I recently stumbled across this site the other day and immediately got lost in it. FilmGrab is a growing archive of stills compiled from some of the best movies in history. The site is sortable by year, director, cinematographer, or aspect ratio and showcases some really phenomenal work.
Sometimes if I’m having a creative funk I pull images from material that I admire, load it into Resolve and study the scopes, levels, and colors. By pushing the colors around I can generally get a pretty good idea of what is going on. I’ll try to figure out what is being done on the shot and how it’s being accomplished. Down the road, if I’m presented with a similar shot or setup, I can do my best to try and replicate the look.
This site will be a resource for me that I’m sure I’ll revisit many times. Some of the material from the 60s and 70s has already sparked a bunch of ideas when it comes to film grain . I’m looking forward to checking it out further and getting the creative juices flowing.