How to imitate the physicality of film?

[richg101]

Hey guys.  

 

I did some searching but couldn't find anything relating to this specific effect.

 

 

I want to apply a slight wobble to each frame to give the imitation of the mechanical film feed you often see on movies shot on film.  The wobble is most apparent during title and credits sequence - in particular when titles are static superimposed on a black background.  sometimes the title text wobbles up and down on screen.  Often the effect is most visible on titles and credits sequences, but also the effect can be seen in shots locked down on a tripod - sometimes the movement of the frames is so large it can make it look almost as if the tripod shot is handheld.  

 

Are there any plug ins for adobe premiere which replicate this film mechnical movement?  I guess in reality the movement originates in both the camera, and additionally during film scanning.

 

cheers in advance

[HurtinMinorKey]

^ they did an effect in Fightclub where they simulated the film jumping out of the projector gate.  I think it's a much more exaggerated than what you want, but it's the same concept.

[Bruno]

Hi, that effect on film might be caused both by the camera's film gate and by the projector at theaters.

In more recent films it's less noticeable, film equipment has come a long way, and they probably have tools to stabilize all that during modern telecine processes, plus projection is digital in most places now.

 

Many of the "film look" plugins out there will give you some sort of film gate jitter options.

It's close to a "shake" or "handheld" post effect, but for this purpose you would want to use it with high frequency and really low amplitude, which means having it shaking really fast, but for no more than a couple pixels wide.

In Final Cut you can achieve this with its "Earthquake" effect, I'm pretty sure Premiere will have something similar, and if it has a motion blur option, it should make it feel even more like real film gate jitter, it will increase your render times though.

[richg101]

cheers for the replies.  i just read up on the digital intermediate process (film scan) - I imagine if there was a little bit of 'gate' play on the scanner then each frame would be slightly offset (by less than 1/100th mm), but blown up to cinema screen size, this play would be multiplied by maybe 1000% or more - meaning each frame on screen would move 10mm up or down, left or right depending on the offset.  So i guess you are right, a 1 or 2 pixel offset of each frame would work.  If anyone can suggest a step by step process in prem that would be muchos appreciated!  Tried a 4k film stock scan overlayed and I love the results, but feel I need a little more added to boost the mechanical element.

[markm]

Hi, that effect on film might be caused both by the camera's film gate and by the projector at theaters.

In more recent films it's less noticeable, film equipment has come a long way, and they probably have tools to stabilize all that during modern telecine processes, plus projection is digital in most places now.

 

Many of the "film look" plugins out there will give you some sort of film gate jitter options.

It's close to a "shake" or "handheld" post effect, but for this purpose you would want to use it with high frequency and really low amplitude, which means having it shaking really fast, but for no more than a couple pixels wide.

In Final Cut you can achieve this with its "Earthquake" effect, I'm pretty sure Premiere will have something similar, and if it has a motion blur option, it should make it feel even more like real film gate jitter, it will increase your render times though.

 

You are wrong.

 

Film weave is caused by only having sprocket holes on one side of your film.

No plugins will give you film gate jitter as the problem is not with the gate which is aligned perfectly but with the film.

[jgharding]

I used this position shake trick for most of my promos, just came to the conclusion on my lonesome, but it's good to share :) Subtler int he first one:

 

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNGquFXmLOU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNGquFXmLOU[/url]

 

More extreme here:

 

[url="https://vimeo.com/48174944"]https://vimeo.com/48174944[/url]

 

I did it in After Effects using a wiggle expression on position. Set a frequency either at frame rate or below, and use no more than a pixel or so. It works great!

[powderbanks]

check out the 'wiggle' expression in after effects..sounds like it'll accomplish what you're looking for

 

[url="http://www.videocopilot.net/basic/tutorials/09.Expressions/"]http://www.videocopilot.net/basic/tutorials/09.Expressions/[/url]

 

edit: posted too slow..but that'll give you a tutorial of how to make it work

[jgharding]

A lot of people forget going to After Effects, preferring to grade in Premiere etc, but there are many benefits, such as working in a 32-bit RGB space removing the need for transcoding, and the ability to apply various advanced post techniques. It's not friendly, but it's powerful.

[jgharding]

Just be really subtle with it. If you look at real film transfers it's not a lot, just on the edge of perception to take the rigid digital edge off, it works really well. 

[Bruno]

You can see it here in the title card right at the beginning (very subtle, you might have to make it HD and full screen to notice it), that's using Final Cut's "Earthquake" filter.

 

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpcNvHmjx4Y"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpcNvHmjx4Y[/url]

[Leang]

robert rodriguez and tarantino make the most fun out of these techniques

[richg101]

 

More extreme here:

 

[url="https://vimeo.com/48174944"]https://vimeo.com/48174944[/url]

 

I did it in After Effects using a wiggle expression on position. Set a frequency either at frame rate or below, and use no more than a pixel or so. It works great!

 

 

Thanks for this.  I'm gonna have to invest in AE.  Knew I should have taken advantage of the spare user license for master collection before quitting the job:(

This is exactly the type of movement I'm looking for.  it's not very noticeable, but adds a massive amount of physicality to the piece.  The track is very well put togehter, as is the whole video production.  in 1999 this track would have been making them oodles of money!  reminds me of my late teenage years.

[richg101]

ps.  thanks for all the other replies.  

[Sean Cunningham]

I did this for all of the titles in SICK BOY.  Because I was doing experiments with levels of grain and making the 7D footage feel analog without going full-on Planet Terror I wanted the titles to have a legitimate optical house feel, not like something straight out of a DVE which has all the fit and finish of porno production.  What I used as my model was the opening title sequence for The Exorcist.

 

I do all my finishing in AfterEffects.  You can likely do this in Premiere too but with such a transparent method of going between the two I opt for the better control, better rendering and full suite of motion-graphics, color correction and plug-ins for VFX in AE.

 

I added some organic looking, subtle motion to my titles by parenting the text clips to two NULL layers.  One of the null layers used a noise expression in just the Y-translate domain.  Very small +/- up-down moves of no more than a pixel or two.  Most values will be less than a pixel but you can make these values bigger or smaller depending on the effect you're going for.  Likewise, there are several different types of noise built into AE for expressions.  I suggest you try a few because they'll give you slighting different results and by applying these animation effects to NULL layers and then parenting your image layers you can try out several types quickly to see what you like and what's appropriate (or compound multiple noise passes!).

 

The second NULL layer I applied smooth wiggle noise to just the X-translate domain.  Smooth, slightly bigger moves than my jitter, but only side-to-side.  This gives the feel of "gate weave".  For an even more organic look you can parent this NULL to a third NULL with smooth, side-to-side wiggle motion at a frequency of at least 1/2 or 2X that of the first.  The sum of these motions adds a little "chaos" to the mix and even more organic feel *.

 

 

* - I used this technique, mixing three SIN waves of different frequencies and amplitudes, to create the smoothly organic, but random looking, traffic paths and bobble while hovering for the flying traffic in the Fifth Element.

[Axel]

I first thought, my god, another cheap effect. But I have to admit (and I'm happy to learn) that it looks fantastic. Thank you for the examples.

[richg101]

I first thought, my god, another cheap effect. But I have to admit (and I'm happy to learn) that it looks fantastic. Thank you for the examples.

 

exactly.  Subtle use and it seems to add so much weight to the production.