Cinematic plugins...

Hi all,

In a previous post I am looking to do some slow down and tracking work. I am also looking at turning my DNxHR footage into more filmic/cinematic like film. I am using a 4K Sony AX53, HDMI output in to an Atomos Ninja Inferno, DNxHR SQ (but would use HQ or HQX if it made sense to.. just the output from AX53 is 8bit 4:2:2 so wasnt sure if it was worth the larger space usage for HQ/HQX).

I have seen the FilmConvert plugin, and wondering if its pretty good at doing filmic like grades.. as I am not a grading artist by any means. I can certainly play around with knobs, and seen some tutorials on getting that film quality.. but I would much prefer the easy route if it works well enough.

As well, interested in Twxitor.. is it worth the $350 price tag to get buttery smooth slow motion and fast motion? Or is the retime capabilities of Resolve good enough for most cases? I do try to record at 24p to get closer to the cinematic look, though shooting sports videos is not ideal at 24p.

Thank you.

There's nothing like cinematic look by automatic plugin. Practise and you'll find out what suits you the best. For the beginning do some primary corrections to your footage and then apply the build film look 3D Lut within DR. Make the final adjustments and you'll see good results. After that go step forward and make your own grading and see what better results you may achieve.

Nothing but learning how to grade can get you a cinematic look, there is no "just pour hot water" solution.
If you use one, it'll look like instant coffee or noodles taste…

Regarding Twixtor: no plug-in can give you perfect slo-mo without a lot (and I mean a lot!) work on every single shot. Twixtor Pro is just giving you more possibilities to do such work. Try the possibilities in DR Studio first and watch the artifacts, like smearing background along with the motion or multiple contours of moving objects. You'll need to try and mask them out manually.
The best slo-mo still comes from any camera shooting faster than the intended project speed. If you don't get enough motion-blur, which is a part of 'cinematic' look, shoot at 360 degrees shutter instead of 180.

Hmm.. I realize that learning to grade would be ideal.. but for my specific purposes, I dont need quite that much time consuming power at my hands. I was looking to just quickly apply a LUT or something that makes it look a little more cinematic than when shot from the camcorder... trying to avoid the "live" look that camcorders often give. As I am shooting sports games, I dont need it to be Matrix styled cinematic, but something quick and less camcorder/live like would be good.

As for slow mo.. I did see the blending artifacts that the DR version gives, which for the purpose of creating a sports highlight is fine. I was just really liking the beauty of slow mo that Twixtor demo was showing. I assumed it was purely the plugin. If you are saying you have to do a lot of work frame by frame to get that style of slow mo..then the plugin is quite misleading. I would have thought the purpose in paying such a price for it, it does that out of the box (with possibly a few tweaks).

Regarding looks
FilmConvert is not bad, you should give it a try. But a video look very often comes from these two things:
– harshly blown out highlights
– too short exposure times

Regarding slo-mo
Well, a demo is a demo…
But I don't doubt that some imagery can give you nice results without much tweaking, both from Twixtor and from Resolve. I've been using Twixtor with some shots of dancers on a dark stage, where background smearing didn't matter – with great results from the start. Your best bet are linear movements with a uniform or blurred background (the latter can be part of a cinematic look too).

Without much effort it works only as long as no movements are crossing over each other. That's where masking comes into play, both with Twixtor or Resolve Studio. It's just that Twixtor Pro is giving you more access to fine-tuning of parameters. To judge if it's worth the money for you, test them both with your own footage, after all there's a watermark demo of Twixtor.

Hi Justin,

Actually, this topic often resurrect on the forum, yours is not a big surprise.
I won't come back on the need to learn so that you decide and make your own corrections and grades. Everybody will tell you the same, you're on a DaVinci Resolve forum after all.

Consequently, since some plug-ins editors take advantage of the widely spread confusion between a "LUT" (supposed to translate from one world to another [it's all about maths finally]) and a "look" (filters you put on your image to more or less give a feeling), just because the second one is technically available in the same state as the first one (i.e. a ".cube" file), one can have the feeling that a look is quickly done.
Actually these users are slaves to the range of available looks (no matter what editor it comes from) and cannot really change anything without a little knowledge. Hence the need to start learning soon

Now, since things have gone far beyond stuff like Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks anyways and since you're thinking I'm boring now ( ), I can give you this link to thank you for reading my entire post (did you, hmmm ?), even if I know it will lead you not to learn as I suggested...
Help yourself :
https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video ... /#download

Hmm.. I realize that learning to grade would be ideal.. but for my specific purposes, I dont need quite that much time consuming power at my hands. I was looking to just quickly apply a LUT or something that makes it look a little more cinematic than when shot from the camcorder

Timeline Menu > Output Blanking > 2.40

Done!

Don't forget to add some anamorphic flares, though

Hmm.. I realize that learning to grade would be ideal.. but for my specific purposes, I dont need quite that much time consuming power at my hands. I was looking to just quickly apply a LUT or something that makes it look a little more cinematic than when shot from the camcorder...

The sad truth for post-production is that nothing cheap and easy is ever good, and vice-versa.

Thanks all for the info. I absolutely want to learn to grade.. even though I am a hobbyist and doubt Ill ever be shooting/editing a film or short that would even need it.

I am recording currently from my AX53 to Atomos Ninja using DNxHR, at 4K30. I do plan on moving up to a GH5 or something similar when money/time/need become a necessity. But in the interim, I am recording sports (soccer) games, and while I do not absolutely need (or probably want) to apply a cinematic look.. I was thinking in the off chance that it offers a slightly cooler looking Highlight reel.. it would be fun to play around with. Now that said, I am at this time limited on time, and have a few other things to learn and apply.. and was hoping there was just a quick "close enough to cinematic look" LUT or something I can apply that works on all the clips at once. I mean, in my case, it is not like I am working with dozens of different scenes like in a movie. It is just outdoor soccer.. lot of green, kids kicking a ball.. thats about it. I know enough that I can try some LUTs, and one thing I like is being able to use those LUTs on my Atomos visually or baking them in at record time.

Anyway.. I absolutely want to learn the basics of grading. It is easy enough to adjust a few of the parameters and see colors change.. but to me.. that isnt understanding when or why you would do things, like create nodes, adjust colors, etc. Matching camera color is another thing I would like to learn. Shooting on a GoPro, as well as a drone 4K.. and my AX53... all have different colors coming out of them. Learning what to adjust and why is an art form in my opinion. I watch these tutorials online and am just baffled how they know to adjust parameters that they do.

I watch these tutorials online and am just baffled how they know to adjust parameters that they do.

It takes time. It helps to read the manual from start to finish (which is free), and I think the basic tutorials from RippleTraining, MixingLight, and FXPHD are all very good. You can build on the basics once you've spent a few days with that, and then you'll have a sense of when to adjust the parameters and how to adjust them. One benefit of Resolve is that there's frequently 3 or 4 (or more) different ways to accomplish a specific task, so you've got a lot of options. Sometimes, I'll take what I've done, totally throw it away and come at the shot from a completely different direction... and in many cases it winds up better than where I was. There's often no simple answer, no case where "this will always work." You have to be open to experimentation, trial & error, and also pay close attention to how different people work. Understanding scopes and lighting helps quite a bit.

Be warned that some of the tutorials on the web are being taught by people who have no clue that they have no clue. Some of them perpetuate bad habits on students who know less than they do. It helps to get tutorials from people with solid credentials: the three I mentioned earlier are above reproach.