Would anyone like to help make a "Children of Men" A1 preset?

DammitJanet

DammitJanet

Well-known member
I've been very pleased with the VIVIDRGB and bleach bypass presets I've come across on DvInfo, and I'm interested in making some of my own. However, I find things work better (and faster) when you have more people sharing ideas together. To that end, I was recently watching Children of Men, and I was struck by the look that some of the scenes had. I know most people prefer to get footage as clean as possible and then color correct in post, but I think sometimes it's fun to shoot for a specific look in camera and get as much of the hard work done right out of the gate. If nothing else, it's fun to experiment.

So I grabbed some shots that really stuck out to me. Particularly the last two. I think each would require a separate preset, but those were my favorites of each style. I'm thinking it would be fun to do a sort of bleach bypass, but leaving in more color than what Juan Diaz did with his preset (http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=86026). I'd also like to try to up the dirt/grit factor (perhaps by contrast adjustment in post...open to suggestion). Anyway, I haven't attempted any other presets yet, so those who have would have more suggestions than I can muster. That said, if anyone would like to help, feel free to chip in here.

:dankk2:

children1.jpg


children2.jpg
 
COM was shot with :

Kodak's Vision 2 Expression 500T Color Negative Film 5229 / 7229 is a low-contrast, low-color film. With soft, smooth flesh tones and superb shadow detail

A quote from Emmanuel Lubezki

“On this film, we stuck with ideas such as long takes, only one lens, strictly natural light and always being close to the action; you can’t actually feel like you’re in the action without having the camera close to it.”

-

As far as coloring goes; there's much more to mimicking that style and look than changing the color palette.
 
You know what I think ... Colorista. Shoot a well balanced picture and do the correcting in post. It's a program totally worth the two bills. Totally easy to use and being able to have multiple instances on clips gives you tons of options.
 
ulysseshead said:
You know what I think ... Colorista. Shoot a well balanced picture and do the correcting in post. It's a program totally worth the two bills. Totally easy to use and being able to have multiple instances on clips gives you tons of options.
Click to expand...

I second this recommendation. Protect your highlights. Shoot it flat, then color in post.

A film work flow does not necessarily work for a HDV work flow.

Shoot clean, grade/CC in post.
 
Well, I had a feeling this would happen. I appreciate the feedback so far, but I'm not trying to revolutionize workflows here. Let me clarify my intent as I seem to have been misunderstood. As my post says, this is just for fun. It also says I'm well aware that most of the time shooting flat first is the way to go, but I'm not really looking for suggestions on tried and true methods this time. I like to experiment, and sometimes that experimentation gives way to some unique results. I'm going to keep messing around for the sake of experimentation and I encourage anyone else with said interest to share their results here. If I've put this post in the wrong section or something, please let me know and I will ask the mod to move it.

:)
 
DammitJanet said:
I like to experiment, and sometimes that experimentation gives way to some unique results. I'm going to keep messing around for the sake of experimentation and I encourage anyone else with said interest to share their results here.
Click to expand...

So what have you come up with so far? Maybe we could contribute better based on your starting point?
 
My partner has the A1 until Saturday, so I haven't gotten to shoot any test footage yet, but I've been playing with XHTuner and tweaking some bleach bypass footage I shot in Vegas to see about proper color balance. At the moment I'm also editing an A1/M2 test video I shot this past spring that I think people should really see if they're considering the A1 or the M2. If I can find someone to host it this week (It's like 230 megs) I'll try and shoot some samples with my test presets and give everybody else an idea of what I'm shooting for.

Stay tuned, and thanks for the interest. :)
 
DammitJanet said:
My partner has the A1 until Saturday, so I haven't gotten to shoot any test footage yet, but I've been playing with XHTuner and tweaking some bleach bypass footage I shot in Vegas to see about proper color balance. At the moment I'm also editing an A1/M2 test video I shot this past spring that I think people should really see if they're considering the A1 or the M2. If I can find someone to host it this week (It's like 230 megs) I'll try and shoot some samples with my test presets and give everybody else an idea of what I'm shooting for.

Stay tuned, and thanks for the interest. :)
Click to expand...

I am really wanting to see some M2+A1 footage... I know Marlon has posted some really good stuff but I would like to see the combination of the adapter and camera in someone else's hand that isn't an After effects / Photoshop wizard... : ) No offense Marlon... I just like to get a good feel for the overall capabilities in different varieties of styles and people...
 
But in camera settings will only take you so far... the real art happens in post where the possibilities are endless!
 
I actually tried to replicate this look a while ago - in post though, not in-camera. Not sure how successful I was, but here is the preset applied to some photos of london.

original
com-vp-off.jpg

graded
com-vp-on.jpg

original
com-vp2-off.jpg

graded
com-vp2-on.jpg


Looking at it now with fresh eyes, it seems as it may be too green.
 
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It seems to me that you need to basically crush the blacks, desaturate a bit and play with the color balance, probably to look very slightly biased towards the green.

Cinegamma 2
Black Press
Master Ped -3 or lower
Low Knee
Color Gain -10 (or lower, depending on taste)
Play with the color matrix

Try downloading the Console demo. It has an automatic "looks" feature which will give you lots of different variations in color and settings that you can choose from.
 
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dougster77 said:
I am really wanting to see some M2+A1 footage... I know Marlon has posted some really good stuff but I would like to see the combination of the adapter and camera in someone else's hand that isn't an After effects / Photoshop wizard... : ) No offense Marlon... I just like to get a good feel for the overall capabilities in different varieties of styles and people...
Click to expand...


I'm still trying to get my newest (and best) M2+A1 video hosted (any volunteers?). It's at 720p and the file is a .mov at 168MB, so...I guess I'll just get it up as soon as I find a place to put it. Hang in there. :thumbsup:
 
qazwsx said:
I actually tried to replicate this look a while ago - in post though, not in-camera. Not sure how successful I was, but here is the preset applied to some photos of london.

original
com-vp-off.jpg

graded
com-vp-on.jpg

original
com-vp2-off.jpg

graded
com-vp2-on.jpg


Looking at it now with fresh eyes, it seems as it may be too green.
Click to expand...

That's great, I like it a lot.
 
DammitJanet said:
I'm still trying to get my newest (and best) M2+A1 video hosted (any volunteers?). It's at 720p and the file is a .mov at 168MB, so...I guess I'll just get it up as soon as I find a place to put it. Hang in there. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I can host it for you if you like. Shoot me a PM.
 
This is the small, very very quick, test that I did. This is Colorista. Check it out and let me know what you think.

~John
 

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