Film look in Vegas?

Zon wrote on 2/8/2005, 9:13 AM
Hi guys,

I'm considering the PD-170's for wedding and event videography. I'd also like to work on some short film projects, but the camera doesn't support 24p.

How would one go about achieving this look with a PD170? I've read that you're better off recording in highest quality mode and doing the 24p in the editor. Is that just a matter of rendering your finished project to 24p?

Also, if you get Vegas + DVD, do you still get the Magic Bullet Movie Look bonus software, and is there a list somewhere of what effects you actually get with that?

Thanks,
Zon

Comments

filmy wrote on 2/8/2005, 9:45 AM
Do a search for "film look" and/or "magic Bullet". The topic has been covered many times in more detail than what I am about to say.

>>>How would one go about achieving this look with a PD170?<<<

Spot did an excellant tutorail on film look with Vegas. JetDV write a script based on that. I created some sample "film looks" using default filters in Vegas. All of this is free. Do a search for the tutorial - I don't have the link right in front of me. (Note - I don't have Vegas 5 so the Film look for Vegas installs for vegas 4. You can use the Vegas 5 Script for the actual script, but without my looks. What you would do is download both packages above and in the in the "RC3_VegasFilmLooks.exe" just choose the option to install the looks. As far as I know this works for Vegas 5, people have told me it does)

>>>Is that just a matter of rendering your finished project to 24p?<<<

yes and no. Again do a search for various methods. Spot, for example, recomends you pull the footage you want to use do a cuts only version and render that - than do your final version adding all the effects and what not. Part of the reason is that Vegas will handle 24p nativly for fades and dissolves so it is better to do it with footage already at 24p. You can also check out DvFilm as they have various suggestions for shooting - but keep in mind they are also going off of video footage that will be transfered over to film. Still good to know however.

>>>do you still get the Magic Bullet Movie Look bonus software, and is there a list somewhere of what effects you actually get with that?<<<

Yes, the MB movie looks are downloadable - and they also work with Vegas 4. Just go to the download page. You can go to the RedGiant site for more details on looks - but keep in mind you only get a few of the "55 looks" mentioned and can download 8 more when you register - but you can not create any looks are really tweak out the looks with the "free" version.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/8/2005, 9:51 AM
The process of getting video to look like film in Vegas is documented in this article: Creating a Film-Like Appearance in Sony Vegas 4.0 by Douglas Spotted Eagle. Because the procedure can be quite tedious and because its nice to have a set of “film looks” you can apply, Douglas and I created a script plug-in for Vegas 4 and 5 called Celluloid that will do all this for you in one click. Celluloid comes with 15 film looks to start with. You can download a fully functioning trial. We also have a plug-in called Ultimate S that has the same capability plus a whole lot more (55 functions in all).

It is important to render just your 60i video as 24p at the START of your project and then change your project settings to 24p and bring the footage back in BEFORE you start editing. This is to ensure that Vegas creates all the generated media and transitions, etc at 24p. You will get a better look than rendering the whole project out to 24p at the end and having everything converted. (why convert when you can work in 24p natively in Vegas)

Yes, Magic Bullet does come with Vegas 5 along with 15 film looks but they take hours and hours to render. We created Celluloid using native Vegas plug-ins that render much faster and because they are native, this allow you to further tweak them to your liking. You could, of course, do it all manually. The scripts are only there to help speed up the process.

~jr
FuTz wrote on 2/8/2005, 10:21 AM
When you say "60i", it probably means 60 interlaced fields? Is it the NTSC standard speed (29,97)? Or a "mathematical" conversion of 30fps ?
And when you say "convert to 24p", you mean applying the pulldown in Vegas (2-3-3-2) with progressive scan in Fields or getting in Prefs and setting it to 24 (film) even if shot at 29,97?
logiquem wrote on 2/8/2005, 10:24 AM
If film look is of some importance for you, why not try the DVX100A?

Maybe you can approximate or give a film look to interlaced video (with all the post prod and processing work it requires), but it will never has the look and vertical resolution true progressive video has (be it 24P or 30P).

FuTz wrote on 2/8/2005, 10:27 AM

Right now, I really don't have the dough to buy the Panasonic...
JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/8/2005, 12:40 PM
Yes, by 60i I mean 59.94 interlaced fields which is approx. 30 frames (i.e., 29.97 NTSC). By converting to 24p I mean rendering 24p inserting 2-3 pulldown, progressive scan, blend fields. I assume the final format is 24p MPEG on DVD and not going back to 60i tape. (you could go back to 24p tape but he doesn’t have a 24p camera)

~jr
FuTz wrote on 2/8/2005, 7:48 PM
Thanks jr, now it's clear... and settled. : )

And if I want ot go PTT in NTSC now ; I'll mess it all up...Will I have to use the pulldown at this last step?
I'll probably put the stuff on DVD but, still, I'd like to know about the best solution to bring back to tape?