Film Look Styles in AE

ok, I got some more to post.

As requested, here's some tutorials on getting certain color styles that some films have. I've done three so far: Sin City, Underworld, and Pitch Black. Each one is about 15 minutes long. I also created a sample sheet for reference (using pics from the net), and have included a ZIP file with the presets already saved.

In these, I use mainly the Hue/Saturation and Levels tools in AE. There are many, many other ways to color correct footage, some with much more control than what I show here. I tried to keep it pretty simple and easy to understand what's going on, so I only show this one technique.

Also, if you just download the presets and try to use them, please know that they will require a bit of tweaking once applied, probably in the levels effect. Every piece of footage is different, so there'no one setting that will work for everything.

Ok, here's the stuff.

http://www.mackdadd.com/tutorials/Color ... e_page.jpg
http://www.mackdadd.com/tutorials/Hypes_presets.zip
http://www.mackdadd.com/tutorials/film_ ... inCity.mov
http://www.mackdadd.com/tutorials/film_ ... rworld.mov
http://www.mackdadd.com/tutorials/film_ ... hBlack.mov

I'd be happy to do more, so if there's any specific film style you'd like to suggest, feel free.

You're just checking down the list, aren't you? awesome stuff....

A few questions for you:
What kind of treatment do you do for a movie that isn't super stylized?.... Thirteen Going on Thirty, Harold and Kumar, Sex and the City, etc.

Do you have a preset/look that you start with for every movie and then alter it to suit the footage?

What kinds of things do you consider when creating a "look"?

downloading!
~Mechis

Wow dude! Talk about a great resource!

*Pluggeroonied*

Dude, you are a MA-CHINE. Holy crap, they're going to have to start charging people to view your posts man. This is great. CC is a completely understated step in my opinion. You can do so much to help set the mood in shows by using different "filters" and whatnot. Great stuff man.

-Z

Dude, your awesome. Im learning soooo much. Keep em coming man ^__^ So presets will do the effects automaticly, hmmm I think ill do em myself Good way to learn ^__^

Dude

wow, glad everyone's liking these ones! I actually kinda thought these were pretty basic and not too many would be into them, especially considering they're not too "professional" ("preofessional" color correction is a pretty huge deal, which is why you have programs like da vince that cost tens of thousands of dollars). But i'm really glad this can be helpful!

zach, , no, i wouldn't charge for this stuff. in fact, if people tell me what's on the expensive training dvd's, i'll try to cover that stuff!

quinn, yes, learn them before trying the presets - the presets, if you just drop them on without knowing what's happening, will probably make your footage look terrible! they have to be tweaked just like any other plugin.

tyson, thanks for the plug! can i suggest a tutorial making challenge, while i'm on a roll?

mechis, about starting with a preset and working from there on a movie, no, almost never. except Sin City, where the supervisor's got together at the very start and made the basic style nodes so all the teams' work would look the same (each shot had to be tweaked a bit, though).
as for movies that don't have a stylized look, i'm not sure how they color correct those, since it doesn't fall into the visual effects category. but on every single movie, we get reference shots that we're supposed to match to, and it's usually very minor stuff, like bringing black up a little, or taking out a little yellow, things like that. And Mike is right about what kind of things to consider when creating a look. look at how much the visual style helped movies like Sin City, Gladiator, Matrix, Underworld, Amelie, etc...

and like i said, if you watch these and have trouble trying to match a certain thing or look that you want, let me know. these little tutorials were super fast and easy!

Thanks!
~Mechis

you the man!!!

i am becoming a hypomaniac ADDICTED (SNIF SNIF) I WANT MORE gonna od from so much knowledge thanks man love your stuff

Whoa man great resource is right!!

Good work!

You almost looked like you were enjoying all that roto;)

I'd love the opportunity to be a Monkey and do roto, just so I'm in the industry!

Duuude! These are awsome! Ive just had a chance to download them, excellent resource! Thanks a lot for doing these, it defiantly brings me a better understanding on how these things work, thanks man.

By the way - which version of AE are you using? I do like the look of it - is there a way to turn all the panels brackish gray like that?

Thanks man

i'm using 7, but if you're in something previous to that, just go to the preferences panel, which is under the edit menu, i think, and flip through the panel until you come to the one that says "interface brightness" or something like that. there will be a slider to adjust how light or dark you want it.

glad you like the tutorials!

hype your on a hype

wow, ive learned a lot just watching these here at work.. lol

great stuff man! more pzl

hype...i cant tell you how long i have been looking for a good Sin city look
thank you

hype...i cant tell you how long i have been looking for a good Sin city look
thank you

Sorry to dig up a dead thread but would love to see how to get some of the color of the early 70's films such as the Hammer films colors (probably technicolor or eastman). I know there are plugins for three strip but I belive these are post three strip films and haven't seen anyone really try to tackle that look.