Post by cedriclejeune on Nov 21, 2014 11:41:32 GMT
Yesterday I was invited to speak at a conference at the SATIS Expo in Paris about Onset grading, it was very interesting to see different perspectives on the subject.
To me there's a lot about the decision chain, and it's very project specific. I'm just a bit afraid some people spend (and waste) a lot of time because of misconceptions on what it can really bring. Whether it brings a lot of value to set a look in a place where you have, especially in commercials, the client, the agency, the director, the DoP together, setting expectations there can be pretty dangerous if you can't make sure they cannot be translated properly in the rest of the post process.
The good old "set the look before you shoot" with a senior colourist discussing in a "time protected" environment would allow to create something that goes deeper than just replicating the idea of the moment while onset. Instant ideas are good and it's good to be able to preserve them, but they can also be quite dangerous (it's not the same part of your brain that works when creating and when you are under-pressure, that's why a lot of creative people procrastinate
Also having that properly set would make it easier
Obviously one difficult aspects is you have so many projects that start shooting while the guys doing the final post are not chosen yet, so relying on standards is key if any choice made has to be replicated. LUTs are not your friends! ASC-CDL files may be, only if you know where to put them AND the other guys agree with you! They can be used in a lot of different workflows, ACES, Film emulation, Camera log (with or without normalisation LUT), video... and it's not written anywhere, so you HAVE to document your workflow.
You could rely on camera metadata, but that would mean it's gonna be a nightmare once you mix them. Some camera manufacturer allow for ASC-CDL to be set directly in the files metadata, but again you'd have to fully document your workflow and viewing environment.
Also a lot of these options are not strictly about colour: grain, texture, effects (howdy like dat flare, JJ?)... and definitely not something you want to set on a 24' monitor in a not fully controlled viewing environment.
And for the DITs of you, here's the ultimate onset grading tool, it's called Colormog:
www.refine.de/?cat=8&news=144&PHPSESSID=859f61c24df7ce31dfa0826375aa75b7
Storage, calibrated screens, can have a trailer with a cinema room (6.5m base screen!) and DCI projector in!
Cool stuff!
Cedric
To me there's a lot about the decision chain, and it's very project specific. I'm just a bit afraid some people spend (and waste) a lot of time because of misconceptions on what it can really bring. Whether it brings a lot of value to set a look in a place where you have, especially in commercials, the client, the agency, the director, the DoP together, setting expectations there can be pretty dangerous if you can't make sure they cannot be translated properly in the rest of the post process.
The good old "set the look before you shoot" with a senior colourist discussing in a "time protected" environment would allow to create something that goes deeper than just replicating the idea of the moment while onset. Instant ideas are good and it's good to be able to preserve them, but they can also be quite dangerous (it's not the same part of your brain that works when creating and when you are under-pressure, that's why a lot of creative people procrastinate
Also having that properly set would make it easier Obviously one difficult aspects is you have so many projects that start shooting while the guys doing the final post are not chosen yet, so relying on standards is key if any choice made has to be replicated. LUTs are not your friends! ASC-CDL files may be, only if you know where to put them AND the other guys agree with you! They can be used in a lot of different workflows, ACES, Film emulation, Camera log (with or without normalisation LUT), video... and it's not written anywhere, so you HAVE to document your workflow.
You could rely on camera metadata, but that would mean it's gonna be a nightmare once you mix them. Some camera manufacturer allow for ASC-CDL to be set directly in the files metadata, but again you'd have to fully document your workflow and viewing environment.
Also a lot of these options are not strictly about colour: grain, texture, effects (howdy like dat flare, JJ?)... and definitely not something you want to set on a 24' monitor in a not fully controlled viewing environment.
And for the DITs of you, here's the ultimate onset grading tool, it's called Colormog:
www.refine.de/?cat=8&news=144&PHPSESSID=859f61c24df7ce31dfa0826375aa75b7
Storage, calibrated screens, can have a trailer with a cinema room (6.5m base screen!) and DCI projector in!
Cool stuff!
Cedric