You've filmed on the latest and greatest digital camera. You've edited in the latest version of Adobe Premier, running on your state of the art PC system. Quality doesn't get much better than this. Or does it? You've never had it so good, yet your "film" doesn't quite have that edge. That edge is the holy grail of digital video: the film look.
There's many reasons why your crisp, clean, digital video "film" doesn't quite match that movie. MiniDV camcorders shoot crisp digital video with no artifacts at 25fps (PAL) or 30fps (NTSC) in interlaced frames. Film stock has a certain grain, with cameras shooting 24 frames progressive (full) frames per second. Whilst Progressive scan modes and grain effects on "prosumer" DV cameras (the famous 24p/25p modes of the latest DV cameras from panasonic and Canon) offer a step towards the effect, this is by no means the solution: it's lighting and filters that can turn digital into celluloid.
UK readers won't be strangers to colour grading effects. Used effectively by Top Gear and other UK shows, post production colour grading gives a consistent look to digital video, providing a distinctive look to a variety of shots without relying on lighting conditions. Top Gear for example tend to add add a colour gradient to all their features. It's also a great way of emulating the green look of the Matrix world, the blues of Payback, or just about any look from washed out to punchy.
Although colour grading is possible in just about any mid level Non Linear Editor (simply open up the colour correction tools), achieving a consistent desired effect can be complex and time consuming. Magic Bullet for editors takes this fuss out of film effect. Shipping with over 40 film emulation presets, achieving your favourite film look is as easy as dropping an effect on to the time line. And if colour grading isn't enough of a film look, simply add a variety of "degradation effects" to give digital video a worn in feel.
Coming as a plugin for Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Vegas and AVid, it's an affordable and easy solution to getting that distinctive look you've been looking for. We take at look at the Premiere Pro version to see if it's the holy grail you've been looking for.
