If you haven’t seen the music video, check it out at the bottom of the post. Before and after shots also at the bottom.

I did all my grading in Davinci Resolve Lite. It was perfect timing because the new version came out about a week before I began. To read my article about the new version of Davinci Resolve Lite, CLICK HERE.   

AT A GLANCE:

When I was handed the project, I didn’t have a specific look the director or DP wanted me to follow. This was great because it allowed me to try out different idea’s and put my own take on the style.

GRADING:

The first thing I did was create a lone Serial node. This was more or less my ‘equalization’ node. It put all the colors where they needed to be. And it was from there I applied the different styles I was going for.

Initially, I added a bit of contrast, and upped the skin tones in the white bedroom scene. After showing the director and the producer the first draft of the scene, they decided they wanted it to be stylized. They asked me to do another draft that had all of the skins tones a bit desaturated to create a ‘white cast’. Once they saw the second draft, we actually decided to split the difference, landing the final grade VERY close the original footage.

In the bar scenes the first order of business was taking out all the green tones (assumedly from the florescents). I also spent a lot of time focusing the attention on the main subjects (i.e. the band or bar tender). Do this, I used windows on a parallel node to isolateand put a ‘spotlight’ where necessary.

Additionally, I not only focused the light on key pieces of the frame, but significantly brought down distractingly bright pieces of the scene. In all these shots I used Resolve’s built in 3D tracker to track the window into the shot. The tracker is magical. That thing tracks windows like white on rice. USE IT.

My favorite shots to work on were the ones in the cottonwoods. These really gave me a chance to direct the light, and accentuate the sunlight. This is one of my favorite things to do stylistically to both video and photos. I will intentionally wash out one corner of the frame, and subtly darken the opposite. It creates a very dynamic effect.

Last to grade were the dark bedroom scenes. For these shots, I first added a bit of contrast and made sure they were all matching. Then I added a very subtle mist effect on the outskirts of the subject. For this I once again tracked in a window, and used the mist on a parallel node.

WORKFLOW:

I figured I’d save the boring part for last.

The workflow I used was essentially a Final Cut Pro round trip. I got a full resolution ProRes file from the editor, exported out of Final Cut. Aditionally, I received the EDL from that exported timeline. I imported them both and Resolve which the EDL to make the appropriate cuts in the video file. This system worked flawlessly.

Once I finished grading, I exported the clips out, and generated a FCP file for the editor to reference the exported material. Easy!

The only thing that is tricky using this method is the lack of flexibility on the editorial side. Once I had rendered out the graded footage, there were no handles for the editor to work with, since Resolve sliced up the full length Quicktime. This same workflow can be done using handles (upon import), but the music video was already at picture-lock, so there was no point in going through the extra steps.

BEFORE AND AFTER:

Here are some before and after spit screens:

‘SLOW BURN’ by REBEKAH WIGGINS:

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I used Resolve Lite to do all the color grading… An article on BTS of the color grading will be posted soon.

Here are some stills:

Enjoy!

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Yesterday Resolve announced it’s update to Resolve Lite, moving from Version 8 to Version 8.1.

Along with classic bug fixes and compatibility fixes, Resolve added one more feature to their “not so trial style” software… Unlimited Color Correction nodes!

This is huge. In the release previous, the user was limited to two. This was a great treat alone because you were still able to use all the tools of the $995 version, but just in a limited capacity.

Some of the bigger things that you ARE limited to in the Lite release:

Can only Grade and export in 1080p

EXTREMELY Limited Stereoscopic support

No Realtime Noise Reduction

No support for Resolve Control Surface

… Yes, that’s it.

For the traditional indie filmmaker, this version is PERFECT. Especially considering the pricetag. Very few low budget filmmakers are mastering in 2k, and even fewer are diving into 3D. So go grab it, play with it, and enjoy!

DaVinci Resolve Lite

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Best of BTS

There is something about seeing those old pictures that ground me in what is most important in filmmaking. It’s all movie magic.

Modern day filmmakers are so much different than those of our previous generations, and I think a lot of times it’s easy for us to put today’s technology on a pedestal. I feel like with each week we deem a new product more necessary than the next. More dynamic range, less grain, better bit rates, and new sensor technology. All these things are good… But they make us loose sight of why we are making movies. Out goes our ambitions of scripting the next man who’s “Mad as Hell,” or rediscovering our mortal enemy is “my father”, and in comes our concern over what LCD feild monitor to use.

Don’t get me wrong, with new technology, comes new filmmaking, I’m not denying that. But just remember why we do this. To make movie magic.

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What you DIDN’T see coming: Now, Automatic Duck is offering all of their old products… FO FREE!

That only leads me to think, why would they be giving their sole product away for free? The only answer I have: Adobe has something up their sleeve that is even better than what Automatic Duck had to offer. I’m at the edge of my seat, and downloading this right now!!

Automatic Duck… FO FREE

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I have always been a skeptic of the MacBook Air… It seems like such a dumbed down computer that it would not ever be worth the cost of the thing. In addition, no 3g (this seems only logical to have considering it angles to the “mobile” market), low end specs, and very little RAM… Well, I will now hold judgement.

Simon Richardson, at Escape Studios, is now going to test the feasibility of running a compositing program on the measily MacBook Air. And hopefully, he will shatter my conceptions.

Simon’s Post at Escape Studios

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http://daredreamermag.com/2011/10/27/do-you-wanna-be-a-filmmaker-then-make-films/

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The Epic is capable of shooting 120fps at 4k, in the Red RAW format, which is what the entire video is comprised of. ISO’s varied from 800-2000

One Degree from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

Vincent shot 45 minutes after sunset at Mono Lake in California. His gear consisted of:

-Red EPIC

-Red Canon EF Mount adapter (Not released yet)

-Red 2X Canon Teleconverter (B&H LINK)

-Canon 600mm f4 EF Lens (B&H LINK)

-O’Connor 1030 HD tripod head (B&H LINK)

To read Vincent’s blog post on his experience, check it out here (LINK).

I highly recommend checking back at Vincent’s blog often. It has a wealth of information.

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/

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 ”7 minutes at 68°F in Ansco 47 for Isopan” represents “normal” to me. I have no idea what the actual effective gamma is, nor do I care. I could consider this degree of development as yielding Gamma = 1.0 or being Development No. 9 or Operation H, or any other symbol I choose. But why should I inject an unnecessary and confusing symbol for a perfectly simple statement of procedure? “Isopan/Ansco 47/68°F/7minutes” is definite and easily expressed and understood as the means of obtaining my ”normal” negative.”

Admittedly, I do pride my technical prowess. Often I will get caught up in different technical nuances, but it’s these gentle words from the masters that remind me to keep things simple, and worry more about the art of your creations.

I pulled this quote off of wikipedia, in their Gamma Correction article… As I was getting wrapped up in understanding how film reacts to light in a logarithmic fashion… But we can save that for another day.

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