Okay, this is the fun stuff...making that $5 tape look like 1000's of dollars of film. Once you shoot your video, and you are ready to filmlook it, you'll need to take it to a service bureau, or use a program like Cinelook to make your footage look like film.

Here are some general tips to help in your quest to make video look more like film when these processes are performed.

1. LIGHTING, LIGHTING, LIGHTING. Nothing is more important. Don't think that just because you can use available light with digital video, that will lead to the best possible film-look. However, you don't necessarily need huge lighting kits, either. Get yourself a light meter, and use the lights you have to get your image to around a 5.6 f. stop. DV Cameras tend to have their "sweet spot" at around a 5.6.

Also, don't be afraid to light like film! Think film! Think shadows and depth. Filmlook means light, shoot, and act like your project is being shot on film. While it's true that you can't have as much of a range of lights and darks with video as you can with film, you can definitely have enough variation to create shadows and depth. A good lighting ratio to stick to is about 3:1 (you're brightest object in the scene is about three times as bright as the darkest object you want seen clearly.)

2. PLAN YOUR COLOR SCHEME WELL! Please, no more scenes of actors standing in front of plain, white walls (okay, we made this mistake too, we just don't like to admit it.) Color plays such an important role in how professional your final product looks, as well as how it filmlooks. That is not to say that everything has to look like a cartoon. Sure, the television show CLUELESS uses bright colors and great color schemes, but the X-FILES, a seemingly much less colorful show, has color schemes just as carefully planned out. Choose all your colors to give an over all feeling (or lack of feeling) to the scene and your movie, and you'll be well on your way to having a project that looks like it has a much bigger budget, as well as one that filmlooks really well.

3. CAREFUL WITH THOSE CAMERA MOVEMENTS. Fast pans, and very jerky hand-held shots, tend to give that funny, tell-tale strobing effect of poorly filmlooked video. This is not to say you can't have these type of shots at all, but be aware that they do not filmlook as well as other types of shots.

4. NEVER USE THE GAIN SETTING! Sure, it's tempting when you don't have a lot of lights to pump up the gain on the camera. Well guess what? It looks lousy filmlooked. Resist the temptation, and turn on some more lights, house lamps if you have to!

Now, BEFORE YOU SHOOT--you need to make some very important decisions.

* A. Is this project going to stay on video and NEVER be blown up to film, or

* B. Is there a chance this project WILL be blown up to film.

In the case of A:

It's not a bad idea to use techniques to "soften" the look of the video. For instance, Tiffen makes the PRO MIST filter series, which will give a very slight to heavy "frosting" or "softening" effect that makes it much easier to achieve a film look. People have also been known to use (though many recommend against it) a thin piece of nylon pulled over the lens to give a similar softening effect. YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS IF YOU ARE BLOWING UP TO FILM!!! If blowing up to film, always get the cleanest, most unaffected picture possible. The folks at the blow-up place will add all the effects you need for a blow up.

If you do decide to blow up to film, you also DO NOT want to filmlook the video you give to the blow up people. You'll need to have a master copy of your movie that is not film-looked or affected in any way. Always talk to the people you plan to blow up your video with ahead of time to find out what will help them to do the best possible work.

When you do talk to them, you might want to ask about FRAME MOVIE MODE. If shooting on the Canon XL1 this mode goes a long way towards making video look like film already. Instead of capturing 60 fields per second, as standard video does, it captures 30 full frames per second, and has a very nice, smooth look to it. Depending on where you do you filmlook or blow up, this mode can either help of hinder you in the long run, so make sure you ask ahead of time.

In the end, remember the old computer adage: GIGO--that stands for garbage in, garbage out. If you just shoot with reckless abandon and no regard for picture quality whatsoever, you won't be able to get a great filmlook. On the other hand, with a little planning and sticking to these basics, you'll be well on your way to having a great movie that looks like it was shot on film.

To learn even more about film-look, Check out this info about our VIDEO.