How to make digital video look like film
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Making digital video look like film is one of the issues at the forefront of every independent filmmaker's mind when preparing a video production, and that is the way it should be, because the production value of a film makes a big difference to how the audience perceives it.
It is worth starting with an interesting but not entirely surprising fact: audiences, no matter how unfamiliar with the filmmaking process, can always judge the production value of a film. They may not be able to articulate it; they might not walk out saying how the color palette did not serve the story, or how the lighting was excessively high-key, but they instinctively feel that something (or a lot) wasn't right. And that is a major barrier between the audience and the story you are trying to tell.
Why is the film look so desirable? 35mm film has a higher resolution than digital video, but that is probably the least important issue. The texture, color subtleties, grain structure, contrast rendition and motion characteristics of film are a far more important factor. Here is what Janusz Kaminski, DP on all of Spielberg's films since “Schindler's List”, has to say about it:
"I like looking at movies and seeing the movement of the grain. There's a certain emotional response, whether viewers are conscious of it or not; we distance ourselves emotionally from images that are crisp and clear. Grain reminds people of their experience and gets them closer to the story."
(From "Going with the Grain" - an article by John Calhoun)
This is partly why we perceive celluloid in one way and video in another. Kaminski is, of course, referring to digital video when he mentions "images that are crisp and clear."
So how do we shoot a movie on digital video and approximate the look and feel of film as much as possible? Video currently cannot be a real substitute for film, but it is possible to shoot in such a way as to make it approximate the look of film. This article will deal with the salient issues and how best to tackle them.