8 Free Film Grain to Easily Make Old Film Look Effects

Liza Brown

Sep 30, 2024• Proven solutions

There is no surprise that how much technology evolves, old film look effects never go out of fashion. Don’t you agree? Are you also one of those who wish to add this effect to your videos?

Well! In that case, film grain can come to your rescue.

With the help of this effect, your video or movie will get the grainy texture. Wait, you don’t know what is it?

We will cover the same in the next section. Also, we will share some of the free film grain effects with you that can be of great assistance to you. Stay tuned with us.

• Part 1: What is Film Grain
• Part 2: 8 Best Film Grain to make old-time Filming Effects
• Part 3: How to Add Film Grain to After Effects

Part 1: What is Film Grain

A film grain basically signifies a visual texture that involves granular or sand-like appearance in photos or movies.

It is because of the existence of the randomly organized and tiny particles containing metallic silver or dye clouds kind of look.

People may refer to it as gritty or sandy looking. Since the grain size, density or roughness can differ, a film grain may have various looks.

This effect is influenced by the factors including the film speed, definition, exposure levels, film stock, the developing time and conditions and so on.

Part 2: 8 Best Film Grain to make old-time Filming Effects

1. PixelTools Film Grain

PixelTools is the first free film grain we would like to make you acquainted with. It offers 4k film grain overlays that can be supported by any of the VFX packages. This website is a great way to start when you need to try free film grain.

Features:

• Completely free film grain overlays to be used in any project or clip
• Only takes a subscription for 4k film grain clips
• Easy to use and promises satisfaction

2. Holy Grain

Be ready to create an impressive film grain effect using the second website namely Holy Grain. This professional tool is designed for experts in filmmaking and video editing field.

Features:

• Shows great compatibility with Premiere Pro, FCPX, After Effects and other non-linear editors
• Offers 35mm, indie 16mm and vintage 8mm grain scan free
• Can be used in any kind of projects

3. Free 35mm Film Grain

This free film grain tool is from vegasaur. As its name is completely suggesting, it is a real free film grain having real 35mm film. It is a great option as it comes with a Composite and Blend Mode support.

Features:

• Completely supports Windows and Mac operating system
• Comes with full security and doesn’t contain malicious stuff
• Quality isn’t compromised

4. Free 4K Film Grain

Here is the next free film grain tool that assists you in adding this effect in an easy manner. You just need to provide your email and subscribe to this website. They will then send you the product.

Features:

• Various editing programs are supported comprising Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or After Effects.
• A reliable platform to give your digital media a cinematic look with an authentic grainy effect

5. RPStock

RPStock allows you to select from a wide collection of 10 free film grain overlays. With the help of this too, simply place one of the selected grain clips on your footage. Adjust eh Blending mode followed by adjusting opacity and help yourselves to get the satisfied results.

Features:

• Offers 3840x2160 UHD quality
• Simple to use when you want a dramatic look in your clip

6. FREE 4K FILM GRAIN

This website claims to equip you with the most versatile looks that can enhance your clips in all aspects. One can take advantage of the analog look via this free film grain tool.

Features:

• Works better along with the transparency effect
• User-friendly interface

7. Super 8 film grain look

On seventh, we have this super 8 film grain look. Within a few steps, you can reach the results in no minutes.

Features:

• Can work in Adobe Premiere Pro

8. 16mm 4k/UHD film grain

Here is the last free film grain that you can use to serve your purpose. This tool offers 10 second 29.97fps film grain at 50% luminosity.

Features:

• The clips made through this tool can be used in 25fps, 24fps, 23.976fps and 30fps projects even when the frame rate is 29.97fps
• 35mm, 16mm and 8mm files are provided

Part 3: How to Add Film Grain to After Effects

When you want to have a film grain effect using After Effects, you need to look at the Preview viewing mode that shows the results of what you do to your project. Here is how to do it.

1. Preview: This will allow you to notice the current settings of the effect that you have applied. It will show you this in a 200x200 pixel area.
2. Blending Matte: This will let you see the results of the Blend settings as the current color matte or mask. Or you can see the combination of both.
3. Final Output: It provides the total active frame and uses the effect’s current settings.
4. Now, you are supposed to make adjustments to the controls for the effect. This can be done in the Effect Controls panel. The changes made will be shown in the preview area located in the “Composition” panel.
5. Lastly, select the Final Output given in the Viewing Mode control.

Conclusion

This was a small effort from us to make you familiarize with the film grain effect. We also introduced you to the free film grain to make your burden low. We hope that our endeavor helped you to some extent. You can share your experience and views on this post with us. Simply drop the comment below and tell us if you have any doubts. Besides, stay tunes for more such helpful topics in future. Thanks for giving time to read this!

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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