Color Correction - My thoughts

I’ve been asked this question many times and I thought I’ld spell it all our here.  When it comes to color correction or color grading there are two main schools of thought. Either you are using purpose built applications that work outside your edit system or you are using a plug in that works inside your editor.

My preference is easy… ANYTHING that works INSIDE my edit system. Here is my thinking.

EVERYTHING I do is on extreme time constraints. The process of sending your timeline out to a standalone color grading application processing your images, no matter how fast it is because of the tools and then sending it back to your edit for final output, that takes too much time for me.  I will FREELY admit that I am not a full time colorist, and I don’t know all the tricks of the trade and maybe if I DID I would be faster.

So what is the alternative? Working in my editor, ON my timeline, using plugins.  I find that this method of work saves me a LOT of time. Can I get the exact same results… probably not.  Can I AFFORD the exact same results? NOPE. I can’t. I work in the real world where money is ALWAYS tight. Often times the “color work” that I do on a project is not even be requested of the client and it is details that I am doing for myself to satisfy my OWN desires. That being said, I can’t turn over my shoulder and say, “uh yea, thats gonna take a while cuz I have to reconform our timeline down to one track and export an XML and then import that into another app and do all the color work before I… Huh??  Whats that? Your client called and wants to change something?  What?  They don’t know what “Picture Lock” means?  What kind of people ARE we working for anyway? Huh? Oh… yea… I guess “people with money to spend” makes a pretty good client after all, NEVERMIND.”

So, thats my take on stand alone apps verses plug in based color correction/color grading.

Review - FX Factory - Callouts for FCPX

This is a new plug in from the guys at Ripple Training and, most of this type of stuff is NOT the things of “great film making” but in the real world of video production, these type of problems come up all to often and Callouts makes them go WICKED fast.

Review - Punchline for FCPX

I got the chance to take a look at a plugin for FCPX called Punchline availble thru the FX Factory. So you know… I’m not being paid to do this, I’m sort of doing it for my friend Mitch at Planet5D… so far it looks like they are gonna let me keep the plug in but for the $50 bucks that it costs… its barely pay… Just so you know.

That being said, I dig this plug in. It has several titles and transition elements in it and they can all be modfied at least in the color arena. The efx render quickly and the preview quite well even before they are completely rendered. Take a look at this Review and see some of the things that Puncline makes it REALLY easy to do.

You can download the Noise Industies fx Factory here.

Interview - Po Chan - Director

Po Chan - Writer, Director, ArtistOn April 26th, 2012 I got a chance to have a conversation with Po Chan, Director of “The Ticket” which was the Canon roll out movie for the new EOS 1D-C digital cinema HDSLR. There had been so much buzz and discussion about the technology used to shoot the movie that I thought the art and the story was not getting enough… uh… “screen time”… so I decided I only wanted to discuss Po’s original script and her technique for working with a crew as more of an artist than a director. 

The interview ended up becoming “Episode 71” of the Digital Convergence Podcast that I co-host with Carl Olson from Atlanta. 

I would HIGHLY recommend you take the 50 minutes or so it takes to listen to this interview. Po is a facinating woman and her artistic vision is extremely inspirational.

You can find the podcast here.

Tutorial - After Effects Render Queue and Presets

One thing that can speed up your work and allow you to make less mistakes in AE is knowing the ins and outs of your Render Queue and making your own custom presets. In this tutorial I walk thru some steps that will allow you to know your renders are right the first time.

Ever want to learn more about Parenting thru 3D space in AE, check this out.