Color grading question...getting that "Sleepy Hollow" look.

Hi everybody.

I´m sure many of you have seen "Sleepy Hollow" and remember the moody look of it. If not here´s a commercial that uses the same grading and creates a certain dark atmosphere with it.

Look for the "Scarecrow" add

I´d like to know how to recreate this look and if there´s a color grading method for it. I´ve run some test in AE but with its color tools the results look nowhere near of what I have in mind. Does anybody know applications or plugins which can recreate this look?

I´m sure there´s more to it than just playing with the colors, also the way of lighting has to do with it. Maybe someone can give me some tips about lighting or anything else that is necessary to achieve this look.

 

Well - my memory of Sleepy Hollow is a little different than that Scarecrow flick.

For the scarecrow look, I think we did pretty well for certain shots in Eclipse - in particular:
http://s94963366.onlinehome.us/Eclipse/SvJpics/shot01.jpg
http://s94963366.onlinehome.us/Eclipse/SvJpics/shot05.jpg

The only thing that really looks different to me is that in the Scarecrow flick they did some sky replacement - which incidentally, is really easy on footage of this type with suitable stock skies and a luma-key on the sky. If you do like the look of these pics, then here's what contributed: It was a rainy, dismal, foggy day, with lots of humidity, mist, and leafless trees thanks to the season. To push it in post, it was desaturated by 60-80% and was adjusted with a Curves filter.

Sleepy Hollow was a little different... not only did they have full sets, but to simulate moonlight they had gigantic diffuse "moonlight" sources that they hung over the sets via cranes. (neighbouring towns thought they were UFOs). Also, I suspect they pushed Sleepy Hollow into a variety of blue shades - though I think they did film at night.

-Spiff

 

Thanks for the info Spiff.

Those grabs of you look great and I´ll borrow them (if you allow) for further testing.
Do you know if there´s a special color grading technique used for this look? I´ve read about bleach bypass used for Sleepy Hollow but I´m sure it´s wrong.

 

Borrow and play with at will. Obviously they're already adjusted shots, but the originals aren't online.

As for the special film treatment - I have no idea, but if you do want to experiment with "dreaminess", you can always make duplicate layers with varieties of blurs and opacities, and try screen, add and multiply transfer modes for some nifty effects.

-Spiff