The New Movie "300" and HD100 at DVinfo.net

Brian Duke · February 22nd, 2007, 03:50 AM

Has anyone seen the trailor for the new movie "300" and what look is it they use? Is it possible to get it on the HD100? Anyone has some ideas. Love the way it looks. Maybe its all done in post.

Brian Luce · February 22nd, 2007, 03:55 AM

Much of "300" is blue screen work. That's how they get those crazy skylines and hyper reality atmosphere.

Brian Duke · February 22nd, 2007, 04:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

Much of "300" is blue screen work. That's how they get those crazy skylines and hyper reality atmosphere.

That's what I figured. So there is really no way to get soem of those colors in the HD100?

Jason Nolte · February 22nd, 2007, 11:01 AM

I'm sure those shots were color-timed (correction in post) like you wouldn't believe. In addition, they shot on film, which has much wider latitude, and probably used different developing processes, like a bleach process.

Check out the on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_(film)

Jack Walker · February 22nd, 2007, 11:30 AM

The look of the film was given to it by a color balance process called "The Crush." There is a little info about it here on the bottom of page 4 in this "Production Notes" pdf:
http://300themovie.warnerbros.com/me...prod_notes.pdf

There is more information about how the film was shot and the kind of processing involved in the imdb.com trivia about the film:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/trivia

I would think that by using a cinegamma gamma curve and capturing the fullest range of colors possible with the HD100/110/200/250 (something like Paolo's True Color V3?), then going to uncompressed in the editor and using the right processing tools you could get a similar look to "The Crush." If you were on a stage, you could take the uncompressed right off the camera. If you're final output was HiDef TV from a DVD I think a similar look is possible.

Craig Parkes · February 22nd, 2007, 01:33 PM

I'm pretty sure with enough postwork you could get that look from footage captured from a HD100 series camera.

What you WOULD have to do though, is plan your shots meticulously, because without the latitude of film you would need to shoot close enough to the end colours you want to achieve the look you need.

To get close to the 300 look you would probably need a different scene file for almost every shot, and a VERY good DOP, and a VERY good green screen set up, and a VERY good colourist on high end gear.

The thing is, apart from the different scen file for almost shot, 300 undoubtedly needed all of the above anyway. And even then they may have used different stocks for different shots, which is a similiar thing.

I have produced a short shot on DV with the DSR300 series cameras and then went through and done a colour grade and have had uninformed people assuming we shot in HiDef/16mm because they didn't expect DV to look like that.

One of the major things about DV projects is not that DV has a certain look, rather that most DV projects are done on the cheap and the entire workflow isn't followed through to a proper professional colour grade and they are not shot with a colour grade in mind.

The same will undoubtedly be true of HDV projects from people out of film schools etc, they will have a branded 'look' to them because people just shoot on the format and will less often than not do a full colour grade in post, and then complain about the look of HDV.

With film this isn't as often an issue, because you HAVE to grade film to a certain look, it's part and parcel of the processing cost (even if you don't do a DI just regular colourtiming will be part of your decision making in post) and once you got to the expense of shooting on film you want your footage to look right when it comes back from the lab.

February 22nd, 2007, 03:50 AM	#1
Brian Duke Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hollywood, California Posts: 899	The New Movie "300" and HD100 Has anyone seen the trailor for the new movie "300" and what look is it they use? Is it possible to get it on the HD100? Anyone has some ideas. Love the way it looks. Maybe its all done in post. __________________ Visit me and my work at www.artofduke.com

February 22nd, 2007, 03:55 AM	#2
Brian Luce Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,290	Much of "300" is blue screen work. That's how they get those crazy skylines and hyper reality atmosphere.

February 22nd, 2007, 11:01 AM	#4
Jason Nolte Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 29	I'm sure those shots were color-timed (correction in post) like you wouldn't believe. In addition, they shot on film, which has much wider latitude, and probably used different developing processes, like a bleach process. Check out the on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_(film)

February 22nd, 2007, 11:30 AM	#5
Jack Walker Trustee Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Burbank Posts: 1,811	The look of the film was given to it by a color balance process called "The Crush." There is a little info about it here on the bottom of page 4 in this "Production Notes" pdf: http://300themovie.warnerbros.com/me...prod_notes.pdf There is more information about how the film was shot and the kind of processing involved in the imdb.com trivia about the film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/trivia I would think that by using a cinegamma gamma curve and capturing the fullest range of colors possible with the HD100/110/200/250 (something like Paolo's True Color V3?), then going to uncompressed in the editor and using the right processing tools you could get a similar look to "The Crush." If you were on a stage, you could take the uncompressed right off the camera. If you're final output was HiDef TV from a DVD I think a similar look is possible.

February 22nd, 2007, 01:33 PM	#6
Craig Parkes Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 444	I'm pretty sure with enough postwork you could get that look from footage captured from a HD100 series camera. What you WOULD have to do though, is plan your shots meticulously, because without the latitude of film you would need to shoot close enough to the end colours you want to achieve the look you need. To get close to the 300 look you would probably need a different scene file for almost every shot, and a VERY good DOP, and a VERY good green screen set up, and a VERY good colourist on high end gear. The thing is, apart from the different scen file for almost shot, 300 undoubtedly needed all of the above anyway. And even then they may have used different stocks for different shots, which is a similiar thing. I have produced a short shot on DV with the DSR300 series cameras and then went through and done a colour grade and have had uninformed people assuming we shot in HiDef/16mm because they didn't expect DV to look like that. One of the major things about DV projects is not that DV has a certain look, rather that most DV projects are done on the cheap and the entire workflow isn't followed through to a proper professional colour grade and they are not shot with a colour grade in mind. The same will undoubtedly be true of HDV projects from people out of film schools etc, they will have a branded 'look' to them because people just shoot on the format and will less often than not do a full colour grade in post, and then complain about the look of HDV. With film this isn't as often an issue, because you HAVE to grade film to a certain look, it's part and parcel of the processing cost (even if you don't do a DI just regular colourtiming will be part of your decision making in post) and once you got to the expense of shooting on film you want your footage to look right when it comes back from the lab.