Technicolor CinemaStyle: Best Practices

[wjm]

Okay, so it's actually called CineStyle. Not a good start...

This post is a placeholder for now, and I'll be editing it on an ongoing basis. If I've gotten things horribly wrong, please PM me so I can make the appropriate changes. This currently focuses on users of FCP, Vegas, and Premiere. Other program info is welcome.

I would like for this to become a how-to for using the Technicolor CineStyle color profile. In particular, how to end up with the most pristine, well-exposed, noise-free, easy-to-edit 24P footage possible, which can be pushed pretty far in post if necessary. I'll be raiding the other thread to sift through what you guys have come up with. I use FCP, but I would like to hear from Vegas and Premiere users to make this as useful as possible.

The process I want to perfect is the capture, ingest, and final output of clean footage, de-noised, de-banded, and ready for edit. Rendering some of the 'clean-up' filter effects may be time-consuming up-front, but they are applied just once. Tweaking of individual scenes may be necessary, and your mileage may vary.

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1. Image Capture. Before ANYTHING happens, you want the cleanest image possible.
ISO: Use the following ISOs whenever possible for the least amount of noise (160*, 320, 640, 1250, 2500, 5000) All other ISOs are noisy digital trickery. *Use THIS one.
EXPOSURE: Expose to the LEFT. While this goes against all you know about these cams, do NOT let your highlights clip if at all possible when using this profile. Use Neutral Density filters liberally. As long as you don't see clipping on either side, you'll be okay. UNDER-expose.

2. Ingest. You will want to retain the most color and resolution info from the original files, so first ingest is crucial (if you're not editing proxy footage). Basic ProRes is workable, too, so HQ may be unnecessary for your project.

FCP: MPEG StreamClip or Canon EOS Plugin Conform to Apple ProRes or Apple ProRes HQ.
Premiere: MPEG Streamclip or other of choice.
Vegas: MPEG Streamclip or other of choice.

3. Filters: Since you're now playing in a larger colorspace, it might be a good idea to rid the image of any noise to reduce artifacts caused during color correction. The order in which you apply the filters DOES matter in most cases.

REMOVE NOISE:
FCP: NeatVideo ($99.00)
Provided you have a large flat section of your frame with minimal variation, this plugin will save almost any footage. Try to think ahead and get at least a small section of your image frame that the plugin can use to determine the noise structure, and you'll be golden. A quick shot of a gray card, or sky background, just for a few frames (clapper board?), can really make a difference.
VEGAS: See above
PREMIERE: See above

REDUCE MOIRE:
FCP: Marvel HDSLR Moire Filter (Donation-ware)
Although in-focus aliasing remains, color moire is effectively eliminated, making it MOSTLY a non-issue.
VEGAS: See above
PREMIERE: See above

REDUCE BANDING. This adds a dither to the footage to reduce visible banding (skies, blurry backgrounds, etc.). It's kind of 'making up' data, but in a larger color space, so it's not useless.

FCP: Reduce Banding filter
VEGAS: ?
PREMIERE: ?

5.Export to ProRes and Re-Ingest This step is optional, and is something I am testing now. If this is a relatively small project, you can now place all unedited clips (with filters applied) on a timeline, render, and then export to ProRes (or equivalent) and re-import your full clip as one, clean bit of pseudo-raw footage to edit, apply luts, CC, grade, etc. This averts having too many filters on your footage and will reduce render times. YMMV.


6. Apply LUT This is where it gets interesting, and your footage comes to life.
Apple Color: File –> Import –> Display LUT and choose the .mga file.
FCP: Use Red Giant's LutBuddy - It functions as a filter.
Vegas: ???
Premiere: ???

7. Color Correction:
After applying the LUT, the footage will start to look 'normal' (i.e. less washed out) and you can now start to CC and grade footage using your tools of choice.

Let me know how this works out for you, and if you have changes/suggestions. I am always looking for a better and faster process.

[hendosan]

Is there a way to import the LUT into Color? I don't really like working with the FCP 3-way corrector.

[ROCKMORE]

Is there a way to import the LUT into Color? I don't really like working with the FCP 3-way corrector.

Same question for Premere and AE / CS4

[wjm]

Added info for importing the lut into Color - step 6. Not sure yet about procedures for AE and Premiere. Researching...

[hendosan]

Where do I get the MGA file? The downloads only included a .lut and .txt file.

[Ted Ramasola]

Same question for Premere and AE / CS4

You can download the free LUT buddy from Red Giant, it has a version fro AE and you can use this to import the cinestyle LUT.

Also, synthetic Aperture color finesse for AE can take in the LUT. Not sure about the premier version tho.

[CF01]

Where do I get the MGA file? The downloads only included a .lut and .txt file.

Technicolor added the mga to the downloads section a few days after the initial release.

[story2rewrite]

Here's a quick coloring I did if you want to check it out. I used a photoshop technique of adding a black and white type layer(magic bullet days of night preset) to give an interesting effect.

In ae cs5 you can bring back the highlights using the levels and then draw in the bars on either side to recover.

I added s curves for various colors and adjusted levels to give more of a film look. The last thing I did was add the days of night preset for the final touch. Let me know what you think...

http://www.vimeo.com/23475817

[tackyattack]

Does the color corrector go under the LUT or over it in terms of layering in FCP?
And why do you need the LUT? Isn't it the same as just using standard picture style out of the camera?

[wjm]

You probably want to apply the lut first (TOP), then do your CC. Flip them in order and see how it affects your image.