'film' grading, A1 + Letus Extreme
- Thread starter PaPa
- Start date
Taylor Rudd
Veteran
Damn Papa, this looks great. Mind drawing up a quick lighting diagram for that last post? It looks killer.
Taylor Rudd
Veteran
Well I suck at lighting 
maybe we can teach one another? (I suck at photoshop, too, though...)
maybe we can teach one another? (I suck at photoshop, too, though...)
Shooter
Veteran
Sorry that I have not followed the entire thread but I saw the start and now the end.
First thoughts eg very first image at start of thread. This run and gun shot was not lit so was very flat and shapeless. The skin tones are washed out andover exposed. This does not give much scope to cc and grade with.
Other thought - I see a lot of mpeg as source. I have no idea what color space this is in but I doubt that it is 4:2:2 or better. This would be a major hindrance to getting a spectacular cc and grade.
Back lighting is part of shaping and defining subjects (modelling). Its important to use it where appropriate - so I would say - the lack of it shows and worries me..
First thoughts eg very first image at start of thread. This run and gun shot was not lit so was very flat and shapeless. The skin tones are washed out andover exposed. This does not give much scope to cc and grade with.
Other thought - I see a lot of mpeg as source. I have no idea what color space this is in but I doubt that it is 4:2:2 or better. This would be a major hindrance to getting a spectacular cc and grade.
Back lighting is part of shaping and defining subjects (modelling). Its important to use it where appropriate - so I would say - the lack of it shows and worries me..
jenningsp
Well-known member
shooter. the source is HDV. which is 8 bit 4:2:0. i think papa's grading the raw HDV within premier. so the colour space would be a bit limiting... papa, you could convert what you've cut to uncompressed then grade in after effects in a 16 or 32bit project. that would open up a bit more room because even though you're dealing with a limited source, you can create more colours by grading.
back lighting is overrated
back lighting is overrated
PaPa
Major Contributor
Ya, im doing HDV in premier.
How can i convert 420 to uncompressed? Regardless of how i transfer my data, the color space and information that is in the image will remain unchanged. not sure how After effects deals with that but that only makes sense to me.
Shooter, it's unfortunate that you only saw the first page and hte last because the first page is ... well.. the first page and there is a multitude of improvements that are shown as you scan through the pages. I agree with you, backlighting is part of shaping your subjects, but i am a believer in motivational lighting ( for this project ). There is a backlight in the image above, but it is not very strong due to the character wearing black. We have 0 budget so we are working with the lights which i have available to me, so the strongest one we have is a 1k. Pop the blue gel on it and it turns into a 250 watter... So yes, there are restrictions. But head back a few pages and you'll see a difference.
How can i convert 420 to uncompressed? Regardless of how i transfer my data, the color space and information that is in the image will remain unchanged. not sure how After effects deals with that but that only makes sense to me.
Shooter, it's unfortunate that you only saw the first page and hte last because the first page is ... well.. the first page and there is a multitude of improvements that are shown as you scan through the pages. I agree with you, backlighting is part of shaping your subjects, but i am a believer in motivational lighting ( for this project ). There is a backlight in the image above, but it is not very strong due to the character wearing black. We have 0 budget so we are working with the lights which i have available to me, so the strongest one we have is a 1k. Pop the blue gel on it and it turns into a 250 watter... So yes, there are restrictions. But head back a few pages and you'll see a difference.
jenningsp
Well-known member
you could do it a couple of ways....
you could do the after effects way, which is probably the best, or you could do it all within premier.
The after effects way…
Have a final cut of your scene/film in premier in HDV. remove all your colour grading and filters and what not from your clips. Import the project into after effects. From premier it’s a smooth transition.
Then basically you set up your after effects project to use a 32bit float colour space. And then you do all your colour grading. You can also deartefact and denoise your footage to get rid of some of the HDV faults. And when you export, don’t go back to HDV… export it as 4:4:4 uncompressed.
Yes you’re starting with an 8 bit 4:2:0 image. But if you use the 32bit float method, when you grade your footage and play with the curves, you’re creating more colours and more information than originally there. So it helps to use more bits.
The other simpler, but not as good, way is to do it all within premier. Now i’m not familiar with premier so I’ll assume it’s similar to FCP and talk about it like that…
Again. You want to have a final cut of your scene/film in HDV and remove all the filters. Then create a new project with an uncompressed timeline and then you colour grade and deartefact in that timeline.
Using these methods helps in varying degrees depending what you’re doing and the source… most of the time you probably won’t notice a difference. In a project I did earlier this year. I had to make everything red like it was a dark room. We shot the scene with daylight balanced light and it all looked normal. When we pushed it all red in DVCproHD, the edges looked horrible… i didn't have after effects at the time so i had to use the second method in FCP. i tried prores, but it still looked awful... My editing machine couldn’t deal with uncompressed… so the only codec that worked properly in FCP was photojpeg.
hope that helps
you could do the after effects way, which is probably the best, or you could do it all within premier.
The after effects way…
Have a final cut of your scene/film in premier in HDV. remove all your colour grading and filters and what not from your clips. Import the project into after effects. From premier it’s a smooth transition.
Then basically you set up your after effects project to use a 32bit float colour space. And then you do all your colour grading. You can also deartefact and denoise your footage to get rid of some of the HDV faults. And when you export, don’t go back to HDV… export it as 4:4:4 uncompressed.
Yes you’re starting with an 8 bit 4:2:0 image. But if you use the 32bit float method, when you grade your footage and play with the curves, you’re creating more colours and more information than originally there. So it helps to use more bits.
The other simpler, but not as good, way is to do it all within premier. Now i’m not familiar with premier so I’ll assume it’s similar to FCP and talk about it like that…
Again. You want to have a final cut of your scene/film in HDV and remove all the filters. Then create a new project with an uncompressed timeline and then you colour grade and deartefact in that timeline.
Using these methods helps in varying degrees depending what you’re doing and the source… most of the time you probably won’t notice a difference. In a project I did earlier this year. I had to make everything red like it was a dark room. We shot the scene with daylight balanced light and it all looked normal. When we pushed it all red in DVCproHD, the edges looked horrible… i didn't have after effects at the time so i had to use the second method in FCP. i tried prores, but it still looked awful... My editing machine couldn’t deal with uncompressed… so the only codec that worked properly in FCP was photojpeg.
hope that helps
Last edited:
PaPa
Major Contributor
http://www.vimeo.com/2785948
another one of the flashbacks we shot today for the film
password is tight
The sounds are rough at the moment and the effects are very temporary. Missing the sound of the gun falling as well as the body, and a proper effect flash on the side of the actors face.
cheers!
another one of the flashbacks we shot today for the film
password is tight
The sounds are rough at the moment and the effects are very temporary. Missing the sound of the gun falling as well as the body, and a proper effect flash on the side of the actors face.
cheers!
armisiano
Veteran
armisiano
Veteran
The colors are nice on the supermarket shots, but the lighting's a bit too staged looking in my opinion. I can imagine shooting in a grocery store using the regular store lighting is probably way too dim though, so I can imagine the difficulty. Know that I give these critiques/opinions with the utmost respect for your work.
Chris Light
Veteran
the first scene (the circle)...reminds me of that 70s show pot circle...till the guy offs himself...the color and skin tones are great, lighting etc is top notch, but i don't care for the spray-on sweat thing...too much i guess. i am in no position to be critical, so i say these things lightly. great work sofar though....i love the process of filmmaking and seeing it coming together. thanks for sharing!
Chris
Chris