F55: Grading House of Cards in 4K: It’s Scary Because It’s Real

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http://www.studiodaily.com/2014/06/...-scary-because-its-real/#sthash.5DqE3x6e.gbpl

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I like it, but personally I think you can feel the makeup in that screenshot, especially on Spacey. Not sure the flatness is helping therefore.
 
I think grading in real time has to be a nightmare, and each person has their own asthetic, but considering they talk about the dark political world I would have punched it up a little more like this:

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The original will actually work for more television sets. =P

Of course I like punchier as well, it is a bad bad habit for me.
 
There Kholi has hit a real issue. Half the nation has old tube sets, and the other half LCD or plasma sets that can show better contrast. Do you grade for the worst common denominator?

Since this is a cable show I think a much higher percentage will be using modern flat screen technology, and as I mentioned the genre deals with the dark political underworld. Punching it up seems justified. However, if you're grading live I imagine you have to be a little conservative in case something jumps out at you.

The question is, why would you want to grade it live? Money? Turn around time? You want to give your colorist a heart attack? LOL
 
This is a Netflix show. I don't think it is available on cable. So I doubt half would be watching on old tube sets.

Cheers.
 
Nobody will be watching House of Cards on old tube sets. And to hell with them if they are. Everything should be produced with modern 16x9 HD screens in mind.
 
I didn't say anything about tubes, point being that not all LCDs are made equal, either, or worse, are setup equal. I don't have many friends that actually bother with menu settings on their screens.

So it doesn't really matter if it's modern or old, you still have to keep that in mind when you know you're going to a television set. Or worse, a Dell monitor.
 
I respectfully disagree with the idea that House of Cards should have been more aggressive and punchier with the grading. A big part of the sub-text of the series is deceit and moving in and out of the slipstream of wheelings and dealings without notice. The patina of the colour matches what you would see in the darkened rooms and corridors of Washington. Emphasizing the mephistoclean nature of the lead characters through colour intensification would be overkill. The script takes care of it and that is where the volume is turned up. This show is more Shakespearian in presentation with most of the heavy lifting done through the cadence of the dialogue.

I read the article below, this past weekend and it really resonated with me, particularly with the obsession of late to crush most video footage...

http://thedailydagny.com/black/

Keeping the Armani suits looking like Armani blue and keeping the darkened pastel haze over the fleshtones like you see in the darkened hallways of Washington is throughly appropriate, particularly as I said, the script carries most everything in this show. It's an ingenious way of presenting the story by muting the visual language to emphasis the real nature of big stakes politics but this could only be done successfully with superb script writing, acting and ediiting.
 
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I'm fine with the lower contrast original. What I don't like about the show is the muddy, orange green log look. It makes the show look like they shot it under sodium vapor lights or didn't white balance the camera correctly. IMO that not the same as keeping it pastel and subtle to convey the 'many shades of gray' in Washington.

I can understand making a conscious decision not to correct for the green spike in florescent lights, but that seemed to work better with film (see early Fincher movies shot on film). Somehow film made mixed lighting still look good and work. Digital 'fails' far less gracefully and gets ugly real quickly.

I also don't like overly contaminated blacks or whites. It makes the image look like it was tinted, instead of having a color cast.

Great show though...
 
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