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Arri, one of the biggest brands in all of digital cinema, launched a new tool that aims to make digital video look more analog. Arri Film Lab is an OpenFX plugin that integrates into industry-standard color grading workflows and gives filmmakers and editors creative tools to make their digital videos, regardless of what camera they used, look like they were shot on film. Using Film Lab, filmmakers can fine-tune the look of their digital videos, giving them the “look and feel of film.” Users can add and adjust grain, color, halation, and gate weave to emulate classic analog film stocks and post-processing. For example, Arri Film Lab promises to realistically emulate the film grain structure of 50D, 200T, or 500T color negative film stock. It offers color settings that look like various print stocks, reversal films, and bleach bypass. As for halation, Film Lab recreates the red and orange halation that can appear around bright areas, which, when using film, is caused by light reflecting through its different layers. As for gate weave, this Film Lab setting aims to introduce the “slight unsteadiness” that is sometimes seen in motion picture film productions. Arri Film Lab works with RGB images from any camera, provided they are brought into an Arri workflow. Arri Film Lab works with leading color grading applications, including DaVinci Resolve, Baselight, Nuke, and more, per Arri. The OpenFX plugin supports LogC3 (AWG3) and LogC4 (AWG4) workflows and is compatible with video files in ARRICORE, ARRIRAW, ProRes, or other third-party codecs. Arri adds that it is also developing Film Lab support for ACES 2.0. Film Lab also respects other post-processing work. Arri says that regardless of which looks are used on a project, whether they are LUTs or color grades, Film Lab will “respect and complement them.” Arri adds that the results will look natural and consistent even when users combine footage shot on different camera types into a single project, which is extremely common. Although Arri Film Lab is designed for all filmmakers, those who use Arri’s own cameras, such as the Alexa 35 series models on many professional film sets, will gain unique workflow benefits. Non-destructive Arri Film Lab simulations can be viewed in real-time when recoding with ARRICORE or ARRIRAW on Alexa 35 Xtreme and Alexa 35 cinema cameras. The approximated look is created using a combination of Arri Textures and 3D LUTs. This in-camera preview will arrive shortly via an Alexa 35 firmware update. “From the ARRILASER and ARRISCAN of the DI era to REVEAL Color Science and the film-inspired image characteristics of Alexa digital cameras, Arri Film Lab distills decades of knowledge and experience into a powerful, real-time plugin for today’s post tools,” the cinema company explains. Although testimonials from Arri customers should be taken with a grain of salt, the early feedback on Film Lab looks positive. “It is the first time I’ve seen a film look plugin that really helps create a vintage look on a period drama,” says cinematographer Stijn Van Der Veken ASC, SBC. “Arri Film Lab makes digital feel like real film. It’s incredibly easy to use, yet feels like it carries a full color science lab inside — robust and cinematic,” adds Luisa Cavanagh, a colorist at Quanta Post. “The color response is stunningly accurate, skin tones feel alive, shadows stay rich, and the definition is superb, providing that crisp, organic detail you get from true film.” Pricing and Availability Given that it is designed for professionals, Arri Film Lab is, unsurprisingly, not cheap. It is available monthly for around $25, annually for about $250, or as a one-time purchase for just under $500. Arri Film Lab also comes bundled with a plugin set of Arri’s Look Library LUTs, comprising nearly 90 predefined looks developed by Arri to suit various production scenarios and environments. Each comes in three intensities.
