Filmlook

FILMLOOK Inc. is is a post-production company based in Burbank, California. Established in 1992, it specializes in a form of image processing used on television programs, commonly known as film look. The company won an Emmy Award for its technical achievements.
Development
In 1986, company founder Robert Faber began researching the differences between the qualities of film processed in telecine and standard videotape. His findings were that there are three main film aspects to isolate and reproduce for video: motion characteristics, contrasting and grayscale, and grain pattern.
He began developing the actual design for the Filmlook process and built the prototype in 1988. The process was first unveiled at an open house presentation held at the Sheraton Universal Hotel (then the Registry Hotel) in Universal City, California in January 1989.

The basic idea of Filmlook is to give productions shot on videotape the look of film origination, and is intended on being money and time-saving alternative to shooting productions on film.
Details
The Filmlook process affects three main features to achieve the appearance of film: motion characteristics, gray scale/contrast and grain pattern. By altering the gray scale, color and contrast, the video mimics the typical film characteristics and is given the vibrant feel of film.
*Motion characteristics - With a video camera, you see 60 pictures per second (for each video field) versus 24 in film. The Filmlook process gives the image the dynamic feel of film.
*Greyscale/contrast - Filmlook alters the gray scale, color and contrast to mimic the typical film characteristic - the "film density curve."
*Simulation of grain pattern - A generated grain pattern that can be varied in intensity and imitates film by remaining static for the duration of each (imaginary) film frame (two or three fields).
Background
Invented in 1989, the Filmlook image processing was first used in a test run in a 1991 episode of the ABC sitcom Growing Pains titled "Not With My Carol You Don't". However, the first television series to regularly use Filmlook was Beakman's World, a kid-oriented science series which ran from 1992-1996 on CBS. In 1995, Filmlook was used on the LL Cool J sitcom In the House. However, when the series moved from NBC to UPN in 1996, the series began using unprocessed video.
In recent years, Filmlook has become known for its use on nearly all Disney Channel Original Series made from 2002 to 2008 (except Phil of the Future which was shot on film). That's So Raven, which at one point was the channel's most-watched series, was the first Disney Channel show to use the processing. Since then, four other original series on the channel have had their taped product processed by the company: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, That's So Raven spinoff Cory in the House and The Suite Life on Deck. Filmlook processing has also been used on segments within the Nickelodeon series "The Amanda Show" for commercial parodies and the mock teen series "Moody's Point."
Some of the drawbacks to Filmlook process are it can be incompatible with some visual effects and it cannot process interlaced HD based material. The Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place, which heavily uses visual effects due to the show centering on three teen siblings with magical abilities, is the most obvious example. The show used the Filmlook imaging in the first three episodes produced: "You Can't Always Get What You Carpet" (possibly intended as the pilot but aired as the sixth episode), "Crazy Ten Minute Sale" (the first aired episode), and "First Kiss" (which was aired second), except for scenes that contained visual effects. All episodes produced afterward until the final episode of its second season had used the 30P frame rate, making Wizards the only videotaped Disney Channel sitcom to debut between 2003 and 2008 not using the Filmlook imaging regularly (though this changed when Wizards began production of its third season, which uses a 'filmized' appearance that has already been implemented on fellow Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance and The Suite Life on Deck, as Disney's returning pre-2008 sitcoms convert to HD after 2009).
List of television productions that use/have used Filmlook
*American High
*American Candidate
*Beakman's World (one first-season episode did not go through the process)
*Chasing the Sun
*Chicken Soup for the Soul
*Cory in the House
*Cosby - Used primarily on the "street" set during the first season.
*Crossed Over - television special
*Drake and Josh - used only in season 1, utilized a 'filmized' appearance afterwards
*Endurance† - used from 2005-2008
*Founding Brothers - television special
*Founding Fathers - television special
*The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - used only in 1 episode, "Viva Lost Wages", only during the Las Vegas scenes
*Growing Pains† - used only in 1 episode, "Not With My Carol You Don't"
*Hannah Montana (season 1-3)
*Haunted Hotels - television special
*In the House - used from 1995-1996
*'
*Kingdom of David
*Living Dolls
*Making the Band
*Military Diaries
*The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century
*The Ponderosa
*The Power of Play - television special
*Saved by the Bell - used only in TV movie Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style
*Secret Adventures of Jules Verne
*So Little Time
*Special Forces
*SportsCentury
*The Amanda Show - segments
*The John Larroquette Show
*The Suite Life of Zack & Cody
*The Suite Life on Deck
*Taina
*That's So Raven
*The Two Hundredth Anniversary Special on West Point - television special
*Unsolved Mysteries
*Undressed
*Untold Stories of the Navy Seals - television special
*Vet School Confidential
*World War II: When Lions Roared
*Wizards of Waverly Place - used only in 3 episodes)
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†Denotes series that were previously or otherwise broadcast with unprocessed video.

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