Dealing with Highlights

[Bob Hayes]

I am constantly battling highlights that cause the telecine operator the clamp the image in telecine. This is the scenario. I have a window that is blown out and looks great. When I am doing a television show the telecine operator says he has to clamp the picture so the post guy doesn?t have problems latter. Then this great looking image turns rather muddy. When I am TCing a 35mm feature for DVD and Television the colorist says he has to clamp it so Germany will accept the shot. Once again it looses it?s ?pop?. What is the solution.

[Bob Hayes]

Also, how many stops over key does a highlight have to be before it becomes a problem in telecine.

[David Mullen ASC]

I've pretty much written off Germany in terms of getting a transfer that pleases both of us. Sometimes you have to do a separate "German TV" PAL transfer that is really flat and gray (they hate warm colors too, as well as black shadows.)

 

In terms of highlights, you have to keep your whites at 100 IRE or below for a video transfer. Using "soft clipping" and even luminence keys (offered in some telecine bays) allows you to control the rest of the image's luminence separately from the white areas. Otherwise you end up lowering the brightness of everything just for the white areas.

 

But a transfer with too many or too large clipped or crushed areas will get rejected by German TV, hence the flat transfer for them.

 

Has been less of an issue lately for some reason -- I think it's because I haven't shot as many straight to video features intended for the international television and home video market. For the theatrical features, you have more leeway in terms of recreating the look of the theatrical prints (as I did with the "Northfork" transfer -- haven't heard any complaints yet from Germany, but then, it hasn't been sold to them yet.)

 

Transferring from a more contrasty film element like a low-con print (as opposed to the flatter IP) sort of limits how flat they can make the transfer. You can even send the low-con print to Germany and have them transfer it themselves if they keep rejecting your transfer.

 

I've pretty much resigned myself to not watching my movies on TV should I be in Germany...

[Mitch Gross]

I know of a few transfer facilities in NYC that have a "German TV" tape-to-tape color correction preset. You make your normal telecine and then they flatten out the image for the German TV tape master. Sad but true. Many projects are also hampered by the byzantine hoops the BBC often require, like that stupid 14:9 formatting. I'm sure there's a special place in Phil's heart for that one.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Well thank God I shoot very little stuff for broadcast. The only time it tripped me up was on a jimmy jib shot where frankly I had enough to worry about...

 

I spent some time as a formatting editor at Classic FM TV where everything was forcibly reformatted 14:9; in those circumstances it is actually handy to have a common target although I was able to send some stuff through letterboxed.

 

Phil

[Michael Nash]

Also, how many stops over key does a highlight have to be before it becomes a problem in telecine.

That's a bit of a moving target, unfortunately. It's variable with the native gamma of the film stock and the gamma of the telecine setup. You really kind of have to narrow it down to a particular stock on a particular telecine at a particular facility with a particular colorist who knows the look you want. Easy, right? ;-)

 

I've seen stuff that was three stops over start to burn on older telecines, and stuff that's five stops over hold every bit of detail under 100 IRE on others. In general the newer and better the telecine, the more control over highlights you have. Most Kodak Vision stocks have a gently sloping shoulder curve and will hold highlights best in telecine. Older EXR stocks have a straighter gamma curve and will clip more quickly. I'm less familiar with Fuji.