Over the last ten years two pairs of letters have given us all the power to make movies, DV and PC. Even modestly priced DV cameras can produce surprisingly good video but with a few tweaks you can improve the look of any camera's output from good to very good.

Most DV cameras produce an image that is low in contrast and vibrancy. We cant add detail that was never there but most editors have a few tools that can be used give video more impact and vibrancy.  The first everyone should understand how to use is 'curves'.

The following advice is Vegas specific but the technique can be applied in most decent editors.

Look at the image above. This is an unprocessed image. It was shot in natural light from a window on the upper left and the exposure carefully set. The image looks acceptable and for years this is the sort of look my films had. With a bit of work we can make the video appear as if your camera just got a whole lot better.

The first big improvement comes from playing with the 'colour curves' effect in Vegas.

Open Vegas, bung in a bit of video then look at the icons just to the right of the track name / number, click the third icon in, see grab on the left, this opens a new window, the plug in chooser, select 'Sony colour curves'. The video track FX window will open showing the curves plug in, see below Any further effects you add will appear in a chain at the top of this window and be switched on or off with the tick box. Clicking an effect in the chain shows the effects parameters in the window.

We are now going to liven up the look of the video by pulling the curve. At present you should see a straight line, this means that a particular brightness level input produces the same output from the curves plug in, or effect.

This is a very complex plug in but we will be using it in a straightforward way, leave 'channel' on RGB so we adjust all colours at the same time. Near the bottom left and top right of the box, on the line, you can see black dots, these are the handles that can be used to pull the curve, grab them and hold the LMB and you will see what I mean. Adjust them so they look something like the shape below left. Now our video looks much more interesting, below right.

In comparison the flat unprocessed image looks really dull and uninteresting. In a few clicks we have lost some of the DV drabness and have a much more film like involving look.  Click on the images to show them full size and place then next to each other to really see the difference.

Curving can make some problems more noticeable, in the curved image there is more visible noise in the upper right and jagged edges can be more apparent.

You can curve colours separately and add more handles with the left button to create some really interesting and just plain weird effects  but the basic curve shape is one I now use on most of my films to give them more impact.  You can also use curves to reduce contrast and vibrancy should you want a more soft understated look.