We often get asked to produce videos with a vintage look that will hark back to the golden age of home cine films or the eighties VHS years. I’ve always been a fan of old films from a kid and I also own a few old cine cameras and lenses. Using actual cine film is great but it does take time and developing can be very costly today.
Which Camera?
I’ve found using the Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera (BMPCC) the best way to get the hand held feel of cine film or VHS cameras. It’s produces a high-quality flat picture that can then be graded and distressed later in the edit. It’s small but powerful.
I first used the BMPCC like this last December in this Christmas video for Love Me Do Hair Salon. Using a Kern Paillard 16mm 1.8 Switar lens, originally used on 16mm film cameras like the Bolex in 1956, helps reduce the work you have to do in post.
Adding a pistol grip to the camera also gives the home movie style when you handle the camera. Filming some whip pans and fast camera shakes is useful as you can cut this in later to emulate splicing errors. I also like to cut in some “film leader” I’ve borrowed from our cine transfer archives. With this film though, it’s the subject matter that really sells it, old building, old car with vintage fashion and hair styling:
https://youtu.be/Ti4SdZsVO8I
I used the same set up to film my wedding in Burgh Island this year and we were so lucky to have such fantastic sunshine for the exteriors. The other great thing about this old lens is it has a built-in iris which is really handy in bright sunshine. The lens flares you get with this style of lens also adds to that vintage cine film look:
https://youtu.be/_iRFwGkygFo
Back to the 80’s
This year we decided to try a 1980’s VHS feel with the popularity of shows like Stranger Things and Red Oaks. In the 80’s tape was cheap so home movie cameraman tended to hold shots a bit longer as they weren’t restricted to 3 minute Reels like the cine days. Adding in a bit of tape damage also helps the feel of the home VHS days. This often happened when you edited the rushes tape to the master tape :
https://youtu.be/tqtuScf1lP8
For me the VHS look is easier to obtain as it was always a flatter image than film and more washed out. Although I used the BMPCC for this video too, I think you can get the same effect with any HD camera with some grading and cropping to the square 4.3 aspect ratio. I used a fix lens but really 1980’s home movie cameras had slow motorised zoom lenses. I had fun with this film as my Gran worked at the great toy factory Palitoy in the 70s and 80’s. Out of the two styles, I still prefer the cine film style even though my first film at the cinema was Ghostbusters:
Our next vintage cine film syle video is for a Vintage Stylist and Gramphone DJ CLaire Shell , a real skill in the iTunes age. You can follow our films behind the scenes on Twitter and Youtube. Good Luck.
Post by Matt Holt @mattholt76
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