Best video 'film look' sample

Eric Brown · June 5th, 2006, 07:06 PM

Were talking about XL2 footage here, not his subject matter and since I don't know the man I'll decline to comment directly.

Sean J. Manning · June 16th, 2006, 01:14 PM

hahahaha, i never would have guessed a 62 year old guy would have had the idea to make a romeo/juliet teen skateboard movie involving off limit 16 year old white girls.

Yasser Kassana · June 21st, 2006, 05:45 AM

Anything by Macgregor meets the 'film look'. Check his movie Similo, shot on dvx.

Riley Harmon · June 21st, 2006, 09:56 AM

stock vx2000 www.rileyharmon.com/temp/sky_replacement.mov

Don Donatello · June 21st, 2006, 01:09 PM

the best looking i've seen :

The Fast Runner ..shot on NTSC digibeta
http://atanarjuat.com/index1.html

The King is Alive ..shot in PAL either on sony 900 or 1000
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movie...ml?v_id=201766

Marcus Marchesseault · June 22nd, 2006, 04:09 AM

Riley, tell us how you did the sky replacement! I demand an explanation! :) I like the look overall. I think the ability to properly expose the foreground without worrying about the sky really would help video tremendously. The only place there was an obvious problem was the cowboy hat. It is too transparent as it passes by the sky.

Don, I really like the look of The King is Alive. I think it had me fooled. Atanarjuat looks good, but it is not a big deal to let a white background blow out since it doesn't have much detail anyway. This disguised the highlights which gives away the source being video. I bet they saved a bunch of money on the cost of reflectors with all that snow around! They also seemed to take advantage of "golden hour" quite a bit which helped tremendously. Of course, that far north there is golden hour for quite a long time in the summer. :)

Both of these movies illustrate how important proper exposure is with video. The lack of exposure latitude is video's biggest flaw, but the cinematographer can compensate by careful choice of lighting situations.

Tim Johnson · June 22nd, 2006, 10:33 AM

riley is it HDR or exposure blending? or is the sky computer generated?

Glenn Chan · June 22nd, 2006, 09:27 PM

Riley, how did you have leaves in front of the sky? (at the very beginning of that clip)

Knowing what I know, leaves like that would be a huge PITA.

2- Would you have a before/after clip?

Riley Harmon · June 22nd, 2006, 10:20 PM

refresh the link, i have a before and after now

oh oh its magic, you know

Rob Gregory-Browne · June 23rd, 2006, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glenn Chan

Riley, how did you have leaves in front of the sky? (at the very beginning of that clip)

Knowing what I know, leaves like that would be a huge PITA.

2- Would you have a before/after clip?

Since Riley seems to dislike sharing his secrets, I'd venture a guess and say that the plants at the beginning of the clip are an overlay added after the fact. It's a nice touch to add realism to the shot.

Riley Harmon · June 23rd, 2006, 12:15 AM

nope, they be real, ill upload raw, no hdr just good knowledge of CC, www.rileyharmon.com/temp/raw.mov

compositer/vfx/animator/consultant/etc/jack of all trades dsfajdsfjsd for hire :-)

Rob Gregory-Browne · June 23rd, 2006, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riley Harmon

nope, they be real, ill upload raw, no hdr just good knowledge of CC, www.rileyharmon.com/temp/raw.mov

compositer/vfx/animator/consultant/etc/jack of all trades dsfajdsfjsd for hire :-)

Well, then, since this is SUPPOSED to be a board about sharing ideas and methods (at least that's the way I've always understood it), why not spill?

Riley Harmon · June 23rd, 2006, 12:50 AM

i will tomorrow, so tired right now to type up ;-) night night

Tim Johnson · June 23rd, 2006, 02:39 PM

theres only a couple of things it can be:

hdr, shadow/highlight adjustment, an ndgrad filter or some kind of mask for brightening up the lower area (judging by rileys like of artificial dof, im gonna go with this one).

Riley Harmon · June 23rd, 2006, 02:47 PM

first, i took the original footage, converted to bw and did a level adjustment to make it pure black and white, since the sky has the highest luminance values, it became white and the rest black, so It became quick high quality matte, i then used that as a luma track matte, i used several duplicate copies of layers to soften up some edges with different gaussian blurs and blending modes, i also had to use a couple duplicate layers of the raw footage to get those leaves in, i used some feathered bezier masks as garbage masks on a few layers, match move tracking to get the sky to move with camera, final levels adjustment over all layers with levels and magic bullet with a sky lens gradient

the actual sky is a high rez image

im working on a shot with the same lake putting a harbor in, this is all for a historical docudrama im working on

June 22nd, 2006, 10:33 AM	#22
Tim Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: May 2006 Location: London, England Posts: 101	riley is it HDR or exposure blending? or is the sky computer generated? __________________ (Wishes to be more informative and helpful than a nuisance)

June 23rd, 2006, 02:39 PM	#29
Tim Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: May 2006 Location: London, England Posts: 101	theres only a couple of things it can be: hdr, shadow/highlight adjustment, an ndgrad filter or some kind of mask for brightening up the lower area (judging by rileys like of artificial dof, im gonna go with this one). __________________ (Wishes to be more informative and helpful than a nuisance)

June 5th, 2006, 07:06 PM	#16
Eric Brown Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Seattle Posts: 427	Were talking about XL2 footage here, not his subject matter and since I don't know the man I'll decline to comment directly.

June 16th, 2006, 01:14 PM	#17
Sean J. Manning Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Bangkok Thailand Posts: 35	hahahaha, i never would have guessed a 62 year old guy would have had the idea to make a romeo/juliet teen skateboard movie involving off limit 16 year old white girls.

June 21st, 2006, 05:45 AM	#18
Yasser Kassana Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: UK Posts: 223	Anything by Macgregor meets the 'film look'. Check his movie Similo, shot on dvx.

June 21st, 2006, 09:56 AM	#19
Riley Harmon Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 424	stock vx2000 www.rileyharmon.com/temp/sky_replacement.mov

June 21st, 2006, 01:09 PM	#20
Don Donatello Hawaiian Shirt Mogul Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: northern cailfornia Posts: 1,261	the best looking i've seen : The Fast Runner ..shot on NTSC digibeta http://atanarjuat.com/index1.html The King is Alive ..shot in PAL either on sony 900 or 1000 http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movie...ml?v_id=201766

June 22nd, 2006, 04:09 AM	#21
Marcus Marchesseault Trustee Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 1,961	Riley, tell us how you did the sky replacement! I demand an explanation! :) I like the look overall. I think the ability to properly expose the foreground without worrying about the sky really would help video tremendously. The only place there was an obvious problem was the cowboy hat. It is too transparent as it passes by the sky. Don, I really like the look of The King is Alive. I think it had me fooled. Atanarjuat looks good, but it is not a big deal to let a white background blow out since it doesn't have much detail anyway. This disguised the highlights which gives away the source being video. I bet they saved a bunch of money on the cost of reflectors with all that snow around! They also seemed to take advantage of "golden hour" quite a bit which helped tremendously. Of course, that far north there is golden hour for quite a long time in the summer. :) Both of these movies illustrate how important proper exposure is with video. The lack of exposure latitude is video's biggest flaw, but the cinematographer can compensate by careful choice of lighting situations.

June 22nd, 2006, 09:27 PM	#23
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	Riley, how did you have leaves in front of the sky? (at the very beginning of that clip) Knowing what I know, leaves like that would be a huge PITA. 2- Would you have a before/after clip?

June 22nd, 2006, 10:20 PM	#24
Riley Harmon Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 424	refresh the link, i have a before and after now oh oh its magic, you know

June 23rd, 2006, 12:15 AM	#26
Riley Harmon Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 424	nope, they be real, ill upload raw, no hdr just good knowledge of CC, www.rileyharmon.com/temp/raw.mov compositer/vfx/animator/consultant/etc/jack of all trades dsfajdsfjsd for hire :-)

June 23rd, 2006, 12:50 AM	#28
Riley Harmon Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 424	i will tomorrow, so tired right now to type up ;-) night night

June 23rd, 2006, 02:47 PM	#30
Riley Harmon Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 424	first, i took the original footage, converted to bw and did a level adjustment to make it pure black and white, since the sky has the highest luminance values, it became white and the rest black, so It became quick high quality matte, i then used that as a luma track matte, i used several duplicate copies of layers to soften up some edges with different gaussian blurs and blending modes, i also had to use a couple duplicate layers of the raw footage to get those leaves in, i used some feathered bezier masks as garbage masks on a few layers, match move tracking to get the sky to move with camera, final levels adjustment over all layers with levels and magic bullet with a sky lens gradient the actual sky is a high rez image im working on a shot with the same lake putting a harbor in, this is all for a historical docudrama im working on