trying to achieve kodachrome look digitally

[Georg Weiss]

Dear community, 

hope this is the right forum to post this. ?

I just started the very early pre-production process for a feature film I am about to shoot next year. The film is set in the 1970s/1980s and the director would love to have a kind of kodachromish look to it, not modern at all. Unfortunately shooting analog is not an option, I´ve already talked to the production company about it, no chance.. that´s making things difficult for me. ?

So I want to start testing lenses, filters, color grading and cameras quite early to see what I can come up with digitally. As I have never tried to achieve a kind of analog look with a digital camera, I wanted to ask you guys for your experiences and also for advices on things I could consider for the tests. 

Attached you can find some pictures, that get the feel quite well. I am looking for a soft image, looking like less “resolution”, with quite some grain to it. I´ve also noticed cool shadows and warmer midtones and highlights.

I am thankful for any kind of help, thank you very much in advance!

All the best,

Georg

 

[Guy mastrion]

Hi Georg, Congratulations on your project. I’ll share a few thoughts.  You may have already moved past this decision: before selecting a camera, etc, consider the story itself and the budget to create that story. For instance, it is easy to gravitate to an Arri or Red camera but do you have the budget, not just for the camera but to support the camera throughout your film? Is it an action film? Will you be moving the camera a lot? Can you afford all the needed support to effectively move the camera? Are you delivering for TV, theatre release? Web? All of the above? Does the budget support a heavy data and post production work environment? 

Breaking down the script and identifying all the requirements of the story, having budget parameters will make it much easier to begin making choices. Even if all of your research is going to help define the budget it is best to start with a full understanding of the entire story and the directors approach and what the producer is feeling. Meaningful conversation is critical.

The aspect ratio, vintage lenses…perhaps (can the budget support them?), LUT selection/creation, etc are all in support of what the director is trying to achieve in their  telling of the story.

The sample images are beautiful and you will achieve something very close to this look and it can be done with a variety of tools/cameras, lenses, LUTS, lighting, production design, crew selection…. once you understand what the entire story requires and the budget will support.

It is easy to burn a lot of your personal time doing research and defining a package only to be told the budget will not support those choices. The right approach and conversations are collaborative.

If you have not already done so, check out ShotDeck. It’s a great resource that can help you build an understanding of choices others have made to achieve similar looks and can be helpful informing your conversations and decisions.

Forgive me if this seems elemental, just trying to be helpful. Congratulations once again on your project. It will be a lot of fun.

 

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

I do know that you used to be able to buy Kodachrome calibration targets. Basically a colour chart shot on Kodachrome film used to calibrate scanners.

Silverfast used to sell them but they obviously can't make new ones:

https://www.silverfast.com/show/kodachrome-targets/en.html

I am also certain that someone, somewhere, shot their own colour charts for their own reasons. The trick is to use the same chart on your digital camera to make a LUT. That should be straightforward enough. Even 90% accuracy would be a win. 

Worth noting is that those old Kodachrome slides derive their look partly from the lenses of the time - which no doubt will be helpful, at least in theory. In practice, maybe not so much.

[Austin Warren]

https://frankglencairn.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/everything-looks-better-on-kodachrome-k-tone-lut/

Here's a LUT that was developed that can be toyed with for desired results. 

The best way to get the rich colors found in these older vintage photos is to make sure your subjects are well lit. Notice that all these photos were taken outside with plenty of sunlight. So I would recommend planning for an ample lighting budget that doesn't just depend on practical interior lights that won't be nearly bright enough.