Film grain

[jonno]

Film grain addition has been discussed around these parts a few times, as a useful tool to obscure digital artifacts and such. I've been using such methods - both subtly and grossly - in various projects of my own, film trailer reconstructions in particular. Initially I played with DigiEffects Aged Film:

http://www.digieffects.com/products/damage

which is more a digital simulation of film damage than an authentic recreation, so it can only achieve so much. These days I'm using HolyGrain's grain plates:

http://holygrain.com/products/

which are far more convincing, having been scanned from actual film stock. Still, I think there may be more progress to make here, especially in the area of convincing gate weave and damage. So what are other folks using? Please share your own thoughts and tips here!

[spoRv]

I use actual film grain; found two or three free clips around some months ago, but didn't bookmark the websites...

It's a lot better and more "organic" than filters that trying to reproduce grain; IMHO it helps a lot to cover macroblocking artifacts, especially the ones found on MPEG2 HDTV sources... also, it could help in those cases where grain is almost erased, like in The Arrival for example, when it was present in the film (of course, as film=grain)

[BusterD]

Apologies for the bump.

I've been toying with the idea of using grain plates for a long time myself, since it would probably make upscaled SD sources a lot more pleasing to look at, despite no actual detail being added. I'm a total n00b when it comes to re-encoding video though, the only thing I've ever really done is use Handbrake to make the -1 ESB Grindhouse BD compliant. So if anyone does come up with a guide or tips or anything for adding grain, I'd really be interested in seeing it.

[Stamper]

Hmmm, use film convert. It's actual color + grain film. You can match it to the original film used if you can reference it.

[BusterD]

Was hoping for an avisynth filter or something like that, but Film Convert isn't too expensive. Will have to try it out someday.

[PDB]

I use Adobe Premiere and use the opacity/overlay function in that to overlay real 35mm grain plates onto my video. You can use AVIsynth to do the same thing:

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Overlay

You just need to adjust the opacity to reflect how much of the grain you want to show. I'm basically doing this with my BTTF project and a few other DVD upscales. I'm uploading a few grain plates for someone else, I can send them your way too if you need some.

Let me know how I can help.

[BusterD]

Yeah that'd be great, thanks PDB. No hurry though, I probably won't get around to trying them for a while.

[MarceStarkiller]

Sorry for the bump, but, I upscaled and deblocked a DVD clip in avisynth, now, Im trying to add grain to it but I cant find a way to overlay the clip with a grain plate, without it removing all the upscaling I did. I would appreciate some help

[spoRv]

If you use Avisynth, try this: https://fanrestore.com/thread-1217.html

[MarceStarkiller]

If you use Avisynth, try this: https://fanrestore.com/thread-1217.html

Thanks!  

"Hints: NEVER upscale/downscale a grain plate; choose one with the same size of your clip, or bigger"  Can I use a grain plate with a resolution of 2400x1350 (16:9) on a 1440x1080 (4:3) clip?