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Can we talk about the post/grading on The Desolation of Smaug?


Richard Swearinger

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In Variety, Peter Jackson said that in The Desolation he worked to address criticisms that Part 1 looked too much like high-def video:

 

By tweaking the picture digitally, he says, he was able to keep the advantages of HFR, he says, but tone down the hi-def-video look. “I was experimenting all the time and trying different things. It’s to do with diffusing the image a little but, using what’s called a Pro-Mist; it’s the saturation of the color. Scene by scene I’d make decisions and choices as to which way to go, so it wasn’t really one magic button to press.”

When I saw the picture last night (in 2D) some of the scenes, even though sharp, seemed on the higher side with regard to halation and flare; they looked almost milky, some of them.

 

Now, my question is this: Is it better to under-difuse a little because you know the downstream technology will multiply any effects you add? Or is it a case where the digital diffusion you see on your monitor is exactly what the audience will see?

 

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I can't imagine that Diffusion was able to solve the problems that the first film had. That was entirely down to the 48fps. If you choose to shoot and project in a way which is essentially Interlaced as far as the look goes, your end product is always going to look like a daytime soap opera. Using Promists was always one of the 'magical' solutions that people had for making video look like film. It didn't work back in the day of interlaced, and I'd be amazed if it worked now.

 

HFR was always a solution in search of a problem in my opinion.

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Issues were highly visible in the river chase seen where the water splashing looked strange; I'm sure it had to do with the frame rate. My 10 year old said that the "film & effects looked bad on that part…like they used a cheap camera or something…"

 

Out of the mouths of babes...

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