Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

Before attaining the “film” one has to understand its history a little bit. If you look back at the first few Film Study notes, I made a mention about the Lumiere Brothers, the first video filmmakers. Before sound was added to film, video used to be 16 frames a second. Once sound came along, 24 frames a second was the slowest possible speed to which sound could be recorded.

In professional movie production they use 35mm motion picture cameras and they capture photos at 24 progressive frames a second. This is where the term “24p” comes from. Digital filmmakers try hard to attain the look of 24p because it gives a “otherworldly” look. It doesn’t have as they say, “the sharp motion of daily life”.

The way I see it, people associate 24p as being professional due to it being on the big screen, while anything smoother than 24p such as 30p, 50i, 60i (”i” means interlaced while “p” means progressive) as being armature since home video has the smoother videos. — Understand that making your video look professional doesn’t only depend on your frame rate being 24p.

While reading HDV: What You NEED to Know”, I got some interesting tips regarding making professional videos. These are the following things major motion pictures have that amateur films don’t:

• Big budgets
• Shots are setup with great attention
• Proper lighting, camera angles, camera motion, depth of field
• widescreen format

Know WHY you want to get 24p. If your ultimate goal is to deliver the video on actual film, then convert it to 24p. Your best bet is to shoot in film rather than digital to attain the best 24p picture. If you don’t have the budget to do it in production, then you will have to spend time in post production.

Getting the “Film-Look”

Production stage:

• Record on film
• Tightly stretch a piece of nylon pantyhose over the lens to get a film-like diffusion.
• Shooting at a shutter of 1/30, 1/50, or 1/60, will go a long way. The goal is getting a shutter as close to 1/48.
• Obtain a shallow depth of field. This is done via good lens. Do your best to use the type of lens used on 35mm motion picture cameras. Redrock Micro has some good cinema rigs for purchase.
• Light the scene dramatically. Learn the 3-point lighting scheme. Check out glamour photography books. Examine movies and shows on how they light the scene.

• Learn how to properly hold the camera. Avoid whip pans, and zooms. Use cranes, dollies, or other devices to move the camera, and not the lens.

Post-production stage:

• Use plugins such as Magic Bullet or those provided at Digital Film Tools.
• Use programs such as Adobe After Effects Tutorials to apply some filters and effects

Results

What does digital film that is shot using a professional work flow look like? A short film I recently saw had some of the best footage I’ve ever seen. This short film was made by Amilcar Machado of Argentina with a Sony HVR-Z1U, a Redrock Micro M2 kit, and Nikon Lens. The film is titled Quiroga.