CC your footage

[Rich Hibner]

Is it common for most DP's wanting to color correct their own footage to achieve the look desired? Is there a a happy medium?

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Personally, I always try to get a color correct on my footage.

[Rich Hibner]

I feel the same way. I know with bigger productions I'm sure it's impossible to CC your own footage, but it would be nice to on something Indie.

[Andrew Koch]

Could you be more specific about what you mean in reference to color correction? Are you referring to timing the film for a print because the closest you could get to that would be to specify specific printer lights (which is perfectly reasonable). Or are you referring to a DI suite, a telecine session, or a tape to tape color correction, or something on an NLE like Avid or FCP?

 

Personally the last couple of things I shot, we transferred the film to D5 HD tape flat to protect as much information and then once the footage was cut together I did the color correction myself on an Avid. The only reason I did it this way was because the budget was ridiculously tight and there was not enough money to do a scene to scene color correction in a professional suite with a professional colorist charging several hundred dollars per hour. If there were more money I would have absolutely gone with an experienced colorist. It would have been well worth the money.

 

A good colorist is a privilege and an invaluable collaborator. Sure, I know how to use scopes and basic tools and can do decent color correction myself if I have to, but this doesn't even come close to the skill and finesse of someone who has been doing it for many years and is an expert at what they do. They can also work much faster because of their experience and can have great ideas as well. They are also working with calibrated equipment and hopefully a room designed specifically for color correction with the right lighting and painted tones on the wall for more optimum viewing conditions. If you are working with the negative, there is much more options and dynamic range to work with because changes can be made from the film chain before going to tape or disk.

 

I think Rich's argument is that the Cinematographer has more control when doing it him/herself, but I would disagree to a point. If the cinematographer is supervising the color timing and discussing with the colorist what he/she wants and is clear about his/her intentions, then the Cinematographer has more control because the colorist can make this look happen. Cinematographers can be as specific as they want to be, it shouldn't matter that someone else more experienced with the controls is physically operating the machinery. Of course if the cinematographer is not present or not involved with the color timing, then it becomes difficult maintaining the intended look.

 

I sometimes hear Cinematographers discuss the difficulties of working with a director who wants to control everything to the detriment of the film. I too have dealt with directors like this. Instead of being a collaborator and drawing from the talent of their crew, they tell everyone, including the cinematographer, how to do their job, or even try to do their job for them (grabbing the camera from the operator, going straight to the gaffer and telling them how to light a scene without discussing with the DP, etc...) An experienced director knows that he/she can't do everything and that's why he/she hires people who specialize in different things.

 

I think the same should be true for cinematographers. Great cinematographers know ALOT and bring a high level of expertise to projects, but a major part of what makes them great is their crew. They surround themselves with good, creative people, like gaffers, key grips, and even colorists and they know how to communicate with these people. These people can work out the technical kinks and allow the cinematographer the time to step back and think about the image and the story.

[Rich Hibner]

Andrew, thanks for bringing that up. It's more for Avid/Premiere/FCP. I do believe that arbitrary decisions to not delegate can make for a major hassle for yourself and the people who are designed to do their job. I agree with you, taking control. But I also agree it takes collaboration. If I'm lighting a scene and have a certain mood in mind, and then it gets to the time line and I think it needs to a different look, diff temp, saturation, I'd like to be able to mess with the settings, possibly giving the person doing the cc and idea of what I'm aiming for. But the line of work I do now definitely can't afford a person separate than the editor to CC.