F55: Marco Polo Trailer

L1N3ARX said:
Watched the first episode, and so far... the production value is great. Not exactly digging the show, but it looks fine. For a historical drama like this, the Sony look is a little strong and distracting but not terrible. I'm just surprised they wouldn't go for the Alexa, would have given the show a much more cinematic vibe. That said, it's only one aspect of the show and it's certainly not a deal breaker.
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They have a 4k capture mandate for these new 'streaming' series. So Alexa doesn't make the cut anymore - though hopefully the internal upscaling option will make it compliant again.
 
Grug said:
They have a 4k capture mandate for these new 'streaming' series. So Alexa doesn't make the cut anymore - though hopefully the internal upscaling option will make it compliant again.
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Very true, didn't think about that. At the time of production, wasn't much available other than RED / F55 for serious 4K narrative work. Even though breakthroughs have to be made at some point, I think Alexa would have looked so good for this and considering 99.99% of everyone that'll watch an episode or let alone the whole series don't even have a 4k viewing source..

I wonder if the F55 would look better than the Alexa upscaled from 3.2k to 4k on your standard 40"-50" 4K TV people will be scooping up over the next couple years.
 
Some of the show looks incredible and I have no issue with the overall look other than everything seems massively bright and often blown out at all times. A bit more shadow and darkness would really add to it in my opinion.

Also the sex stuff is tedious. These days it just seems so tacked on and it doesn't add to the narrative or to the show itself in any way. Oh boobs! I've literally never seen those on the internet before. Yawn...

Love the kung fu training / man and cobra stuff though. very pretty.
 
I just fired up Netflix on my Sony 4K set and saw Marco Polo had been added.

Really, I think it looks fantastic.

I just went Amira, but really, the 5/55/FS7 family really can make some amazing pictures.

It's such a bummer there's so many operational details getting lost on the cams. That's ultimately why I went Amira.

But dang, I think people/producers will see this show in 4K and 55 will have yet another life ahead...4K raw for 4K delivery that looks amazing.
 
Just watched the first episode, looks great and looking forward to watch more episodes.

@Ned - can't wait till episode 5, thanks for the tip ;)
 
I have to agree with Nate. The show is beautifully shot and the camera has done justice to the great work of the production designer, costume designer and DOP (and director and rest of crew, of course).

To those of you talking about the Sony look...yeah, I can imagine the engineers at Sony saying 'hey, never mind getting the best image out of this camera, let's just go for a cheap nasty look that nobody likes'. Seriously guys, what is this 'video' look you are all talking about? Had someone said it was shot on Alexa you simply wouldn't be making such ridiculous statements. Each to their own, I guess...
 
dracalat said:
To those of you talking about the Sony look...yeah, I can imagine the engineers at Sony saying 'hey, never mind getting the best image out of this camera, let's just go for a cheap nasty look that nobody likes'. Seriously guys, what is this 'video' look you are all talking about? Had someone said it was shot on Alexa you simply wouldn't be making such ridiculous statements. Each to their own, I guess...
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Have you shot with any Sony cameras, and if so did you perform your own post on the footage?
 
I have, Dennis. And frankly, I fail to see the video look. Especially since the release of Slog3 and the new LUT's. Don't get me wrong, I have been horrified at some of the post work done to stuff I've shot on this camera, but it wasn't so much the F55's fault but colourist's inability to get the best out of it. I think the new LUT's have addressed some of the issues many of us have encountered.

There are many things I hate form this camera, but I really can't fault the images it produces. The same statement holds true for many cameras out there - most are capable of producing pretty pictures.

By the way, thank you for your contribution and sharing your knowledge through the various internet platforms. I really appreciate.
 
I have to say I'm finding that whole,'Sony Look' thing very dismissive and very unhelpful.

Now there is certainly an aesthetic to Marco Polo which is mostly very bright (at means even overly so?) and very saturated but to ascribe it to being the 'Sony look' as opposed to it just not following the current trends for desaturated softer imagery is disingenuous I think.

While we are on this topic, what is the preoccupation with whether things look cinematic or not? It's a TV show, why does everything on TV now have to look cinematic? Game of Thrones does it wonderfully well, but Utopia is one of the most striking looking dramas of the last few years and it doesn't in any shape or form look cinematic. It looks as crazy OTT saturated video as you can get. It looks like amazing stylized television. Which it was.
 
RatLabProductions said:
What is 'The Sony Look'? I keep trying to understand exactly what people are seeing here as all I see are very nice pleasing images. I really would like to understand what I seem to be missing.
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Exactly! it looks fantastic in 4K!

I had the pleasure of shooting on the Mongolian Steppe last year and the shots of the grasslands make me want to go back. Hopefully this coming year.

cheers
Morton
 
dracalat said:
I have, Dennis. And frankly, I fail to see the video look. Especially since the release of Slog3 and the new LUT's. Don't get me wrong, I have been horrified at some of the post work done to stuff I've shot on this camera, but it wasn't so much the F55's fault but colourist's inability to get the best out of it. I think the new LUT's have addressed some of the issues many of us have encountered.
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I do agree that things have improved quite drastically with the advent and more adoption of using LUTs. But for me that is also what is quite troubling. At least there are "tools" now to deal with it, and yes thankfully slog3 (Cineon based log curve) makes the Sony a bit more "standard" as far as log-capable cameras go.


Back to Marco Polo, I hope to watch a few more episodes this week. Also if anyone has seen any articles or interviews relating to production, etc.. please feel free to post them here. Im sure many of us would be curious to hear about their workflow. I would bet my backyard raised chickens they too are using LUTs in their post production workflow - I'm dying to know if Sony's or 3rd party.
 
RatLabProductions said:
What is 'The Sony Look'? I keep trying to understand exactly what people are seeing here as all I see are very nice pleasing images. I really would like to understand what I seem to be missing.
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Sony, as an oversimplified rule, seems to place color accuracy and sharpness over other considerations.

So many people say sometimes, if they know it was shot on Sony and it's nice and sharp, and the colors seem in line with the Sony cameras they worked with in the last 10-15 years (F900, XDCAM etc), then they tend to say "yeah, it's a Sony".

Alexa, Red, Blackmagic make beautiful pictures usually, but their color accuracy is derived from film models. I myself prefer the color rendition of these cameras over stock Sony. SLog3 and SGamut, with the LC709 LUT or ACES, give you the tools to sidestep the traditional Sony color model.

I think Marco Polo, viewed in 4K, has a sharpness that I frankly just haven't seen much of and am not familiar with. It's the 4K. I've been watching other 4K on my new set and I can tell you, say Breaking Bad in 4K, which seems to have been a great 35mm 4K telecine job, doesn't jump off the screen quite like Marco Polo.

You guys got a great future ahead for that camera, I think, if you can tolerate Sony being slow!
 
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