"Grey" An Arri Alexa Short Film

S

smak

Member
Just finished off coloring this short film shot on ARRI ALEXA. Truely amazing files to work with in Color, incredible latitude and depth. Now doing a project with RED MX so I'll do a comparison blog shortly for post.


"GREY" 720p on VIMEO
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A hitman at the end of his rope, Grey lives the only way he knows how - by the gun.

Cast

Grey - Drew Zeran

Crew

Writer l Director: Andre Rehal
Cinematographer: Michael R. Brazeau
Editor: Drew Stevenson
Sound: Nadia Awad
Colour Correction l VFX: Scott McIntyre
1st AC: Cameron Stoltz

Tech Specs

Camera - ARRI ALEXA
Lensing - Cooke S4's
ASA - 800 (interiors), 1600 (night exteriors)
Gamma - Log C
Edit - FCP
Grading - Apple Color

Links

andrerehal.com
michaelbrazeau.tumblr.com
drewstevenson.tumblr.com
smakstudios.com
arridigital.com/alexa
cookeoptics.com/
simvideo.com/
 
It was a pretty fast shoot. The ALEXA wasn't in for too long, so the crew had to move fast.

The comparison of post between the ALEXA and RED-MX should be out by end of week.
 
Will be interesting to see how the cameras stack up against each other. The film looks brilliant though, I think I prefer the look of the Alexa over the Red from what I've seen.
 
One complaint I'm hearing from people is they want to see beautiful cinematic lighting. But this project was intended to test the natural look of the film.

My first color pass a large contrast to the one you see here. This footage is so versatile. The original grade was more modern cinema, higher saturation, larger contrast between primary colors. The DP found it to look too "RED", so I started referencing some 90's movies and getting the film look from that. Also Michael Mann was a huge influence.

That being said. The RED MX footage I've been working with is actually more versatile, and the cinematic aestetic actually stronger. I used about 3 different movies from the 90's as reference to color for the MX footage and was abale to achieve that look for all 3. RED really has something amazing going, though the film guys will love the ALEXA since it operates so similar to 35mm and has a great cinematic look. The new DP's who have been evolving with digital cinema will love the RED, and get some amazing results with it.
 
I have a real dislike for the original RED's image, while the shallow DOF you could achieve with it was brilliant, pretty much everything I saw with it looked too similar in terms of colour and image. Is it the same with the MX, or does it give you more space to create a unique look?
 
@Dave W

I think the same is true of the Alexa, people just like the "default" look of the Alexa better. RED footage doesn't look spectacular out of the box, though the MX sensor is an improvement. Doing proper color grading off of the Redraw files results in some really fantastic work, as has been mentioned above.

Bottom line: RED looks amazing in the right hands, but the default look isn't very good to my (or most people's it seems) taste.
 
Thanks for sharing, I've been watching this camera since it was announced. For one, I am glad it was shot the way it was. I wanted to see what the camera does without the cinematic lighting. It really shows what the camera is capable of. And it makes me happy.
 
Erich Ocean said:
Grading looked nice, well done. Too bad your first AC was buzzing stuff left and right. :-(
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing. Im not sure what you spent to rent the cam, but next time maybe budget for a tripod or steady cam.

The grading was really nice. the adr was decent too. Overall it was a cool little short .:smile: just not to crazy about the jerky cam movement.
 
A case study on working with ALEXA footage in Apple Color
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0zg53PXmgo
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I AGREE
 
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2 questions, first: What res are you working on with the Red footage (2K, 4K)?
And did either grade include any sharpening or noise reduction?

Thanks, nice work.
 
I was working on the footage for grading at 4k with the RED proxy, and inside of REDCINE-X. Did my matchmove pass at 2k, and probably will render my cg @ 2k. I will try @ 4k but don't really have a render farm.

Grades did not include sharpening, or noise reduction.
 
smak said:
Are you referring to how I switched the color of my mid and high channels throughout the short? There is a common balance of color between each scene, but not the same.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm working on an emulation and it's quite similar.

There are some bathroom scenes that are shown before and after correction on the case study. The red is very low on the original shot. Do you remember what was the white balance setting on these shots?

Are there LUT preview options on the camera monitor/viewfinder?

Thanks.
 
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