eLearny ja eLin
Gotta learn me up some eLin.Check out the results of a skilled colourist grading varicam footage using AE and eLin.
From this
to this:
Wow!
- From ProLost: "Why the hell would you use a visual effects compositing plug-in to colour grade your HD short?". Piccies are from the short One Weekend A Month (dir: Eric Escobar, 2004) which just screened at Sundance. They're used WITHOUT permission, so I'll takm em down if asked.
NB: It looks like he's managed to selectively defocus the background some more. No bokeh, so its probably just a slight blur, rather than any kind of edge-detection-min-max-blur... and he's done a vignette. I love vignettes. Fucking looks hot tho! I hope the acting and story is as good... though I sure it is, given it screened at Sundance and judging by the trailer.
As an aside, I am trying to be in the habit of asking people 'how were the performances?' when they come off a shoot. When people ask me how a shoot went, I usually try to talk about them [the performances] rather than the visuals. Most peeps
normally asks 'how does the footage look?' or 'how did it look through the lens'. and the answer is almost always 'hot'. Which is almost given. There are LOTS of talented image-makers on a set, but not that many talented performance-makers (usually just the actors). Asking and talking about performances post-shoot really gives one a sense of the shoots vibe, for better or worse... Perhaps that's why people ask 'how does it look?' cause the answer is KNOWN and doesn't challenge anyone.
BTW go read hdforindies.com. Always worth reading! But in particular, its post some first hand impressions of the Panavision Genesis - probably the first 'next gen' of HD cameras. Y'know, the HD Cameras that are REALLY going to give film acquisition competitions aesthetically (and indirectly emotionally) wise although not necessarily logistically.
From this
to this:
Wow!
- From ProLost: "Why the hell would you use a visual effects compositing plug-in to colour grade your HD short?". Piccies are from the short One Weekend A Month (dir: Eric Escobar, 2004) which just screened at Sundance. They're used WITHOUT permission, so I'll takm em down if asked.
NB: It looks like he's managed to selectively defocus the background some more. No bokeh, so its probably just a slight blur, rather than any kind of edge-detection-min-max-blur... and he's done a vignette. I love vignettes. Fucking looks hot tho! I hope the acting and story is as good... though I sure it is, given it screened at Sundance and judging by the trailer.
As an aside, I am trying to be in the habit of asking people 'how were the performances?' when they come off a shoot. When people ask me how a shoot went, I usually try to talk about them [the performances] rather than the visuals. Most peeps
normally asks 'how does the footage look?' or 'how did it look through the lens'. and the answer is almost always 'hot'. Which is almost given. There are LOTS of talented image-makers on a set, but not that many talented performance-makers (usually just the actors). Asking and talking about performances post-shoot really gives one a sense of the shoots vibe, for better or worse... Perhaps that's why people ask 'how does it look?' cause the answer is KNOWN and doesn't challenge anyone.
BTW go read hdforindies.com. Always worth reading! But in particular, its post some first hand impressions of the Panavision Genesis - probably the first 'next gen' of HD cameras. Y'know, the HD Cameras that are REALLY going to give film acquisition competitions aesthetically (and indirectly emotionally) wise although not necessarily logistically.
posted by stu willis at
3:18 pm
4 Comments:
Without permission but with proper credit and linkbacks, so rock on with your bad self and thanks for the linx. BTW, yes on the vignette and no on the increasing blur. It only looks that way because the extra contrast pops up the bokeh chracteristic. Eric shot with a Pro35 adaptor, so that explains his enviable shallow focus look.
Oh, and Renée's performance is incredible!
-Stu
By
Stu, at Sat Feb 05, 04:42:00 pm AEDT
Well you know my thoughts on such blatant colour manipulation. It looks like a Winners Don't Do Drugs ad done by the agency that has the McDonalds account.
Yes, it's more vibrant, more poppy, more in-your-face. But look at the cost. The actress no longer looks real. Her kitchen doesn't look real. (Real kitchens have detergent bottle labels you can read.) You expect some gangsta rapper and his bikini-clad biches and their hot pimpmobile to jump into the next frame.
It's not enough to pixel-push this way just because we can. There has to be a good reason for it. Sure, the tools are fascinating and it's all fun in a geeky way, but how does this fakery help the drama along? What's the benefit if all we do is concentrate on the gloss?
-- Dubbya
By
Anonymous, at Mon Feb 07, 09:33:00 am AEDT
Hey Big D.W.
"Sure, the tools are fascinating and it's all fun in a geeky way"
Colourists are artists, and I think its very belitting to what these people do to see it as 'fun in a geeky way'. I mean, do you think that Andrew Lesnie's photography on LOTR would have looked as good without the artistry of Peter Doyle?
I'm going to address your comments in an actual blog entry, because I think its representative of a wider misconception of what colourists and colour grading actual IS... and why a tool like eLin isn't just 'fun in a geeky way' but a necessary component of a good post pipeline.
By
stu willis, at Mon Feb 07, 12:45:00 pm AEDT
Lest you forget, Adolf Hitler was also an artist.
Being an artist is not a goal in itself. It's not a badge of honour. Not some cool thing to say "hey world, I'm an artist, look at me express myself through my tools".
You can't tell me cinematographers and allied tradesmen can't be artists if they don't have the latest digital colour grading equipment, the latest filters, or don't have Photoshop, or don't have a computer, or don't have the latest gee whiz HD cam.
There has to be a point to the exercise beyond saying "look at me, aren't I great". It's hardly belittling to anyone to point out that art is more than standing out in the crowd.
As for LOTR, well I think there was a lot that _should't_ have been done, colour-wise, in those films. Can you tell me otherwise with a straight face after watching any Ent scene? How about Moria or Dagorlad?
Anyway, answer your mail, spanker.
By
Anonymous, at Thu Feb 10, 07:25:00 pm AEDT
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