how do i make my film look like video?

[Jason Bagby]

sounds like a dumb question huh? why does everyone buy a videocamera and then want to make it look like a film camera?
why didn't you buy a film camera?
have you ever thought maybe you are all so trained by hollywood that you can't associate video with anything other than COPS or a school play?
do you have a burning desire to have your image literally fall apart when you start to pan?
is video too sharp?
too crisp?
why do so many threads ask 'how do i make my video look like film'
and so few ask, "how do i make my video look GOOD"

your piece starts with image acquisition,
if you look at a film shoot, detail is always paid to lighting, camera movement, color etc. . .
if you want your video to look like film, in 'as good as film'
start out right and pay attention to the important factors.
if you just start rolling with your xl1 (because tape is cheap!)
you can easily spend enough money fixing it in post (not including the sepia tone plugins, the scratch and wire plugins, the gate weave compensation and grain generator plugins- for that real 'film look' that your cost will easily rival that of film to start with.

lets paradigm shift and recognize video for its advantages over film, and wrestle some control away from hollywood.
I have a dream that i can take a finished dv tape to my local amc theatre and say, 'can you put this in?'

[Martin Munthe]

Since film can look so different I suppose most people asking the question has seen something in particular shot on film that they wan't to replicate (or get close to) on video.

I recently replicated the ENR process with great success on footage shot on progressive SD. The work of Darjus Khondji being the inspiration. Why limit myself if it can be done? Video is soo much cheaper and provide on set control you can never get shooting film.

No one should ever try to mimic film by adding gate weave, grain or scratches. It's a very amateurish method I think is gradually going away. The thing with video is to realize that it takes as much work to get it to look good. We always CC film. Very seldom do we CC video the way we do film. Of course it's not going to look as good.

With an equal amount of effort put into video - video is going to look better than film. This comes down to shooting and posting like a pro. It takes knowledge.

[Jason Bagby]

EXACTLY!
in a recent thread someone defined film as 'a story told with light',
and someone else said structure was very important.
but pieces like "i do not know what it is i am like"
or "blue"
or "passion over reason" have very different elements and are very good in their own right.
keep pushing the limits, not the limitations.

[Rob Lohman]

I totally agree Martin! Here here.