hot lo get that vintage 60's look???

[David Lucio]

I'm shooting a music video and we want that 60's vintage look like in the videos of bands such as the Beatles in the late 60's early 70's. Its basically kind of soft, down color. We are shooting with a panasonic HVX200, post with Final Cut Pro and Color.

 

I want to know hot to shoot it, what effects I can add in Final cut or even with Color.

 

Thank you

[David Lucio]

could somone please help me with this topic? I have to shoot a video like this soon and I have no idea how to shoot for this vintage look. I'm going to shoot with a Panasonic HVX-200

[Chris Keth]

It's not soft nor is the color desaturated. I don't know where you got that idea. The first one is nice and sharp and has very vivid color. The second one has pretty naturalistic color and is only soft from terrible web compression. The best way, in my opinion, to look like a 60s film is to light it like a 60s film.

[Kip Kubin]

Are you shooting with a 35mm adapter or stock lens.

 

With an adapter, using an older Cooke lens or Angeneux might get you close in camera... I have a set of speed panchros that work well for this.

 

If you using the stock lens than it will be in color correction.

 

One trick I use is to import the frame you want to emulate plop it in your timeline and use FCP's 3 CC plug in using the "match hue" feature. You could easily match the whites and probably be close to tweaking the footage the rest of the way.

 

Looks like a pola was used on the exterior to make the sky pop and control any reflections in the pavement.

 

Hope that helps you.

[Tom Jensen]

The photo on the left was probably shot on reversal.

[Matt Read]

You're really just going to have to play around in Color until you find a look that you like. Find lots of examples of the look you want so you have many references in different types of situations. Then study them and try to find out what makes them look the way they do. You might also consider shooting some tests with the HVX and comparing the results to your examples and see what makes them different and what makes them the same. Look at contrast, latitude, color saturation, etc. If possible try to recreate one of your example images on the HVX and then import the original and your version into Color and compare their histogram, waveform and vectorscope readings.

 

Here's a starting point: The whites in both images are a little warm and the blues have a slight yellowish-green hue. It's not apparent in these shots, but older films often had slightly magenta blacks. Also, try to limit your contrast levels. Let the blacks be a little washed out and the whites not fully blown out. Another thing you'll want to do is subtly add some grain to the image, as the footage you get from the HVX (if you shoot right) shouldn't have any grain or noise.

[Fred Neilsen]

But remember that production design will play a huge part in selling the illusion of the 60s, do a lot of period research.

[Bruce Taylor]

The photo on the left was probably shot on reversal.

 

Yes, there is so much when you really start when you start thinking about it. Reversal films ('chromes) were the norm in high end still work. Most 16mm was shot reversal. They tended to be fairly high contrast, had little latitude and Kodak film gave a boost to red/orange and blues.

 

Film was slow too, a lot of light was needed and you can see it in the lighting style. Camera movement was limited as the equipment was large and heavy. Documentary footage was often soft as they shot with high speed large grain film and the new zoom lenses that were often not sharp. They used zoom shots a lot. Staged work was sharp, MF and 4x5 cameras (still) and 35mm (mopic) were the norm.

 

Also, analog reproduction meant the final product was a few generations away from the original, adding contrast and further saturating colors and adding grain. Study the colors of the time, their intensity and contrast, how they were used. Set design/color is going to be a big part of getting the look.

 

Have fun!

 

Bruce Taylor

www.indi35.com

[Adrian Sierkowski]

If you want it to look like the 60s, then you have to make it look like the 60s, as mentioned, by production design. Without that, then there isn't much you can do. A white wall will look like a white wall, but a wood paneled wall and shag carpeting will look like the 60s..

Look at the clothes they are wearing, the colors and textures, and cuts and hair cuts etc. Get that stuff right and then worry about all the wonderful tools of post to massage it to a final look.

[Erik Turestedt]

Of course the best way is to shoot film.

 

I would shoot reversal, or shoot normal but overexpose it several stops, and take it down in post. This way you loose much of the "modern" color detail of the neg. And the contrasts look more suitable.

 

But maybe film isn't an option.

 

Then there's another "Bad" idea...

 

I like to do this personally, and I did in a number of projects;

 

Shot something on video or film, then grade it, and in the end play it on an TFT monitor and record it on film or video. Preferably film of course.

 

It sounds stupid, but you get very strange gamma, contrasts and color by doing so. And somehow, you loose the pixel to pixel feeling. The material looks more organic, and much of the "synthetic" feeling dissapears.

[Paul Korver]

Hi David,

Honestly it's going to be tough getting that look with and HVX. I too, love that look and would recommend reversal film. Shoot Super 16mm 7285 Ektachrome and you'll be in the ballpark. Or can shoot neg and have your lab make a print of it prior to telecine which gives it a more reversal-ly feel. That's the process that was done on on of my favorite modern commercial spots made to look 60's by a very talented colorist named Jean-Clement Soret out of London:

 

http://www.moving-picture.com/index.php/co...21814&num=1

 

Shot 35mm neg, with incredible period styling, process and print the neg... then do telecine from the positive print. An incredible recreation of the 1960's French Riviera glamor period (brigitte bardot, grace kelley, etc etc.).

 

Good luck! Post the results when you're done.

 

Best,

 

Paul

[Chris Burke]

Hi David,

Honestly it's going to be tough getting that look with and HVX. I too, love that look and would recommend reversal film. Shoot Super 16mm 7285 Ektachrome and you'll be in the ballpark. Or can shoot neg and have your lab make a print of it prior to telecine which gives it a more reversal-ly feel. That's the process that was done on on of my favorite modern commercial spots made to look 60's by a very talented colorist named Jean-Clement Soret out of London:

 

http://www.moving-picture.com/index.php/co...21814&num=1

 

Shot 35mm neg, with incredible period styling, process and print the neg... then do telecine from the positive print. An incredible recreation of the 1960's French Riviera glamor period (brigitte bardot, grace kelley, etc etc.).

 

Good luck! Post the results when you're done.

 

Best,

 

Paul

 

 

Can I piggy back the last statement by suggesting that you shoot Super 8, even Max 8 (super 8 with an enlarged gate). Use 7280, or 7217. With the 7280 (color reversal), you will get the vintage 60's look, right out of the box. No fx at all. With the 7217 you will get a sharper more modern look, but since it is super 8, you are very close and can get the rest of the way in post. Any HD cam is going to be way too sharp to begin with. Your line producer will like the cost as well. Have you shot yet? How did it go?

 

Paul, do you know what stock they used for that spot?

Edited May 31, 2009 by Chris Burke