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Color calibration and different viewing platforms


Justin Oakley

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Whats up.

 

Hopefully I can articulate this properly.

 

Ok, so I made a micro short. It looked good when edited and color graded. I uploaded it to Vimeo...still looked good. When I watch it on my phone or MacBook, I like what I see. Theres no real color or contrast difference when viewing from these.

 

So I uploaded the film to my YouTube channel so I could watch it on my tv.

 

It looked like total CRAP. In addition to this gross, kind of muddy look, the colors look more desaturated, contrast looks off, dark areas looked wicked dark, etc. again...really gray and desaturated.

 

So I kept jacking with the color settings on my tv to get it looking as sharp as possible...with a color at least damn close to how it looks on my computer and smartphone.

 

In my mind, its the tv that is messed up since my image looks good on two other machines. But heres the thing that really confuses me, I can watch movies and shows on my tv and they look normal.

 

Where is the disconnect here?

 

Ok, so the film was selected for a film fest and will be screened during the shorts block. Fantastic!

 

I had a couple Blu-rays made. I got them in today and popped one into the player. It looks slightly better than the YouTube video did. Colors still look...meh. Again, more desaturated than I would like.

 

Is there something I need to do to my tv screen or what?

 

It HAS to be the tv screen right?

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How does the youtube video look on a computer monitor? What kind of TV is it? TV shows and movies are often saturated more to make them look good on a variety of old and new sets.

Its been a couple months but if I remember correctly, since I deleted it from YouTube pretty much right after, it looked ok. Not as good as Vimeo. But not as crappy as it did on the tv.

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It's absolutely the TV screen.

God I hope so.

 

I really hate the idea of creating a somewhat watchable micro short and then having it look like trash in front of an audience. I had a Blu-ray and a DCP made...since it will be screened in an actual theater.

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God I hope so.

 

I really hate the idea of creating a somewhat watchable micro short and then having it look like trash in front of an audience. I had a Blu-ray and a DCP made...since it will be screened in an actual theater.

Ask for the contrast levels they set the projection at... if that's even a thing?

 

Haven't personally been to a screening of any of my shorts yet.

Edited by Macks Fiiod
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Ask for the contrast levels they set the projection at... if that's even a thing?

 

Haven't personally been to a screening of any of my shorts yet.

I wouldnt even know how to go about doing that. Its at the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd...and I live in North Carolina. I havent been to one either.

 

There are two local theaters here and I asked yesterday if I could possibly test the DCP file there. Hopefully they let me.

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Hmmm. YouTube material, not mine, generally looks correct on my TV. I also have the Vimeo app, and my videos on the vimeo/TV combination also look correct.

 

When you upload to Vimeo or YouTube, these services take your original material and re-render it to multiple versions for streaming. And this is where I think the issue may be.

 

From my experience, I've found that uploading ProRes or DNXhr 4:2:2 gives the best results for re-rendering to the YouTube or Vimeo versions. I have more experience with Vimeo, and find that they do not to well with 4:4:4 12 bit codecs, hence the recommendation for 4:2:2 ProRes.

 

Also keep in mind that playback through a web browser also changes the look of the image, depending on the web browser. And playback of your file through the Quicktime player has problems all of it's own. But, usually this is where the image looks more washed out.

 

At this point, since you have the festival screening coming up, I would take your versions to a professional colorist, with properly calibrated equipment, to trouble shoot your issues. It kind of sounds like some video levels vs. data levels confusion going on.

 

If you've color graded your film yourself, using uncalibrated equipment, and without knowledge of the video/data level issues, chances are that you've made some error somewhere in your workflow. When you brought your project to the DCP house, did you tell them something like "original is REC709, gamma 2.4, full range data"? They need to know this to properly create your DCP to the correct levels and gamma. If you are not familiar with these issues, it's time to consult with a pro before your screening.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You have to color grade for different venues. Same with prints. Some papers requires different files for printing. Also a file for the monitor / internet viewing may be different from the print file.

 

Here is an example of what I'm talking about with prints.

 

https://danielteolijr.wordpress.com/2017/07/30/papers-and-printers-matter/

 

Just make a custom grading for YT.

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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Just make a custom grading for YT.

That end of it is nearly impossible to figure out sometimes. Youtube seems to change its contrast levels depending on the file format/size.

 

Vimeo needs to take over.. and fast.

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