Hello All. I'm brand new to the forum, so please forgive my general ignorance is this and any future posts. I'm from Mexia...it's a side effect.

I also wanted to thank Poke for his mention of the Dawn review on Film Threat.

Now to the subject at hand: I recently found out I'm getting a grant from the Austin Film Society, and am in the early stages of planning my next film. The story is called "Highway of Death" and involves a seperate universe of sorts that is populated by the living dead.

This will be shot on DV, with the main camera being a Cannon GL-1. In the film there will be scenes that take place in our world, as well as the Highway of Death world. The effect I'm going for in this dead world is washed-out, gray and lifeless. I was wondering if anyone could advise me how to achieve this effect, in lieu of shooting on overcast days or black and white. I'm shooting in color, but I want that dead look to the "nether world". Perhaps y'all know of a filter that would give that effect?

Thanks in advance!

Oooh this is something you could get really creative. I would suggest sitting down and just trying things out. If you want a death, pale look you can lower the images saturation. Bleed out the color so to speak.

Thanks Shaw. I definitly plan to try different settings. I shot Dawn with everything on auto, except for manual exposure and focus. All settings can be manually operated on the GL-1.

I'm also thinking of shooting all the "nether world" stuff with the Movie Mode setting, giving the fotage a slightly jittery look. I shot some nightmare scenes in Dawn with this setting and liked the look of it.

I'd overexpose and bleed out the color. Also, pick monochrome areas with little color and color-less costumes. Art directors can be your friend in designing a dull, lifeless world.

Scott

You may be able to find a filter that will give you a look you like (or help you in doing so)... check out Tiffen's website, and if you can, play with some filters and see if you like the result.

Don't forget the power of post.

You can film everything in a slightly overexposed (or underexposed) light and then de-saturate it and adjust the hue in post. Sure it adds to the rendering time but you can shoot end edit everything the way you want it to appear, composition-wise, and then tweak the "feel" once the whole film has been edited.

Just remember you only have 8bits to play with so you won't want to do too much tweaking :(

J, you edited DAWN on Premiere, no? If you stll have it, there should be a video tool for color adjustment and also for Brightness and Contrast adjustment. The only thing with doing it in post like this is to do it in steps, so no glitching occurs.

Poke

Yeah, I still have premiere. I LOVE Premiere, and editing was probably my favorite thing about working on Dawn. I've messed around with some of the effects, and there's several ways to adjust color and contrast. I'll most likely do the "dead world" effects in post, after weighing the options. Seems the safer route to go. But I do like the idea of overexposing slightly.

There was a mention of the Tiffen site, check out the Ultra Contrast filters. They may help.

heck ultra/low contrast filters are almost always a must IMO when shooting DV :). Very, very useful filters!

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I'm definitly going to invest in some filters. I've checked out the Tiffen site and found several I'm interested in, including a fog/mist filter that I'd really like to have.

And now another question. Does anyone know of software, or editing tricks to simulate explosions? I know alam dv can simulate things such as gun flares, but I want a pretty sizable explosion, like a car bursting into flame. I certainly can't afford pyrotechnics (sp*). I thought about doing something in Photoshop and superimposing over the footage, and cutting away VERY quickly. Ha!

Detonation Films (http://www.detonationfilms.com/free_stuff.htm) has a whole slew of explosions, gunfire, missles-in-flight etc available in DV format...

... for free download. http://www.stevenrichards.com/images/smiley_badger.gif

They also sell them on stock footage DVD for very low price, if you want the whole shebang for acrhival purposes.

They also have online videos on how to use this footage well.

Steve..how do you find these free things? LOL.. Got Google?

:D

Oh my dear heavenly Lord!! Those are great!! Thanks Steve!

Great site, I saw someone looking at it in an office one time and I've been looking for it ever since. Glad I finally fond it again.

Free Explosions!!!! It comes in a close second to Free Food.

Poke

You can get free explosions... you just need to borrow your parent/roommate/coworker/wifes car...

Well I went right to the site and ordered both volumes of the xplosions on cd. Can't wait to play with them...Blow up the car, the cat, the house, the workplace, myself and others. BLOW EM UP REAL GOOD!!!

Sorry...such outbursts come from living in Anna Nicole land.

Sorry...such outbursts come from living in Anna Nicole land.

She has stained the landscape of Mexia forever and ever ... let's strip her naked and cover her in chocolate!

Poke

Actually the post Trimspa ANS is not without aesthetic merit. Once she starts talking though, all bets are off.

Actually the post Trimspa ANS is not without aesthetic merit.

Yeah, I wouldn't have said this ...

... let's strip her naked and cover her in chocolate!

Poke

... about pre Trimspa/post Naked Gun Anna.

Poke

There was a mention of the Tiffen site, check out the Ultra Contrast filters. They may help.

If you are looking for monochromatic flat and lifeless, I'm not sure that you want to use the Ultra Contrast as it will tweak up the difference between blacks and greys. I can't actually see your vision, of course, but "flat and lifeless" suggests little contrast. I don't know much about your camera, but if it has internal neutral density filtration, use it. If not, ND screw on filters are pretty affordable. Another great filter (Tiffen) is the Black ProMist #1. You could add it to an ND filter and it will reduce contrast without blowing out the whites. It would also be very useful in your "real world" scenes as a stand-alone filter for it's diffusion/softening effects - makes your talent look good and adds a bit of the "film-look" quality everyone in DV is looking for. Once yo've got a ProMist, you'll use it over and over.

A Black ProMist and an ND filter (internal or external) together would reduce the amount of light reaching the camera's CCD, so you would have to open the iris to compensate, which in turn would reduce the DOF and further enhance the "film-look".

You could also go for the stuttery Private Ryan/Gladiator look in the highway of death world by overcranking the shutter. Could look really cool.

You could also try experimenting with gels (cheap) in front of your lights. Add some blue for an otherworldly effect. Try white balancing on something other than white - a yellow legal pad, for example. Just remember how you balanced so you can repeat it.

I hope I'm not being condescending.

Experiment.

It would be near impossible to be condescending to me when it comes to the technical aspects of the camera. I haven't even used the Manual setting on my Gl-1 yet, and I've already shot one feature..lol. The only thing I adjusted manually was contrast and focus. Great tip about the promist filter. I'm gonna buy one, if they aint too dear.

Also, I think I'll use the "movie mode" setting for the Highway scenes...to give it that extra "jittery" movie look. Then I'll deinterlace to add even more to it.

Great tip about the promist filter. I'm gonna buy one, if they aint too dear.

As I said, I don't know anything about the GL-1, so I also don't know about the lens size. At B&H (I always start at B&H) a 72mm Black ProMist 1 is $71.50 - less for smaller lenses, more for larger. You may find a "Lenses-R-Us" web store that might be a bit cheaper, but not by much, I would guess.

Don't forget to experiment with your lighting and/or white balance - always a cheap way to get visual/color FX.