Michael Bay movie preset

[Alan James]

I hate asking questions like this because they can’t be answered very easily, but here goes anyways. I am wondering if anyone has a good preset (or can come up with one) for the Michael Bay movie look. A good example of this is The Island. I'm not talking about the lighting. I’m talking about the actual way the camera (celluloid on his movies) absorbs light. It looks like its higher contrast, higher saturation and some kind of filter but it’s not just that. It also might be something that you can only do on celluloid because of its higher range. Anyways I really have no clue of where to begin, other then just asking here (which I hate doing).

[Ash Greyson]

Post a grab and I will post a preset to match...


ash =o)

[Alan James]

These are four screen shots from the movie The Island. Some of them have a filter on them but the way the celluloid absorbs light is very unique. Thanks for the help.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d1.../TheIsland.jpg

[Ben Winter]

The fact that the entire rear of the car is obscured by shadow is testament to the high contrast. I'm not sure they cranked it up that high on the other shots.

[Alan James]

Its 35mm. You can't just crank up contrast on celluloid and I don’t think it was done as a visual effect cause that would get pricey to just crank contrast up, but like you said only one of the shots was high contrast. I am starting to think they use filters, which I can do in post. Lol I will probably have to just play around with my camera on set and footage in post to achieve this look. (but if u can come up with a preset that would be close that would make it easier.) Thanx

[Joe Winchester]

You certainly can crank up contrast and color when you develop the 35mm film. You can even cross process it to get crazy results. I know in past Bay movies he used the blue/amber split filter (don't remember the actual name). It's probably a combo of exposure, development, filtering, and color in post.

[Alan James]

Thats probably it. LOL I meant that its not like digital that you just have a “contrast” control in ur NLE. I ur right bout the contrast thing though. And they did use a filter on a few shots. I went back to see and I could tell after I looked for it. Anyways do you guys know of a preset that will do this, or should I just try to emulate it in After Effects?

[Ash Greyson]

Try this preset:

WB: warm (wb to gray)

Gamma: Cine
Knee: low
Black: Press

Color Matrix: Cine
Color Gain: +3
Color Phase: +2

R Gain: +2
G Gain: -2
B Gain: +3

V Detail: normal
Sharpness: 0
Coring: 0

Setup Level: -6
Master Ped: -6
NR: off



To get the light white/blue as it is in the last grab, you need to rebalance cooler, to light green maybe. That shot most likely would need some CC work.



ash =o)

[Ash Greyson]

On the outside shots, you will prolly want to use a polarizr as well...



ash =o)

[Alan James]

Man I love all the presets you can make but I also hate them at the same time. I wish there was an easy way to reproduce the look of film. Just like a 400 ISO Kodac film I use in my 35mm SLR cause in my opinion it just looks better then any digital I have see so far. I want something that ANYONE can look at and say “wow what did you use? 16mm or 35?” but I think that that’s just not possible. I kinda have a related question but don’t want to really start a new thread just for it. Is gain basically like usng a higher ISO film, or is it something that can’t really be emulated by film.

[Kyle Prohaska]

I think the obsession over making something look like film is the biggest slap in the face to filmmaking since Speed 2. Who cares if it looks like film, its not a bad thing but don't spend all your money on making your project look like film. If you had 10000ft of 35mm film with a crappy script, 100G's of stage lights, a slew of big named stars, and the greatest DP the world can bring your film will suck. What good is all the money spent and talent spent if your story sucks? Put your sweat into the story and the genius of your film will shine no matter what its shot on. It amazes me how many films are terrible today even with the multi-million dollar budgets. Just concentrate on the "Film," not the film.

-Kyle, phew done ranting lol.

[Kelly Harmsworth]

I think as more and more movies are shot in video the facination with replicating film will die off. We will get used to the unique look of video on the big screen and people will be happy with that.

[Alan James]

I actually don’t really like the look of raw celluloid for my projects, but I don’t like the look of digital either. I really like the look of celluloid with a bleach bypass applied. Its gritty and high contrast, very stylized. Those are the films I like the best. I totally agree with you Kyle. Film makers (other then the DP) need to focus on story now and not get caught up with the look of something while they are on set (unless you are making something like Sin City). Creativity is what will bring the movie business back up to what it used to be. (that and if they ever decide to actually wait awhile before putting a movie out on DVD)

[Jarrod Whaley]

Originally Posted by Kelly Harmsworth

I think as more and more movies are shot in video the facination with replicating film will die off. We will get used to the unique look of video on the big screen and people will be happy with that.

I think this is true enough. Hopefully, when that day comes, video will also lose at least some of the instant identification with "realism" that it currently has. If I read another article or movie review discussing how a given DP chose video or employed a shaky handheld technique "to impart a sense of gritty documentary realism," I'm going to puke. I'd love to see a little more style these days and a little less facile manipulativeness.

Way off-topic.