The nitrate film‑stock look
The Nitrate look recreates the film stock cinema's first decades were shot and preserved on: deep, silver‑rich contrast, organic grain structure, and the warm decay tint that surviving nitrate prints carry today. Lost Media Emulator applies it to any footage on macOS or in Premiere Pro.
Founders launch offer50% off every license with code FOUNDERS at checkout.
What nitrate film stock looked like
Cellulose nitrate was the film base of choice for cinema's first half-century, prized for a silver‑rich contrast and organic grain structure no later stock quite reproduced. It was also chemically unstable, and the surviving prints that escaped decomposition carry a warm, amber‑tinted decay in their base -- the specific colour signature of film history's most fragile format.
- Deep, silver‑rich contrast unique to the nitrate base's chemistry
- Organic film grain distinct from later, more stable stocks
- A warm decay tint carried by surviving prints, from the base's instability
- The film stock cinema's earliest classics were shot and preserved on
What the nitrate look applies
Lost Media Emulator applies the full nitrate signature: silver‑rich contrast, organic grain and the warm decay tint of surviving prints. It reads as a genuine early‑cinema film stock rather than a generic vintage filter.
- Contrast calibrated to nitrate's distinctive silver‑rich response
- Organic grain structure matched to the stock's specific chemistry
- Decay tint tunable from a pristine archival print to a heavily aged one
- Runs in real time on macOS or non-destructively in Premiere Pro and After Effects
When to use the nitrate look
Nitrate reads as the earliest era of cinema itself -- silent film, the birth of the studio system, the fragile prints archivists race to preserve. Use it for early‑cinema period pieces, film-history documentary segments, and any project wanting this specific, historically significant film‑stock character.
- Early‑cinema and silent‑film‑era period pieces
- Film-history documentary segments referencing nitrate-era cinema
- Anywhere a modern film‑grade look reads too clean for the earliest era of motion pictures
Nitrate, answered.
- How is this different from the silent‑film look?
- Silent‑film focuses on frame‑rate and motion character from the era's cameras. Nitrate focuses specifically on the film stock itself -- its contrast, grain and decay tint -- and can be combined with other era-specific looks.
- Can I use this in Premiere Pro?
- Yes. The extension applies it non-destructively on your timeline with every parameter keyframeable, including decay‑tint intensity.
- What footage works best?
- Any clip or still works -- footage with strong tonal range shows the silver‑rich contrast most distinctly.
- How much does it cost?
- It ships in the full 91‑look library. Premiere Pro and After Effects extension $39, Mac app $49, bundle $69 (vs $88 separately). One‑time, no subscription, 14‑day guarantee.
- 14-day money-back guarantee
- One-time purchase — no subscription
- All 91 looks included
- macOS app + Premiere / After Effects