Screen grabs from recent project opinions sought....

MattC

MattC

Veteran
Ok so some of you saw my lighting test. Well I shot this scene and have been playing with color correction. Obviously I'm going for a (wait for it..... wait for it.......) "film look". Now bear in mind that this scene should be lush looking and have some punch to it (that doesn't mean that I did this well, but if you offer suggestions please do so with that in mind. The earlier part of the short will be shot more drab getting progressively more "beautiful" (think joe versus the volcano)...

Ok have at, what do you think? I'm wondering if the images are too saturated?

scene8_1.jpg


scene8_2.jpg


scene8_3.jpg


scene8_4.jpg


scene8_5.jpg


scene8_6.jpg


Thanks,

Matt
 
Matt--I think it's well lit, but a little flatly graded. Here are a few variations that I graded in Vegas by adding some contrast (with color curves), a little warmth (with the primary color corrector), and some diffussion (composited with second layer at ~20% + gaussian blur). The second set also has some increased saturation. Just some variations to get you thinking about the possibilities.


matt_still1a.jpg



matt_still2a.jpg




matt_still1b.jpg




matt_still2b.jpg
 
Ok, now I see it. I guess I was a bit torn, to much reading about film looks, me thinks.

I originally started out with images closer to your second set (not out of camera, after doing some post work. I'll post the originals in a second) but whenever I see images here that everyone refers to as "filmic" they seem sort of flat to me, so that's what I was going for, more of a less saturated look. Perhaps a discussion about that would be good as well.

Let me post some grabs of original footage...
 
The "film look" thing is a real rabbit hole--I wouldn't get too hung up on it. Better to just try to find "your" look. Something that suits the style of the film and floats your boat. Your grading above lacks a little of the mystery and "unreality" I like to see in a filmic piece.
 
I should mention, I'm doing this in FCP on a Mac and using a calibrated production monitor to gauge results...

M
 
I guess the big question would be--what sort of tone are you trying to set here? Any how can the grading support that emotional effect. BTW, you need to get hooked up with a good makeup artist.
 
Barry_S said:
BTW, you need to get hooked up with a good makeup artist.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know... But again it sort of works here. He should look a little "off". Not deranged entirely, but he's not well....
 
Okay you two-

I obviously have my work cut out for me. I just ordered my DVX yesterday and it should be here from B&H by Thursday or Friday. But, I don't even know what I am looking at there. These grabs are beautiful. Really punchy and pleasing. But, how does that translate into a film look? Hmmm...not 100% sure. Barry S has obviously got some good direction there but getting the gaussian blur involved.

You know what might help me and perhaps yourself, Matt? Would it be possible to post your grabs next to a grab of a film that has a similar "look" that you are going for? Maybe that is going a bit too far, or perhaps is a waste of time because you'd lose a lot in the translation by grabbing a shot from another film, but maybe that would help.

I look at these grabs and think they look fantasic, but not sure what I am comparing to.

But as they stand alone, they are beautiful.

Rick
 
Thanks Rick,

Myself I'm not to keen on the blur - at least not this much. I did shoot with a Black ProMist 1/2 and felt that gave me a fair bit of diffusion, but I'll try adding more with some Digital Film Tools filters...

The other point that always has me wondering. My girlfriend on a PC just downloaded these and said the looked "black". From her description, I could tell that they appeared far darker than they do on my Mac. Since I assume at least on of you is on a PC I'm happy to know that you are seeing something closer to what I intended.

As far as film look goes - well it's just silly really, but some of us attempt to make our footage look as film like as possible. Now on there are many many different looks in different films, but on this board many seem to think it looks a certain way, so I was trying to incorporate some of that into my coloring.
 
If they look BLACK on your girls PC then her monitor is not calibrated. I played around and do agree with Barry on the FILMLOOK being somewhat of a hole. My initial probelms with these grabs are the reds; the pinks; the oversaturation of the skins pigmentation. I'd start by shcnaging the hue of the skin leaning towards a yellowish color. Also, some of these grabs have some major hotspots; make up for this would work great. Check the forehead for example; there is barely any room for movement on this.

I played with some grabs and came up with:

ccorr24yd.jpg



coreye2za.jpg


Maybe not the look you are after but I think reducing the red will help. My filmlook is a high contrast crushed black kind of look; thats just me.

I wanted to increase the Brightness/Contrast ratio but could not due to some of the Hot Exposure going on. I am not sure of the XL2; but check the ZEBRAS when shooting; I know my DVX would have been ZEBRA central on the dudes face; it is very hot. Maybe use bounce of a softbox or move the light back? There doesnt seem to be a candlelight vibe going on here. Look how hard the shadows are on the mans neck and collar; not from a candle for sure; maybe a china ball might help? Also, alot of light being spread around the room; using flags or barndoors to shut this out would work better and then the blue light on the wall would really pop whereas now it seems to just kind of compete for attention.

Another thing I'm looking at here is:
The whole scene doesn't look lit the way it should; it's that there's too much light. I assume you are going for a NIGHTIME CANDLELIT scene? I assume the splash on the wall is moonlight?
It is just too much light everywhere. I would seriously consider using a Chiaroscuro approach (The use of light and dark). I would:

1. Get some powder for the mans face; way too hot on him.

2. USe a soft source light to mimick the candlelight. The collar on the man is a hard shadow and its not working.

3. I would flag off the light on the man so it is not speading onto the china cabinet (Hutch?)

4. I would try and get the light to fall off his RIGHT SIDE of face more and create a single source appearance. I know that is he sitting in front of the candles, but it's an illusion we are after here

5. I would try and use one single source on the man in the form of a soft box or chinaball (We have not seen if you are using a reverese on the woman but I would apply the same technique there.

The use of light and dark can be very powerful and create wonderful depth; this grab is using ONE DAYLIGHT balanced floro and look at the depth created with it:

jdogg5pv.jpg
 
Hmmmm...... So I f*cked up huh? Well I'm going to continue editing the other footage that I have and I suppose if I have to, I'll reshoot. It'll be a shame because the performance is really spectacular. The actor did great...

You know it's funny, I've posted this on a few boards and folks either think it look "bad" or "too perfect"

My life sucks....

Matt
 
MattC,

A little off topic, but what lens did you use?

Also, if you like the performance, don't reshoot it. Work with what you got. You may be able to make it look better or make the actor look better, but you'll never be able to get the same thing again. At least I never have.

I'll admit I like John_Hudson's interpretation of the grabs the best so far, but in the end it's up to you. What looks good to you? What are you visually trying to achieve? I don't mean to sound like a guidance counselor giving a pep talk, but you're the artist, you're the filmmaker.
 
I used the 20X and the 3X with a tiffen black promist 1/2. I like Johns work too, but not for what I'm going for here.

John,

I'm going to send you a link that has the clip and a longer explanation of what the short is about and what I'm trying to do as well as how I lit it. Please take a look at it and email me with your thoughts.

Matt
 
um, I think I like John's look the best. You're lighting is alittle to bright on the actor. It do't bother me because I'm sure you have a reason why it was lit that way. Is it me or the dude had a creepy steve bushemi look to him. I would like to see a clip when your finished with it.
 
I'm using DFT cross process filter on the opening scene!! I also like the bleach bypass, but at this point in the story I want a more saturated look I think. I'm planning on moving from faded to lush.
 
Ok, first I bring da funny:
Your actor reminds me of an older, skinnier hasn't slept in 4 days Paul Giamatti with more hair. :grin:

Ok, so now I bring da comments and suggestions:
I really liked the composition of the lower angle right justified shot on the guy's face. Nice dramatic feel there. The detail you get on this guys face in that closeup of his eye is extremely crisp and overly detailed. I almost feel like I'm looking at high def video there (camera issue I'd say but keep in mind you need to compensate for it if possible).

I thought the DFT cross process by Arkham was the strongest color grading choice (I say color grading because we go so far beyond simple corrections on this that it's not really accurate to call it a correction)

There's just so much warm tone on your set in everything from the jacket the character is wearing (even though it's gray, it's still a warm gray) to the wood tone of the furniture behind him. The cross process cooled everything off a bit helping the really warm spots pop out giving the pallet some variance. (this is a good thing)

Anywho, the lighting on his face feels a little harsh. You might consider using a diffusion filter over your light's barn doors to soften it a bit. But overall, I don't think your lighting is the issue so much as the level of color depth this camera is capable of. I know we've chatted briefly about this before, but just looking at John Hudson's grab shows the subtle color within color you can get with the DVX that the XL2 doesn't seem to be capable of producing. Color wise it's too simple which is also what reminds me of video and not film. The ultra crisp edges on everything only adds to that. Mind you this is not a slam on you. I'm just disappointed with what the the XL2 is capable of (at least from what I've seen so far from it). I had such high hopes for it. (sniff! :embarasse )

You might want to consider adding a film grain to this footage and see if that breaks up those edges a bit. Here's an idea for a way to go. This was done using the 3 way color corrector, in FCP desaturating a tad and adding a little grain.

MATTC_corrected.jpg
 
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