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Good forum for color-correction


Charles Boileau

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Hi,

 

I'm looking for a less technical forum on color-correction/DI. Somewhere where people discuss looks etc...

 

I'm not too sure this would be the right place.

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Charles Boileau

www.chuckntwist.com

Montreal, Canada

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I've been looking for a forum like that too. I think it would be a great idea, even if parts of it were technical, like explaining how the look was achieved, what adjustments/keys/shapes/tracking would be needed, etc. An all encompassing color correction forum would be very useful because it has (and still is) becoming such a critical, yet often overlooked, component in filmmaking.

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Here's my interpretation of how "looks" get established:

 

- Colorist gets partway through normalising a shot.

- Director says it looks nice

- Colorist seizes this gift in both hands, and develops, through much reference to a thesaurus, a complex rationale justifying said look, and posts it on TIG.

- Director, colorist, and their associates promote colorist's highly-skilled creativity among fellow industry sophisticats during quaffing sessions at local alehouse.

- Michael Most appears on Cinematography.com and encourages us to believe that said look cannot be achieved using any equipment with a price tag under seven figures.

- Look becomes popular among by micro-budget nobodies with a cracked bootleg of Premiere 4.

- Look becomes passé.

- Repeat

 

I'm not sure how well this "forum" idea is going to work...

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Phil, you're a funny guy, and I laugh in agreement with many of your exaggerations/half-truths, especially as an employee at a DI facility. Although I don't think people in Chicago are as boastful as clients/creatives may be in LA, or in your case, London. You must agree with the fact that high end color correction systems like DaVinci and Baselight are built not just for bragging rights and looks, but most importantly speed. And given that agencies and creative executives are becoming more stingy by not paying the cinematographer to supervise the color sessions, a colorist's experience and skill is something not to be overlooked, no matter how much he or she brags about it on TIG.

 

But in all seriousness, I also notice this recycling of looks. My motto is; once you start to see it proliferating on Vimeo, it's time for a new look.

Edited by Elliot Rudmann
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  • 4 months later...

Hi,

 

I'm looking for a less technical forum on color-correction/DI. Somewhere where people discuss looks etc...

 

I'm not too sure this would be the right place.

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Charles Boileau

www.chuckntwist.com

Montreal, Canada

 

 

www.prolost.com

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Thanks Charles! What software do you use primarily for coloring? Obviously there are some awesome high end platforms, but I've been using color consistently for the last year and find it to be the most practical for most jobs. I learned with Lynda.com which can be tedious and dry at most times, but it does a pretty good job at getting you started with the basics.

 

I'm still not entirely proficient with the ColorFX Room, but I stumbled on this link via the coloruser.net forum - curious turtle and it seems to be pretty comprehensive - debating throwing down the money for it.

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Thanks Charles! What software do you use primarily for coloring? Obviously there are some awesome high end platforms, but I've been using color consistently for the last year and find it to be the most practical for most jobs. I learned with Lynda.com which can be tedious and dry at most times, but it does a pretty good job at getting you started with the basics.

 

I'm still not entirely proficient with the ColorFX Room, but I stumbled on this link via the coloruser.net forum - curious turtle and it seems to be pretty comprehensive - debating throwing down the money for it.

 

I've been learning Speedgrade which is the most intuitive and easy to use software I ever worked on. Unfortunately, it's kinda expensive. I've had the good luck of finding a really dope mentor and a post house that was willing to hire me... Our workflow is very backwards from the way most colorists work. Whatever stage I'm at, I'm always grading the original footage. Which makes the adjustments very natural and non destructive. (colorists usually build a look and then pile on more adjustments on the look itself)

 

To my knowledge Speedgrade is the only software that enables this kind of approach. It's very layer based (while having all the different rooms you'd be used to). We also work with luts allot. I create a look with different custom tools and film luts (which is great for log footage), then I crunch that look into a 3D lut. I then re-apply the lut to the master grade (which is last in my layer order). This enables me to always work on the original footage while seeing a full result of all the layers... Kind of complicated to explain in a post, but it's very simple in reality...

 

The node system in the colorFX room is a great tool. I found a bunch of ready made effects on the web (some free). What's cool about them is that someone else spent the time figuring out, you just have to tweak them to your liking!

 

Let me know is you ever need any help with color or projects.... I'm always down!

 

Thanks!

Edited by Charles Boileau
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  • 1 year later...
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You must agree with the fact that high end color correction systems like DaVinci and Baselight are built not just for bragging rights and looks, but most importantly speed.

Speed with extremely large, uncompressed (or mildly compressed) files. Colorists turn those panels into extensions of their brains and can do amazing work in seconds. Doesn't mean similar panels/software can't be found for less money however. But put those guys in front of Apple Color or Premiere and they'll look like lost puppies until they figure out what is what; at that point their experience kicks in and they'll achieve incredible results.

 

All this "look" talk is fine but the most important thing a colorist does is know the broadcast rules and how to use scopes to make sure everything is legal. Too many "looks" are generated that would be thrown out of the broadcast booth or cause them to spend time correcting the "correction" for Blu-ray/DVD mastering or broadcast.

 

You need to know the rules to break the rules.

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