The quest for the cinematic image is an endless search. Every budget filmmaker will always be looking to improve his images trying to get nearer to the last blockbuster in quality. One nice feature in Premiere Pro CC seems to meet the needs of us filmmakers, allowing us to add presets able to shorten time-consuming, sometimes boring, or sometimes just difficult, effect.
Sometimes it is also true that an easy preset pack may save the day, maybe allowing for that small effect you were having problems to re-create. Specifically, Austin Newman is presenting us with a basic pack useful to get a little bit more cinematic image.
So, the download of this pack is quite simple, just follow this link. But what is in the pack? We’ve got a nice set of crop bars (those work on any editing platform) in 1.85 and 2.35. It’s a nice touch that gives a little extra strength to the image, also if you’re not going to be projected in a cinema.
So now you’ve downloaded the pack, let’s go on and import it in Premiere. But how so? In the effects tab if you right click on the three lines near the top of the tab you can choose to import presets. Let’s take a look at the five presets we’ve got:
#1 &2 CINEMA FADE IN AND OUT
These fades are a little bit different than normal cross dissolve that we usually have. Instead of working only on opacity this presets are fading the image by intervening on the exposure too, hence the smoother and more cinematic result.
#2&3 CINEMA ZOOM IN AND OUT
Does your shot need a little pinch of action to spice up a little bit? Give it a little bit of interest and energy? Here it is! A simple preset that allows to gently zoom in (or out). Quite literally this preset gives a little bit of motion towards or away from the image. we suggest a clip between 3 to 5 seconds to let the effect work at best.
#CINEMATIC DESATURATION
The cinematic desaturation is a little difficult to notice. It is in fact, it is a very little and subtle adjustment. It goes in the mid tones and brings down a little bit the saturation of it, but the overall effect is quite effective although it requires minimal effort.
#HD ENHANCE
This basically is an unsharp mask. You won’t’ notice much straight off the bat, but if you crop in an image high enough you can see how the mask works. It may help to crop in on some small detail, like some hairs or such. You have a few parameters that you can adjust. As a rule of thumb, threshold is always better as standard. The same goes for radius, you need to watch out or it will start to create very bad images.
There you go, a nice handy pack of presets and two cinematic crop bars you can throw onto your next project. Ready to go?
[source: Austin Newman]
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