Saturation in Prod. Design

[Marc Levy]

I am shooting a scene that will end up having the "bleach-bypass" Avid plugin applied to it. I want desaturation (among other things) - but want to retain the almost metallic luster that bleach-bypass creates in the colors. O.K. My question is, should the color palette of the prod. design (wardrobe specifically) be desaturated, or would the desaturation in post make it too desaturated? More generally, when desaturation is the aim and bleach-bypass is done, should one desaturate the palette, or keep the colors vibrant and rely on the photochemical process to desaturate the image?

 

Next question:

I'm going for quite cool and high contrast in a beach, day exterior. In addition to the Avid bleach-bypass plugin, are there any recommendations on ways I should shoot it to get the negative closer to the desired look (filters, etc.)? Or, should I shoot it as clean as possible?

 

Thanks, this is a long one.

[Michael Nash]

Color saturation is something you would have to test for the results you want to achieve. If overall desaturation is your aim, then desaturate everything (see David's Mullen's Northfork , and my accompanying article http://cinematography.com/articles/northfork/ ;) If you want some colors to stand out, leave them saturated. For example, it's common to make fake blood extra saturated so that it still appears red after bleach bypass, but "how much" looks right is up to you. You'll want to find a balance between skin tones and wardrobe/production design. Test.

 

For your beach scene you might be better off shooting clean, since it's likely to be high-contrast lighting already (assuming it's sunny). Since you're posting electronically, this should give you the most amount of control.

[Marc Levy]

Thanks. I was thinking the same.