Digital color grading session

[Martin Escalante]

Hi, I will be sitting in on the the digital color grading for a feature I worked on in about a week. The process is a S16mm blown up to 35mm anamorphic using 1K digital files. We already did tests with this same process before the shoot at the same facilities and got some very good results. The feature is low budget. The only images I can work off of now to prepare are from a very low quality telecine done in Mexico. These images were our rushes and we have not been able to afford something else for the work print. As a result, I've been looking at high contrast, grainy, saturated and shaky images for the last few months (our tests done before the shoot looked much better). I know that once we get to see the images at our post facility its going to be a world of difference. But I fear that my preparation is a bit out of wak because of the very low quality of our work print. We can't spend a lot of time in the grading sessions because of budgetary and time reasons. I would appreciate any advice on how to prepare and what to have in mind as I go into this very important process. Thanks in advance -Martin

[David Cox]

Hi Martin,

 

Are you also conforming your final cut in your grading session? If so, then the most important thing is that your edit decision list is correct, and of the right format and useable by your facility. If there are any problems with it, you could end up spending a large proportion of your grading time sorting out the EDL.

 

Grading itself doesn't take very long. What takes a long time is the grading decision making process. So try to agree amongst all who attend what you are lookng for prior to your session. Perhaps take some references from films you like the look of with you. Your grading session is too expensive to sit there for hours deliberating about whether a scene should be blue or green!

 

Other than that, there's probably not too much you can do to prepare, except just be sure you are taking the right things and have a firm view in your mind as to what you want to achieve.

 

david cox

baraka post production

www.baraka.co.uk

[Keith Mottram]

If you have production stills scan them in and manipulate them in photoshop till you get as near as damn to what you want. Then take the files to the grading session (make sure your file format is compatible) then you'll have a good starting point.

 

Keith