Video Review: Color Grading Central cineLook Final Cut Pro Plug-in
Here's a look at two workflows for applying film grain to your footage in FCP X using cineLook (with and without Gorilla Grain), first with 4k footage shot with the Blackmagic Production Camera, and then with Cinestyle-flattened DSLR footage.
Applying cineLook with Gorilla Grain
Next we'll delete the effect we just created to see what the image looks like when we apply the cineLook effect with Gorilla Grain, which does a really good job of applying a filmic look.
For the most part, you adjust the effect just as you would with the non-Gorilla Grain version, fine-tuning in the Color Treatment and its component effects, setting the Noise Reduction Threshold, tweaking the 2.35:1 Widescreen Offset, and customizing the Vignette.
Unlike all of the other cineLook the other attributes, as you can see in Figure 8 (below), Gorilla Grain doesn't turn on by default. The Gorilla Grain pull-down is initially set to None.
Figure 8. Gorilla Grain is turned off by default.
Click the pull-down to choose from the array of Gorilla Grain settings shown in Figure 9, below. The settings come in three categories--Fine, Medium, and Coarse--ranging from Fine: Clean to Coarse: Dirty - Hair, Dirt, Flicker. The Flicker and Dirt apply a real damaged look; typically I don't use those unless I'm trying to mimic an older film effect.
Figure 9. Gorilla Grain settings.
For this example we'll choose Fine: Clean. Although the effect isn't necessarily evident at 32% where you can preview the entire image, if you zoom into 100% as in Figure 10 (below), you can see the added grain in the image. It's a much more organic look than you get just with cineLook; it definitely looks more like real film grain. Gorilla Grain was actually pulled from real 35mm film scans, so that's why it looks so realistic. Figure 11 (below Figure 10) shows the effect toggled off. Figure 12 (below Figure 11) illustrates how much harsher the effect becomes as you add more grain in the Coarse: Clean setting.
Figure 10. The Gorilla Grain Fine: Clean filter applied. Click the image to see it at full size.
Figure 11. The Gorilla Grain Fine: Clean effect toggled off. Click the image to see it at full size.
Figure 12. Gorilla Grain Coarse: Clean.
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