Shoot Video to Look
Like Film (Take 2)by David
Crossman, DGGB
Revised December 2001
What follows, as in all things artistic, is born
out of my own personal taste - but my views and
techniques are from actual experience.
THE WAYS TO MORE LOVABLE VIDEO
A couple of years ago I won an Award for the
Photographing a video "short" called
'The Extinguisher!'. The 'film' was shot on
Betacam SP using a JVC KY-35 camera docked with a
Sony BVV-5 back-end recorder.
Although the 700 lines/picture width KY-35
gave greatly defined video pictures, I used some
techniques to make the video pictures less
electronic and more like film.
The main techniques I used were:
- 1. Don't White Balance as per the book.
- 2. Decrease the video camera's electronic
"enhancement".
- 3. Optically diffuse the image.
- 4. Light like the Movies
1. Don't White Balance as per the book.
Many films lack the budget to have effective
Art Direction. Not enough time is given to how
colours look in the frame. "The Extinguisher!"
was set in a post-apocalyptic future and I wanted
it to look cold and bleak. I decided to 'white
balance' the camera so the pictures were slightly
blue.
As a reference, I always white balanced the
camera using the back of my left hand. The colour
of my flesh caused the camera to drain away those
warm hues when the white balance switch was
operated - hence "cold" looking
pictures. You might wish to use a pale blue card
- this would give your pictures a warmer tone for
more 'romantic' themes. See how Our Rembrandt Card gives your video that warm, pleasing look.
Purists might think what I'm suggesting here
is bad practice - but there's no such thing as
right or wrong in Art!
2. Decrease the video camera's
electronic "enhancement".
In my experience all video cameras have a
degree of electronic "enhancement". The
picture output from even current CCDs is quite
soft and lacks detail. Camera manufacturers
design an electronic circuit which reacts to
changes in brightness levels in the frame and
adds an overshoot in the form of a black or white
line to the picture. This is designed to make the
picture look sharper. But if this circuit is
adjusted too high, the resultant picture just
looks "electronic" and unattractive -
just the sort of 'electronic' look hated so much
by the film fraternity.
You will find the adjustment of this circuit
named variously as: "Contour"
correction, "Aperture" adjustment or
"Detail" Level. They are all the same
thing in essence.
Viewing your camera on a good monitor, turn
this "enhancement" down until you get
the picture you like. It might be a small
screwdriver adjustment or via a menu in the
viewfinder. It might be called "Sharpness"
in this context. You'll certainly find it on all
Sony cameras between the miniDV VX-1000 and the
DVCAM DSR-500WS.
If your camera is a "domestic" (or
consumer) camcorder it might not have any
adjustable circuit. In this case, employ
technique number 3 to bring about a decrease in
"enhancement".
3. Optically diffuse the image.
Many movies are optically diffused to give
pictures a "softer" look and to
decrease contrast - especially when shooting
against the light. Diffusers - flat filters 3 or
4 inches square made of glass or plastic - can be
purchased/hired in a range from "subtle"
to "over-romantic". Depending on "the
look" you want for your video, decide which
filter is right and shoot the whole film through
it. Support the filter using a proper filter
holder/lens hood. You should judge each shot
since the diffusing effect changes with changes
in zoom angle but in my experience the difference
is not great if you shoot everything through the
one filter.
The added benefit of this filtration is that
in many instances it causes the 'enhancement' in
electronic cameras (as in 2 above) to be much
less effective - not a bad thing!
The best diffusing filters I've found are made
by a company in the UK. They are called Supafrost.
Editor's note: In the U.S. Tiffen's Pro Mist
Filters are nearly as nice.
Items 2 & 3 will give video a photographic
quality which cannot be created in post-production
- and will stop video pictures looking annoyingly
'electronic'.
4. Light like the Movies.
Modern video cameras are made sensitive enough
to shoot in any lighting conditions but there are
still steps you can take to make your
'cinematography' as attractive as the movies.
Most video cameras are (still) unable to
handle the highest contrasts between highlights
and lowlights of a picture. For instance, if your
'star' is sitting with his or her back to a
bright window you, must take some action to
reduce the brightness differences between the
outdoor scene framed through the window and the
all-important face. The easiest way is by a white
reflector - and you can get small collapsible
ones from your local photography store.
Professional film crews sometimes use sheets of
white polystyrene but these can be noisy to hold
and are dangerous in high winds!.
The benefit of using a white reflector is that
the light coming from it will be the same colour
as the rest of the light illuminating the scene.
The idea is to just 'fill' the face with a little
more soft light to make it more attractive.
There are also two further techniques which
will make video look more like film if that's
what you're into:
5. In post-production, ignore every-other
video field.
Because film is actually still photographs,
when it is scanned by a telecine machine for
transfer to video there can be no movement
between the two "fields" which make one
TV "frame". In video there *can* be
movement between the fields - and this makes
video _smoother_ on horizontal movement in the
frame. Film, on the other hand, 'strobes'
slightly on horizontal movement giving it its
'look'.
6. Shoot Widescreen.
Many films are made with film formats that are
wider than video's standard 4:3 aspect ratio.
Where possible shoot proper widescreen video to
enhance your 'film' look.
But Full Height Anamorphic (FHA) 16:9 video
should be generated from CCDs of this shape. Many
cameras with a widescreen mode produce pictures
of this aspect ratio by throwing away valuable
pixels from a 4:3 CCD. Check your camera's
pictures in widescreen mode. If they are
less sharp than in standard mode, then your camera does not have
true 16:9 capabilities. You have two choices:
1. Shoot in 4:3 but with an optical anamorphic
lens adaptor - Century Optics in CA make one.
This will give you 'proper' widescreen FHA video.
But you might have problems with those folks
who don't have a 16:9 viewing capability so in
Premiere or your favourite editing package,
reduce the height of your video by 75% and you
will have a 16:9 widescreen picture within a 4:3
frame.
2. Shoot in 4:3 but frame for 16:9 so black
bars can "letterbox" your frame top and
bottom in post-production. I appreciate
letterboxing is wasteful of precious bandwidth
but if it means your first effort as Director
gets noticed, next time you might be using
Panavision!
Some of the above photographic techniques were
used by the old boys in Hollywood in the early
days of the last century. If you think these
techniques might be old-fashioned, remember light
hasn't changed its qualities even if our way of
recording it has.
DAVID CROSSMAN is a broadcast
television Director with credits in Drama Series,
Music, Light Entertainment and Children's
programmes in the U.K. and abroad. He shoots both
multi-camera studio and single-camera technique
for Channel Four and the BBC - and companies
specialising in corporate communications and
training.
Email David
