Film Grain in Movies

[fnmrules]

Why is it that when u watch a blu ray movie the picture quality is awesome for a majority of the movie but a couple scenes will have film grain? is it just the way they shot the movie? i noticed that in transformers that the picture quality is stunning but in a couple scense...like when sams mom told sam he could call it sams happy time...they looked a bit grainy.

[quexos]

Some movies have grain on purpose like the opening scene of Casino Royale and of course the entire movie 300. Others I think have transfer issues.

[Deciazulado]

*Quickly hides all the horses.



Film images are madeup of grain particles like digital images are made up of pixels. Some scenes have more grains than others depending on the way they were shot, film stock, available light...

If you do a Search on the word grain on thread titles you'll find a few threads

[fnmrules]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

*Quickly hides all the horses.



Film images are madeup of grain particles like digital images are made up of pixels. Some scenes have more grains than others depending on the way they were shot, film stock, available light...

If you do a Search on the word grain on thread titles you'll find a few threads

yep i've been reading up on all this stuff...its really interesting to read...how many people out there just assume that the picture quality of blu ray is going to be crystal clear cause u go the store and see all these clips of movies that have this awesome picture quality and then u watch a movie like 300 and its all grainy and i'm sure thats a movie u will never see a demo of at a best buy or any store. thanks for the responses!

[Anthony P]

well for 300 the look was planned and artificially added to the original film, not having it would be a travesty to the movie, we were not meant to have a “window” look. As for the second part of the original question

Why is it that when u watch a blu ray movie the picture quality is awesome for a majority of the movie but a couple scenes will have film grain?

that can have several reasons
1) a bad transfer where some scenes where more processed then others to limit the BW/storage need. So the "cleaner" parts would actually be examples where less film grain is bad because what is lost is also the HD detail you are paying for
2) the final master (used for the digital master) was created from parts from different film masters some of which where in better conditions then others (or some needed more restoration then others). This would be more for older movies, what you need to remember is that film grain is a natural artefact from the film process (as explained above) so each time you make a copy that copy will "tape" the grain of the old film and "add" it's own. So if a movie was recreated with some scenes from the original Master and others from a copy of a copy of a copy the look would be a different, or if the master had some scratches and burns, maybe when those scenes where mixed some of the rest was touched up as well....
3) special effects: many fx are done with "CGI" for the ast few years, "CGI" portions would by definition not have FG until it is put on film, an other thing that happens is that CGI needs to process the film with the added graphics, so when the film was digitized the resolution/BW could be limited and have killed the FG on the filmed portion.
4) when filming they use different cameras and obviously different films in ach of them, each film will also have its own (slightly different) FG
5) filming is not consistent, most movies have dark and bright parts, sometimes it forces the use of different film (the same way you might choose to use 400, 300,200 or 100 in an old picture camera depending on if you are taking a pic outside on a sunny day or inside in a dark BD party). You also have different lighting conditions and since FG is caused by the photochemical properties of the film all of those will tend to change ho prominent or not FG will appear.
6) as mentioned in the first part of my post, sometimes directors want it (or don't want it) for different reasons, in 300 it was used to give it the GN look, in some films more FG was used to make it look "old" some movies (don't know if this or 3 is the reason for Transformers) it is used as an effect to to "show" this is different or in the past.

[fnmrules]

wow...thats really interesting. i didn't think i would ever learn this much about the technical side of making movies.

[aramis109]

On scenes like Transformers, it's also possible it's due to low-light situations. Low light can cause they to use different film stock or different lenses or apertures or... any number of things. That's why sometimes you see "day-for-night" shots where they digitally make it look like night. Filming in the dark is tricky.

[clrb15]

I bought a Blu-ray player because I wanted to see sharpness and with sharpness comes film grain. I go to school for Film and Television and I LOVE it when I see film grain in Blu-ray movies not to mention the incredible detail you get in the picture. Film has grain, that's what makes film, film.

Grain is sometimes more evident in darker scenes of movies, but I don't mind, just as long as it's not looking pixelated. Although in brighter scenes, grain looks awesome! Sometimes movies film night-time scenes during the day and colour correct it in post to make it seem night, and during that process, more grain could occur. Nevertheless, there are colour correctors out there that eliminate this issue with better post production equipment. I have Transformers on blu-ray and I know what the OP means, there are also parts in the movie where it's out of focus, but overall Transformers' Blu-ray PQ is Stunning and IS exactly what it looked like when i saw it in theatres; Oversaturated and Bright!

[blackhawktraffic]

I don't mind the film grain, after studying film you come to find it as an aesthetics choice by the director or DP, With that being said I sometimes find it annoying though in some scenes but I didnt make the movie so I cant really complain to much haha.