FLESHING IT OUT – PRESERVING SKIN TONES WHILE COLOR GRADING

Sometimes, the way your raw footage was shot can add a strange color (purple, blue, excessive orange/red, etc) to your actors’ SKIN TONES. What’s more, pushing that raw footage (or any footage, for that matter) with AGGRESSIVE COLOR GRADING (high contrast, etc) can add or accentuate SATURATION of undesirable tones in the skin. You really have to watch when you’re grading footage. You don’t want your actors to look like crap (after all, they’re supposed to look flawless and impossibly beautiful, aren’t they?) but yet you still want your backgrounds and overall image to have that SUPER STYLIZED COLOR LOOK you desire so much.

In this tutorial, we show some methods of COLOR CORRECTING the footage (Once again, this is from Director Elke Blasi’s Feature Thriller “STAR 69“, and then slightly tweaking the SKIN TONES in order to make them more appealing.

This is a semi-quick one (under 10 minutes), as that’s all YouTube allows!

ENJOY!   ***(CLICK HERE TO FULL SCREEN AND WATCH IN HD FOR BETTER VIEWING)***

To view our COLOR CORRECTION REEL, please visit:   http://www.Triple-E-Productions.net/color.html

For information on our COLOR CORRECTION SERVICES, as well as any of our other services (Editing, Cinematography, Video Production, etc), please visit our homepage at:   http://www.Triple-E-Productions.net

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COLOR CORRECTION TUTORIAL CASE STUDY: ELKE BLASI’s “STAR69″

We’ve been meaning to do some APPLE COLOR tutorials for some time. Now that we started work on yet another feature, DIRECTOR ELKE BLASI’s “STAR 69,” we have a full COLOR CORRECTION video up for you guys to check out. Remember, COLOR CORRECTION is an important part of the filmmaking process.

I was about to write that COLOR CORRECTION is an important part of the POST PRODUCTION process, but it’s not an after thought. If you plan on going with a super-stylized look, you have to plan that FROM THE START. You have to LIGHT YOUR FILM with the COLOR CORRECTION LOOK in mind, otherwise you’ll get super contrasty images, etc. We’ll get into that in a later tutorial, but for now, here’s a tutorial discussing some of the challenges we’re facing when grading “STAR69.”

You may want to FULLSCREEN the video to see it in all it’s 720p HD glory,  otherwise it’s hard to see what we’re doing. Enjoy!

To view our COLOR CORRECTION REEL, please visit:   http://www.Triple-E-Productions.net/color.html

For information on our COLOR CORRECTION SERVICES, as well as any of our other services (Editing, Cinematography, Video Production, etc), please visit our homepage at:   http://www.Triple-E-Productions.net

***FOR FILM & VIDEO PRODUCTION, EDITING, OR PRODUCTION SERVICES - EMAIL US HERE or visit http://www.triple-e-productions.net***

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Color Correction Series – KOPC – Part 1

COLOR CORRECTION is a very important step that most people overlook, especially in the indie scene. Color Correction can increase your production value and give your film that high quality look of a Hollywood movie. Color Correction is not just for correction or evening out tones. In fact, it can be used to relight scenes (to some extent) and bring the focus of the viewer to where it should be.

Triple E Productions has just finished work on a film called, “KING OF PAPER CHASIN’,” and we would like to share with you some of our work we did on the film in order to show you what is possible in the world of color correction and how color correction can be used to increase the production value of your film.

CASE STUDY #1 – BEDROOM

This scene was part of the reshoots and was done on the RED ONE camera. Notice how the image is a bit washed out. The RED ONE camera does this on purpose in order to give you the most latitude and options in post production when you enter the color correction process.

Notice here how the colors / skin tones pop. We added more contrast here and added a little warmth to the image to help enhance the mood.

CASE STUDY #2 – BEDROOM 2

Again, notice how the image is flat, the skin tones are flat, and the concentration seems to be more on the lamp than anything else.

Notice here how the image has changed. The skin tones pop, the contrast lends a more cinematic look, and the added warmth enhances the mood of the scene. Also, a small POWER WINDOW was placed just over the face of the actor in order to bring up the brightness slightly on only his face.

CASE STUDY #3 – CHOP SHOP 1

Notice here just how dark the image is. It seems to be a bit under-lit.

Here, we increased the brightness as well as the contrast. We also strategically placed a POWER WINDOW over the actor’s face only in order to preserve the shadows on the side and back of his head. This adds to the lighting design and enhances the mood of the film. – this is where having someone with an artistic eye is VERY important.

CASE STUDY #4 – CHOP SHOP 2

Again, notice here how everything seems to be flat and under-lit.

Notice how the skin tones now pop. The added contrast drops some of the background into darkness while making the actress stand out – helping to create a separation between actress and background and moving our concentration onto the actress. Of course, the shallow depth of field helps as well, but the color correction creates even more of a separation. No POWER WINDOW was needed.

CASE STUDY #5 – CHOP SHOP 3

Again, a flat image. The actress does not pop, and the separation between actress and background, while not bad at all, could be even better.

Again, the increased contrast and brightness help the actress stand out even more. A SLIGHT POWER WINDOW was placed over her face to bring it up (in brightness) just a tad.

CLOSING

As you can see, COLOR CORRECTION adds a cinematic look to your movie that, if done properly, will increase your production value and enhance the mood of your film.

That just about wraps up PART ONE of this Color Correction Series on KOPC. PART 2 COMING SOON! Keep checking back or SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG in order to keep up to date with the latest news, happenings, services, and color correction articles from TRIPLE E PRODUCTIONS!

To view our COLOR CORRECTION REEL, please visit:   http://www.Triple-E-Productions.net/color.html

For information on our COLOR CORRECTION SERVICES, as well as any of our other services (Editing, Cinematography, Video Production, etc), please visit our homepage at:   http://www.Triple-E-Productions.net

***FOR FILM & VIDEO PRODUCTION, EDITING, OR PRODUCTION SERVICES - EMAIL US HERE or visit http://www.triple-e-productions.net***

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COLOR CORRECTION – Makin’ Paper with “KING OF PAPER CHASIN’”

Triple E Productions just finished color correction on a feature length indie entitled, “King of Paper Chasin’” which premiered at the 2009 International Latino Film Festival in New York to two SOLD OUT shows. The response was great and they now have a few screenings set up across the country and a screener request from Variety.

To view some of the work we did on the film, including:

• Relighting
• Advanced Blood Color Correction
• Advanced Stylized Looks

Check out our color correction reel:

http://www.triple-e-productions.net/color.html

For information on our EDITING, VFX, and COLOR CORRECTION / COLOR GRADING services, please check out http://www.triple-e-productions.net or send an email to us at paul@triple-e-productions.net for any information you’d like to receive.

Thanks again!

For samples of color correction work we’ve done, check out the FILM AND COMMERCIAL REEL section at http://www.triple-e-productions.net

***FOR VIDEO PRODUCTION, EDITING, OR PRODUCTION SERVICES – EMAIL US HERE or visit http://www.triple-e-productions.net***

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Maintaining Overbrights In After Effects CS3/CS4

Since our adoption of Final Cut Pro in order to serve the widest variety of customers, we have come across a problem with P2 MXF DVCPRO HD from the Panasonic cameras. When importing the “rewrapped” .MOV files (Final Cut “rewraps” the MXF files into .MOV files) from Final Cut Pro into After Effects, the overbrights get clipped. However, when importing the original MXF files, After Effects CS3/4 is able to bring back the overbrights with a simple LEVELS or EXPOSURE adjustment.

We never had this problem when bringing our Sony Vegas or Premiere projects into AE because we were using the original media (Raylight for Vegas, Premiere has native P2 MXF DVC PRO HD support) so there was never any issue with transcoding or rewrapping. Final Cut Pro does not natively support P2 MXF, so you have to re-wrap the files using LOG AND TRANSFER.

I came across THIS ARTICLE which I think is rather important. Maintaining the OVERBRIGHTS is VERY important when it comes to color correction. Right now, we are working on two independent feature films, both of which we’ve been hired to do the COLOR CORRECTION / COLOR GRADING. Both of these films was shot digitally in HD – one on the F900 and one on the Panasonic HDX900/RED camera, and both films were edited in Final Cut Pro.

Overbrights are important to maintain because losing them means losing some DYNAMIC RANGE of the footage. Film is known to have more DYNAMIC RANGE than digital HD formats. This being so, when shooting digital, you want to maintain as much dynamic range as possible. This, of course, is subject to argument, as looks such as a heavy Bleach Bypass look will blow out the whites completely, thus causing a loss of detail in the highlights.

But if trying to maintain the overbrights in After Effects is important to you (and it should be), you’ll want to read the article linked to above.

Here’s a quick summary:

After Effects used to (Pre-CS3) rely on Quicktime’s (for the Mac) YUV to RGB conversion. YUV is what your NLE works in. In YUV formats, you can have values outside (above) the 255 RGB limit. When Quicktime converted from YUV to RGB, it clipped everything outside (above) the 255 region (above 255 is called OVERBRIGHT). Clipping these values eliminates a bit of dynamic range that otherwise could have been recovered from the image by a simple levels adjustment, exposure adjustment, curves adjustment, etc.

Now, in CS3 and CS4, Adobe implemented MEDIA CORE, a “shared media space that allows them to more easily translate and exchange material between different platforms — such as Premiere and AE or Windows and Mac.” MEDIA CORE probably was created when Adobe decided to make the DYNAMIC LINK feature for all their apps, but I’m not sure. Either way, MEDIA CORE now handles the conversion from YUV to RGB.

This means that the overbrights are now brought in, and if you change the project to 16-bit or 32-bit color, they can be recovered.

Of course, there has to be a catch…

Only 5 codecs are supported by the Media Core translation. These 5 codecs are:

v210: 10 bit YCbCr 4:2:2 (Apple Uncompressed 10-bit, Blackmagic/AJA compatible)
2vuy: 8 bit YCbCr 4:2:2 (Apple Uncompressed 8-bit, Blackmagic/AJA compatible)
UYVY: Microsoft 8-bit YUV 4:2:2
dvc: DV Codec
dvcp: DVCPro Codec

Now, I’m not 100% sure if Adobe added more codecs to this list since all the CS3 updates and the release of CS4. If anyone knows, please email me, as I’d love to share the information with everyone.

One thing I will say is that since Adobe added support for P2 MXF DVCPRO HD, and the overbrights are maintained in this format, DVCPRO HD may have been added to the list of supported codecs. Don’t quote me on this one, as I’m just guessing here.

So to wrap this up, this is an explanation for the mysterious clipping that occurs when working with P2 media in FCP and After Effects. Keep this in mind when choosing a workflow and take the necessary steps (reconforming, using the right codec, etc) to maintain the the best picture quality possible.

For samples of color correction work we’ve done, check out the FILM AND COMMERCIAL REEL section at http://www.triple-e-productions.net

***FOR VIDEO PRODUCTION, EDITING, OR PRODUCTION SERVICES – EMAIL US HERE or visit http://www.triple-e-productions.net***

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