Achieving Analog Film Effects with Digital

How to apply aged film look to video in final Cut Pro
by Tara Swenson



Uploaded on Feb 2, 2010
Click "Show More" to read the step-by-step tutorial...

Recently, I learned first hand that Super 8 film, while incredibly beautiful, is not incredibly dependable. So, rather than delve into a pool of misery, as I naturally resolved to do, I figured that it is worth while to learn how to apply aged film effects to video, and share it here with you. That way those of us who can't afford to purchase film when we completely mess up our exposures and have to re-shoot everything will have an alternative to turn to....

From my own experimentation in Final Cut Pro 6, I have learned to create this effect in about 7 steps. It is important to apply the filters in the order they are presented; applying them in a different order will have different effects on the look of the video.

So...

1. Select the clip in the Sequence and click Modify → Speed (or right click/control click the clip in the sequence to bring up the speed adjuster).

Old cameras shot film at different frame rates. Super 8 cameras would shoot at 12, 18 and 24 frames per second, unlike some video cameras that shoot at 30 frames per second. Adjusting the speed so that it is a little slower, somewhere between 60% and 80%, will add authenticity to the overall look.

2. Video Filters → Blur → Gaussian Blur

Play around with the various settings within Gaussian blur. The Blue Gaussian blur setting will have a totally different look than the Red Gaussian blur setting. I like to start off with about the radius at about 2 on the Luminance blur, personally.

3. Video Filters → Stylize → Add Noise

First, I drop the amount down to .14, then change the type to Gaussian Noise (Film Grain) which is a uniform color. Last, change the Blend Mode to Subtract, which creates a more subtle effect.

4. Video Filters → Color Correction → Color Corrector 3-Way

Play around with the different levels of Black, Midrange, Highlight and Color controls. I like to warm up the look of video, which naturally has a natural light/blueish tinge to it by bringing the color into the direction of reds, oranges, yellows or sepias. It takes a little experimenting to see what looks best.

5. Video Filters → Video → Flicker Filter

Turn the amount up to Flickr Filter (Max).

6. Video Filters → Video → Strobe

This will add the choppy, less smooth look of film (video is too smooth, which is one of the things that gives it away as video). I usually bring the Strobe Duration down to 1 or 2.

After this, there are a variety of other things you can do. Maybe adjust the RGB Balance (Color Correction → RGB Balance) or play around with the various Levels (Image Control → Levels). I find that altering the Arithmetic (Channel → Arithmetic) can bring about some really cool color effects.

After you are satisfied, the final step after rendering is to go to File → Export → Using Quicktime Conversion.

Click on the "Options" button in the first window that pops up. Here you can click "Filter" which will bring you to Movie Settings. Click "Special Effects" , then "Film Noise" and you will be able to adjust the levels of Hairs, Scratches, Dust and Fading on the "film". Different levels will have very different affects on the final product. Play with different levels to achieve your desired look.

This is only one of the many techniques that are available to create an aged film look for video. I personally am still learning, and there is still a lot I don't know about the intricacies of Final Cut Pro 6. If you have any tips or advice on the subject, or know of another way to create this effect, please email me at kavi.xiu@gmail.com

An excellent tutorial of color grading for DSLR video
(for Windows environments but applicable to color grading in general)


Nice analogish music video shot with an iPhone using the Nexvio 8mm app:
more at:
http://wwww.nexvio.com/

The Beauty of Super 8mm Film

Selected clips showing the warmth and beauty of 8mm film. These where shot with Super 8mm film cameras and transferred to video.

Digital camera shots can be edited together with Super 8mm film shots.

Example 1:

 Example 2:


Example 3:



Example 4: Time Lapse


Example 5:

Example 6:


Example 7:


Useful links:
coming soon...

Selected Experimental Films

The Red Book by Janie Geiser
* Scene *

9 Variations on a Dance Theme by Hilary Harris (1966-1967)



Between 2 Deaths by Wago Kreider
*Note: Nice use of cross dissolves between actual scenes of the famous Hitchcock film Vertigo and location footage shot by the director to match the Vertigo scenes.

Gypsy Jazz - (Jazz Manouche)

A Gypsy Jazz map of Paris
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=112311171415325465173.000488eb1d4ee5259dd91

About the Django Reinhart Fesival  at Samois sur Seine, Fontainebleau / Avon
http://www.festivaldjangoreinhardt.com/spip.php?&lang=fr

The Gaurdian list of Gypsy Jazz clubs in Paris
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/mar/03/jazz-bars-paris-django-reinhardt

The Paris Voice list of Gypsy Jazz clubs in Paris
http://www.parisvoice.com/music/451-paris-swinging-gypsy-jazz-scene

At La Chope des Puces club Paris, 1978
http://www.lachopedespuces.fr/
By far the most renowned Gypsy Jazz venue in Paris is the self-proclaimed 'Temple of Gypsy Jazz', La Chope des Puces. Located a few steps from the bustling Sunday flea markets in the outskirts of Paris, Le Marché aux Puces, this small and intimate bar is also near the area where the father of gypsy swing lived and played. A large mural of Django sets the stage and the walls are decorated with the guitar cases and photos of gypsy-guitar masters of years gone by. La Chope hosts weekly Gypsy Jazz concerts on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, where many maestros stop by regularly to play, such as Ninine Garcia, Tchavolo Schmitt and Patrick Saussois. The place comprises a concert room, a restaurant serving traditional French cuisine and a Gypsy Jazz music school, which is sponsored by Ninine Garcia. Concerts start from 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays and continue until around 7pm. Address: 122 Rue des Rosiers Saint-Ouen 93400 Metro: Porte de Clignancourt Tel: 0140 112 880

Ecole de Musique Jazz Manouche at La Chope des Puces Paris

At Le QuecumBar London for 100th Birthday of Django Reinhardt

At the Django Reinhardt festival in New York City

More at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_jazz

Selected Memes for V

Meme:

from Wikipedia

A meme (pron.: /ˈmiːm/; meem) is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.

The word meme is a shortening (modeled on gene) of mimeme (from Ancient Greek μίμημα Greek pronunciation: [míːmɛːma] mīmēma, "something imitated", from μιμεῖσθαι mimeisthai, "to imitate", from μῖμος mimos "mime") and it was coined by the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene (1976) as a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catch-phrases, fashion and the technology of building arches.

The word meme originated with Richard Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Dawkins cites as inspiration the work of geneticist L. L. Cavalli-Sforza, anthropologist F. T. Cloak  and ethologist J. M. Cullen. Dawkins wrote that evolution depended not on the particular chemical basis of genetics, but only on the existence of a self-replicating unit of transmission—in the case of biological evolution, the gene. For Dawkins, the meme exemplified another self-replicating unit with potential significance in explaining human behavior and cultural evolution.

...you must be consciously willing to let yourself be happy.

...the days weave in and out...and all the animals help you.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

Cahiers de Cinéma 1960 by critic Fereydoun Hoveyda: "What matters in a film is the desire for order, composition, harmony, the placing of actors and objects, the movements within the frame, the capturing of a moment or look... Mise en scene is nothing other than the technique invented by each director to express the idea and establish the specific quality of his work."



MISE-EN-SCENE Defined by Robert Kolker, Film Form and Culture

Mise-en-scène is a French term and originates in the theater. It means, literally, "put in the scene." For film, it has a broader meaning, and refers to almost everything that goes into the composition of the shot, including the composition itself: framing, movement of the camera and characters, lighting, set design and general visual environment, even sound as it helps elaborate the composition. Mise-en-scène can be defined as the articulation of cinematic space, and it is precisely space that it is about. Cutting is about time; the shot is about what occurs in a defined area of space, bordered by the frame of the movie screen and determined by what the camera has been made to record. That space, the mise-en-scène, can be unique, closed off by the frame, or open, providing the illusion of more space around it.


More at:
http://www.elementsofcinema.com/directing/mise-en-scene.html

http://www.slideshare.net/kjera/mise-en-scene-analysis-presentation

Examples with my notes:

Amelie

*Notes
seven edits/cuts
close focus on both faces
Lighting in room and candle light the soft deep reds
No music track
Sound of every movement and breath and the sound of the man's voice and the sound of her shoes on the floor and the sound of the tape machine rolling
The silence of Amelie and the wide eyed look on her face as she kneels, as at an alter, to gaze at the video
Black and white video and color in same scene
shadow of her hand
the sincere connecting of the man in the vid and Amelie
her fast exit

Tale of Summer

Notes:
no music
sound of wind and waves and conversation
The ocean vistas
the wind in their hair
the green and the walking path
no other people just the two of them
the natural elements are the third character in this scene, maybe the primary character
light is the natural light of a beautiful day
individual shots as they talk
The conversation itself as they try to understand themselves and each other
The way the boy and girl circle and move and walk together
they like each other
the theme song he whistles at the end of the scene
walking and talking

Alphaville

Notes:
scene quick edits between apartment and police car
close shot of faces
close shots of eyes
Lights flash on and off as she breaks into poetry
actors's voice coming from sound track
poetry used instead of dialogue
break down of what is normal dialogue
Classical music
Dancing as poetry is read
Both look directly at camera which changes the illusion


The Double Life of Veronique

Notes:
camera tracking
subdued colors
all sounds of the city in turmoil
police crowd control
circling movement of the camera

Les Diaboliques

Notes:
dramatic high contrast lighting
sound of breathing
sound of type writer
sudden loss of light
scream
no music
no dialogue
tension
fear

Interview with Francois Truffaut

Interview with Francois Truffaut on preparing to shoot a film