Color Reproduction Scene

Unfortunately, our color reproduction scene was corrupt on the D21 side of things, and I do not have a copy of the film footage. This was an amazing scene with very vibrant memory colors from many fruits and vegetables.

Color correction was completed using Davinci Resolve by Blackmagic Design in the MPS Post Production room.

The footage was ingested and converted into ACES color space using the IDT files built into Resolve.
The ADX 10-bit was used for the film 10-bit DPX printing density files.
The Arri D21 footage was first converted in S.twoView into Version 3 arriraw files.
These were then processed using Arrirraw converter to convert these to 16-bit DPX files to ensure that none of the data from the 12-bit arriraw files was lost.
These files were ingested to Resolve and using the built in Alexa IDT to convert from logC space to ACES.
Proxy files for editing were exported using a Rec. 709 ODT and exporting strait to QuickTime ProRes 422 files.

For the ACES grades, first, a technical grade was done using the gray card for the scene to neutralize the neutrals. Then a secondary grade was done to color the image to something creative to highlight the capabilities of the camera. The color grades were then exported to Quicktime ProRes 422 HQ for reconnect in Premiere Pro and final export.

Color Correction

Color correction provided with some interesting responses to the scenes shot. This was the first time utilizing ACES in Resolve on a workflow that utilized DPX files instead of proprietary raw files from modern cinema cameras.

For the grading it was decided to restrict myself (Michael, DIT and Colorist) to primary correction and saturation adjustment. Having previous experience color grading, I would be able to make accurate assumption after a primary grade on what would be necessary using secondaries to achieve the intended look out of each camera.

For times sake, the built in IDTs were used to convert the files from their native space to ACES. The Rec. 709 ODT was used for monitoring and making color decisions on the NEC monitor in the MPS Post Production room.

The Scenes

1) Color Reproduction: The color reproduction scene for the D21 unfortunately was corrupt upon recording most likely due to an internal processor freezing as the system was reporting normal during record. But the film footage turned out beautiful. For this only a simple contrast and saturation adjustment was performed after a technical grade using the gray card to get a scene like a morning show cooking segment. Both technical, and final grades were exported for this.

2) Skin tone, Sharpness, Aliasing, and Over/Under: This scene was tech graded for each exposure, where the over and under were corrected back to a normal exposure to the best of their ability. This was done using the gray card as reference. Then a color grade was applied to get the skin tones looking like one would expect. The film camera performed flawlessly and allowed each skin tone to come out looking as if the person was alive and breathing. The D21 on the other hand had some issue with getting all three skin tones to look appropriate without secondary correction. When one skin tone looked correct, the others looked green and slightly dead. The ungraded, tech grade, and final grade were all exported for the video.

3) HDR: This scene gave a fun opportunity to utilize the raw formats to restore a significant amount of the highlight detail. Both cameras did not have a useful gray card as the scene’s exposure was so extreme in the highlights, a visual tech grade had to be performed to bring the shot neutral and into range. Then each shot was stylized in the final grades to bring out the colors in the scene. The film camera blew away the D21 as expected in its ability to handle the bright highlights with very minimal information loss. The only issue in the film shot is the glow from the older lens used. In comparison to other shots, the film looked significantly better with the extreme overexposure, compared to the normal exposure from other scenes. The D21 performed well but struggled to hold the highlights together and prevent the colors from clipping causing hue shifts. The non corrected, visual tech grade, and final grade were exported for each.

4) Charts: Only the MacBeth chart was graded for usage as a color example. This was done using the gray card to get the neutrals neutralized and visual adjustment of the saturation to bring out the colors to the saturation point they should have. From a visual inspection, the D21 appeared to have a couple of colors appear to not look exactly correct. This leads to the conclusion that the IDT used may not be properly designed to handle the colors of the D21 and may only strictly work for the Arri Alexa. The MacBeth was exported ungraded and tech graded.

5) Greenscreen: The green screen footage was simply tech graded for both using the gray card. Adjustments had to be made to the film as there was significant noise in the green. A middle ground for the exposure was chosen to help decrease the visible fluctuations in the noise. This scene was then exported to ACES openEXR files which were then given to the VFX artist.

VFX Artist: That would be me, the author of this portfolio! I worked with Michael to get the process right. Our strengths and weaknesses were flipped on this. He has a lot of experience with color grading, and I, had a lot of experience with visual effects. In theory, we had a good idea of how to go about it; but since he had worked with ACES before, he was able to have a lot more input and guidance on this portion. Which was helpful for me later when I began my thesis.

After the files were handed off to me, my job was to composite the actress into the scene we had chosen. As a compositor, matching footage and blending scenes that were shot on different cameras is essential to getting a good composite. Color correction plays a huge role! Within Nuke there are color nodes to help match footage, and I knew how to get as far as I could, and Michael was able to help when I got stuck when it came to the overall look to the final piece.

Here’s the workflow:

Michael processed the footage with a basic tech grade
Drew took the files, composited and matched as best as possible
Footage was exported as exr’s and given back to Michael for the final grade

The final grade makes the shots more believable and gives the overall scene a balance. It’s like adding noise to an entire shot to hide the fake parts of the scene.

In hindsight, the only thing I would have done differently is worked with proxy files to speed things up.

For more on the visual effects portion of this project, be sure to check out the posts below. This is where the majority of my work on this project comes into play.

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