does help psychologically to give things a 'high end' look. But it must be combined with some extra rules for shooting.

I'm on a low budget but I still want it to look expensive!

Planning, planning, and more planning. Make the most of your time on the shoot to gain you maximum time to be able to light and compose shots. There is a limit to what you can do with no time and/or limited budgets.

One device I own that has helped me on a number of occasions is a Hague jib. I can hear gasps from all you people out there. No, the Hague jib is not an engineering masterpiece. It is extremely crude compared to, say, an ABC crane or other makes.

What I like about the Hague jib though, despite its many shortcomings, is that it is inexpensive, fairly quick to set up, and almost bomb proof. True, it is engineered using technology from the Victorian period and made by people wearing stove pipe hats, but it works. There is nothing that adds a bit of production value quite like a jib shot here and there.

So, to sum up, to make something look good, as always, you have to plan, have a good eye, and know what you want. You cannot take quickly shot footage with no thought and expect to apply a Magic Bullet filter and expect to get something that looks like a Hollywood blockbuster. It ain't gonna happen.

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