I like grain. Photochemical film grain, that is, not digital noise. Maybe it's just because I'm used to seeing grain on 100 years of film-originated material, but even one of the best-looking digitally-shot films in history -- [easyazon-link asin="B001U0HBQ0"]The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button[/easyazon-link] -- added grain in post. So if you're trying to give your digital footage an analog aesthetic by adding grain, you can do it by using any number of filters (I like Magic Bullet's grain filter, because it includes highlight suppression options), or you can go buy a boatload of actual film scans and composite them on top of your footage, which is what the new CineGrain collection offers:
I'm guessing this will be overkill for most people, but if you're looking for a genuine aged film look that's not simply a digital simulation but is actual aged film, CineGrain is designed to appeal to you. The CineGrain site is a bit confusing -- there's no "store" -- but from what I can tell if you have a budget of less than $50k you qualify as an "indie" and can download 50 clips for $299, or 100 clips for $499 on the indie page. As this clip shows, they went and actually shot footage with a variety of film cameras and then scanned it in at 2K:
The feature list:
- Turn Digital into Film
- Using REAL Film Scans
- Add Any Major Film Stock to Your Footage
- Filmed With 35mm, 16mm, And Super 8 Cameras
- Works With Editing, Visual Effects, And Coloring Systems
- Hundreds Of Film Clips Organized Into 8 Categories
- For Use Over Any Digital Content
- Resolutions up to 4K
- Flash Frames, Light Leaks, Lens Flares, Roll Outs, Dirt & Scratches, Head & Tail Leader, Bad Registration, Hand-Crank, Full Gate With Keycode, And Many More Film Artifacts
- Colored And Transfered Specifically For Composite Mode “Overlay”
- The Highest Quality Film Look and Grain Solution Available
As for how to apply these clips to footage, there are a number of overlay/blending techniques:
As I said, overkill for most people, but nice to know it's there if you have a project that relies heavily on an "aged film" look -- but can't or don't want to actually shoot on film.
Link: CineGrain
[via planet5D]
