Chapter 10

Creative
Techniques

More About Noise and Grain

In general, noise is something to be avoided, while grain is something that many
cinematographers and directors embrace (although that is beginning to change).
This section compares the difference between digital noise and film grain and
includes some tips for how integrating noise into an image can be beneficial, and
ways you might go about doing it.

What Is Digital Noise?

Along with the individual pixels of detail inherent to any image, digital camera
circuitry introduces noise. The light-sensitive silicon chips at the heart of modern
video recording cameras are, below a certain threshold of exposure, inherently
noisy (CCD or CMOS chips are currently used). As with audio recording circuitry,
there is a noise floor at which a certain amount of random electronic fluctuations
always occurs. The amount of this noise depends on the quality and size of the
CCD used by a particular camera and on the amount of light within the image
being recorded.

When the signal-to-noise ratio falls below a certain thresholdin other words,
when the video image becomes underexposedthe noise becomes visible, appear-
ing as an animated buzzing superimposed over your video.

Increasing a digital cameras Gain or ISO setting potentially amplifies noise along
with the rest of the video signal. Similarly, stretching the contrast of an underex-
posed clip has the same effect, exacerbating noise thats already latent within the
image.

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What Is Film Grain?

To the untrained eye, digital noise and film grain may seem very similar, but the
origins of these phenomena are quite different. Unlike video noise, which is a spu-
rious pattern of pixels that has nothing to do with the image itself, film images are
made of grain. Understand this fundamental difference and you can better replicate
the effects.

Film stocks are comprised of three light-sensitive layers (nested within several other
protective coatings), each of which is designed to selectively absorb the red, green,
and blue components of light coming in through the lens of the camera. Each of
these layers consists of microscopic silver halide crystals suspended in gelatin.

When exposed to light, these crystals stick together, becoming metallic silver. The
more each layer is exposed, the more crystals become metallic, and the denser that
layer becomes. Once developed, each layers exposed silver grains are set, and the
unexposed silver halide crystals are removed. Together, the three combined layers
of dyed silver grains compose the final image.

Film colorists often discuss image density, which simply refers to how well exposed
each individual layer of film is. The process just described results in a negative
image, because the brightest areas of the picture create the most silver grains, while
the darkest areas of the picture have little to no grain. The negative image is made
positive either by printing onto another film stock to create a print for projection,
or it can be made positive in the telecine or datacine process of transferring the
image to a digital format.

How Does Film Grain Differ?

Film grain varies with the stock that was originally exposed, the method of devel-
opment, and the frame size and video format to which its eventually transferred.
For all of these reasons, film grain is tricky to accurately reproduce.

Film stocks that are designed to be more sensitive to light (fast stocks) tend to
employ larger individual grains that expose more quickly with less light. The
resulting images are grainier than other stocks that require more light to expose
(slow stocks) but have much finer grain.

When you transfer film footage to a high-resolution digital media format, you can
see that film grains are not per-pixel, like video noise. If you zoom into a per-pixel
view, each grain is made up of a cluster of pixels that are naturally anti-aliased,
providing a smooth transition from one grain to the next (Figure 10.87 on the
nextpage).
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Figure 10.87 Blown-up shadow

grain detail in a telecined film
excerpt.

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Individual film stocks exhibit differing grain patterns and sensitivities in each color
channel, similar to the varying noise patterns in the red, green, and blue channels
of recorded digital video (Figure 10.88).

Figure 10.88 The grain patterns

of the red (top), green (middle),
and blue (bottom) channels of a
telecined film image.
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Film Grain During Telecine and Datacine Transfer

Because telecine and datacine equipment use video technology to transfer film information
to digital formats, its worth discussing the intersection of film grain and video noise.
The imaging components of modern telecine equipment are made to automatically iden-
tify and correct noise and visual artifacts introduced by the telecine itself, so electronic
noise is minimized from the start. In most cases, what little noise is introduced should be
indistinguishable from the grain of the film being transferred.
Furthermore, many telecines and datacines have additional noise reduction features that
allow the operator to reduce film grain prior to recording to video, if so desired.
Finally, if youre spending the time and money to telecine film to video, you should master
to an uncompressed video format with 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. This ensures
maximum flexibility when youre making further corrections to your images and that com-
pression artifacts arent contributing to the noisiness of the image.

When Adding Noise Can Help

Most of the time, you do your best to avoid adding noise to the clips youre correct-
ing. However, its important to know that not all noise is bad. A limited amount of
noise also has some unexpected benefits:

Noise reduces the visibility of banding artifacts in 8-bit video formats, since
youre essentially dithering the entire image.

Noise can also give still images that youre using as insert shots some life, so
they look more like actual video footage.

Adding a bit of noise to title text and other illustration-style graphics can take
the edge off and further integrate the graphics with the background image.

Adding noise can make a clean, well-exposed insert shot better match an other-
wise noise or grainy scene.

Simulating Film Grain

If necessary, there are a few different ways you can simulate film grain. None of
them will be perfect, but if youre careful, the results can be convincing enough.

Many applications have a built-in facility for generating noise. In a pinch, this can
be used, in conjunction with composite modes within applications that support the
layering of multiple images, to create simulated film grain.

If there is no noise-generation capability, then you can also use a compositing

application to create a high-resolution clip of noise that matches your projects
resolution. Blurring the noise very slightly will help to approximate film grains
smoother pattern.
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When superimposing a noise layer over the clip youre manipulating, composit-
ing it using the Subtract composite mode causes the simulated grain to darken the
image, rather than lightening it, in an effort to simulate film grains relationship to
image density.

You can also try other composite modes to integrate a digital noise layer into the
image in different ways:

Multiply and Darken both emphasize noise in the highlights, instead of the
shadows.

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Screen and Lighten emphasize noise in the midtones and shadows.

Subtract applies a uniform layer of noise over the entire image, intensifying the
midtones and blacks in the process.

Overlay and Hard Light both apply a more uniform layer of noise over the
entire image, but without intensifying the midtones and blacks as much.

Soft Light emphasizes noise in the darkest shadows.

Finally, there are a wide variety of film grain/noise generation plug-ins available,
assuming your grading application is compatible.