Earlier this year I had the privilege of working with director Jay Gammill and cinematographer Reed Morano (Frozen River) on the indie feature "Free Samples" that recently made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. The films stars, actress Jess Weixler (who made a name for herself with the indie feature "Teeth" a few years ago), Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network), Jason Ritter (NBC's parenthood), Halley Feiffer, and veteran actress Tippi Hedron (yes, THE TIPPI HEDRON from Hitchcock's classic "The Birds"). The film takes place over the course of one day, in a hot frozen yogurt truck in central LA. Check out the trailer below!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
The Prototype - Trailer
So a few months ago I had the privilege of working on a trailer and short film pitch for writer/director Andrew Will for his feature "The Prototype" which is currently in development with Cantina Creative, Bandito Brothers, and Variant Films. Its a sci-fi thriller with plenty of action, some amazing visual effects (courtesy of Cantina Creative) and features an appearance by one of my favorite on screen personalities, actor Neal McDonough. The principal photography on this was shot by DP Bridger Nelson on the Arri Alexa, and was an absolute treat to grade. The look we came up with plays off of a few key hues (mainly the greens, cyans, and blues) and deep rich blacks to give this world an "eerie/unsettling/futuristic-urban feel" (hows that for a description?). Check out the trailer above and hopefully you'll be seeing this in movie theaters in the not too distant future!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Anatomy of a Grade - Episode 09 - The "Bleachy Western Look"
Well, it's been a crazy 5 months since my last post here on the blog, lots of work and a bit of travel to boot have made my web updates a bit infrequent alas. BUT, I've got plenty of content to post and hopefully will be adding a number of new entries over the next two weeks here in between projects. So without further adieu, I give you the latest of the Anatomy of a Grade series:
I often get asked to do the "Beach Bypass" or "Bleach Reduction" effect in the color suite (and by often, I mean, every other day, by practically every other person). The problem is that these terms mean a million different things to a million different people and no two are ever the same. Someone may reference "Saving Private Ryan" as their idea of bleach bypass while another may reference "Three Kings", both use varitions of the "bleach bypass" technique but both look very different and used different methods (both photochemical and digital) to achieve their looks. I'm always wary when someone says they want this look as its never as easy as pulling in a "preset grade" and slapping it on. So I ALWAYS make sure to ask, "What does bleach bypass meant to you? Can you give me a film or reference image that conveys the "look" you're thinking of." Once we start to narrow down the specifics, then we can start designing "our vesion" of the bleach bypass effect for the particular project at hand. Beacause of this I have about 20 different variations on the "bleach bypass look" that I've used and probably about 20 more spinoffs from a handful of those as well.
For this particular shot, DP Andrew Russo want a more aggressive look, and I immediately thought that a "beachy, contrasty" look for the scene might play well with the subject matter and the overall mood as well. What we came up with was a hybrid "bleach/sepia spinoff" that I really fell in love. You don't often see a western done in this particular style and its always great to come up with something fresh in the grading suite.
I often get asked to do the "Beach Bypass" or "Bleach Reduction" effect in the color suite (and by often, I mean, every other day, by practically every other person). The problem is that these terms mean a million different things to a million different people and no two are ever the same. Someone may reference "Saving Private Ryan" as their idea of bleach bypass while another may reference "Three Kings", both use varitions of the "bleach bypass" technique but both look very different and used different methods (both photochemical and digital) to achieve their looks. I'm always wary when someone says they want this look as its never as easy as pulling in a "preset grade" and slapping it on. So I ALWAYS make sure to ask, "What does bleach bypass meant to you? Can you give me a film or reference image that conveys the "look" you're thinking of." Once we start to narrow down the specifics, then we can start designing "our vesion" of the bleach bypass effect for the particular project at hand. Beacause of this I have about 20 different variations on the "bleach bypass look" that I've used and probably about 20 more spinoffs from a handful of those as well.
For this particular shot, DP Andrew Russo want a more aggressive look, and I immediately thought that a "beachy, contrasty" look for the scene might play well with the subject matter and the overall mood as well. What we came up with was a hybrid "bleach/sepia spinoff" that I really fell in love. You don't often see a western done in this particular style and its always great to come up with something fresh in the grading suite.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Keith Urban's "For You"
Well here it is, in all its explosive promotional glory: Keith Urban's "For You", which I had the privilege to color corrected last month at Bandito Brothers with DP Shane Hurlbut and director Scott Waugh. The video features some great practical explosion effects, a fantastic performance by Keith (and yes I'll admit, I'm a fan), some really great visuals out in the California desert, and some selected clips from the film "Act of Valor" (some of which you can't see in the theater...).
The project was shot on multiple formats including Arri Alexa, Canon C300, and the Canon 5D Mk II to name a few. Balancing multiple formats was a bit tricky at first, but eventually they all fell in to line (multiple formats was a staple on the film Act of Valor as well, so the music video stayed true to form and gave its colorist a bit to sweat over!). The Alexa especially shone beautifully as it captured a vast amount of shadow and highlight detail that I pulled directly from the Log-C material to really enhance the sky, the desert, and most importantly, Keith himself. Shane and Scott were looking for a punchy warm look so we pushed the contrast to the edge of blowing out, and really focused on working the highlights as much as we could to make everything feel really vibrant and sunlit (even when it wasn't, ahh daytime exteriors...). Obviously talent is important in a project like this, and Keith's performance is really strong, so we needed to make sure that he looked as good as he sounded, and the Alexa gave us amazing flexibility to reshape lighting across his face when we needed to, and even add a light glow to the highlights on his skin for an extra pop when the weather wasn't behaving.
The footage speaks for itself, and the video has been climbing the CMT charts (currently at 12 at only week 2!, we'll see how high it can go). All in all, really proud of this piece; great song, great concept, great cinematography, great performance; not even a crazy hypercritical colorist could mess that up.
The project was shot on multiple formats including Arri Alexa, Canon C300, and the Canon 5D Mk II to name a few. Balancing multiple formats was a bit tricky at first, but eventually they all fell in to line (multiple formats was a staple on the film Act of Valor as well, so the music video stayed true to form and gave its colorist a bit to sweat over!). The Alexa especially shone beautifully as it captured a vast amount of shadow and highlight detail that I pulled directly from the Log-C material to really enhance the sky, the desert, and most importantly, Keith himself. Shane and Scott were looking for a punchy warm look so we pushed the contrast to the edge of blowing out, and really focused on working the highlights as much as we could to make everything feel really vibrant and sunlit (even when it wasn't, ahh daytime exteriors...). Obviously talent is important in a project like this, and Keith's performance is really strong, so we needed to make sure that he looked as good as he sounded, and the Alexa gave us amazing flexibility to reshape lighting across his face when we needed to, and even add a light glow to the highlights on his skin for an extra pop when the weather wasn't behaving.
The footage speaks for itself, and the video has been climbing the CMT charts (currently at 12 at only week 2!, we'll see how high it can go). All in all, really proud of this piece; great song, great concept, great cinematography, great performance; not even a crazy hypercritical colorist could mess that up.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Act of Valor - Grading Real Navy Seals in Action
Happy 2012 to everyone! The New Year has come and I found myself dumbfounded that somehow another year has passed us by and a new one is beginning. A cliche' to be sure, but it never ceases to amaze me how fast time flies when your busy! And 2011 was a busy year for myself and Basher Films to be sure! Full of projects both big and small and clients old and new, 2011 turned out to be busiest year I've seen to date, which bodes well for a supposedly "recovering" economy!
As is always the case, many of the projects that were graded last year won't be released or seen until this year, so I've had to hold off on commenting on them on the blog. But the time is finally arriving (to brag a little of course)! One of the first projects in line to be released this year is the Bandito Brothers / Relativity Media Production of "Act of Valor" releasing nationwide in theaters in February. I had the privilege of serving as an additional colorist on this project, picking up where Company 3 lead colorist Stefan Sonennfeld left off on the initial grade early in 2011. I spent about two weeks late in the year tweaking and re-tweaking a number of sections of the film with Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut (Terminator Salvation, Drumline) updating some additional new scenes and building on the initial grade. The film is quite unique in that it was shot primarily with the Canon 5D Mk II camera as well as 35mm film and a few other HD cameras as well! Mixing formats and footage proved a unique challenge, that was resolved with specific color treatments on each format and the removal and addition of uniform film grain across the entire piece. Check out the trailer above to get a taste of some of the incredible visuals in the film... and see if you can tell what's 5D and what's film... you might be surprised!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Crashing Through Walls and Spinning Death Defying "Donuts" with BMW
Here's a fun spot that I colored a few months ago with Culver City based production/post-house Bandito Brothers for BMW Canada. The spot features the brand new BMW 1M sedan flying through concrete walls out in the desert. All I can say is... I want one... and in the snappy "Valencia Orange" option for that matter... that is one good lookin' car with some really good lookin' moves.
Here's another spot featuring the 1M circling on top of LA's highest man-made structure, with a beautiful "dusky-gold" look to it. I really enjoyed how pushing some gold tones into the mids and highlights to bring out the sunset really ended up played nicely with a bit of blue punching through in the shadows... and of course all playing second fiddle to that iconic orange and red of the 1M!
Here's another spot featuring the 1M circling on top of LA's highest man-made structure, with a beautiful "dusky-gold" look to it. I really enjoyed how pushing some gold tones into the mids and highlights to bring out the sunset really ended up played nicely with a bit of blue punching through in the shadows... and of course all playing second fiddle to that iconic orange and red of the 1M!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Anatomy of a Grade - Episode 08 - Digital Re-lighting Part 2
Well its been a few months but I've finally gotten around to posting the 8th installment of the anatomy of a grade web series. My apologies to everyone who's been asking for this sooner, but work has kept me ridiculously busy (and for all you fellow freelancers out there, you know how grateful we are when that ACTUALLY happens).
This Episode focuses on a tough "pickup shot" from the Bollywood feature film "Chittagong", that was shot well after principle photography (by a completely different crew). The closeup shot had completely mismatched lighting from the wide and required some serious "digital re-lighting" to accomplish the task. Once again, a combination of basic primary color correction and some animated "power windows" did the trick and allowed the shot to fit in nicely with the sequence. Take a look: (please note, the shot in question is rather dark and contrasty so be sure your monitor isn't "crunching your blacks" and heightening contrast too much, in order to properly view the layers of the grade)
This Episode focuses on a tough "pickup shot" from the Bollywood feature film "Chittagong", that was shot well after principle photography (by a completely different crew). The closeup shot had completely mismatched lighting from the wide and required some serious "digital re-lighting" to accomplish the task. Once again, a combination of basic primary color correction and some animated "power windows" did the trick and allowed the shot to fit in nicely with the sequence. Take a look: (please note, the shot in question is rather dark and contrasty so be sure your monitor isn't "crunching your blacks" and heightening contrast too much, in order to properly view the layers of the grade)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Yokohama Tires Duck Duck Goose Commercial
So this is a 30 second spot I graded at Bandito Brothers a few months ago for Yokohama Tires. The spot features off-road racing star Cameron Steele along with his wife and fellow off-road racer Heidi Steele in a spirited game of duck, duck, goose using some sleek transportation (all sporting yokohama tires of course).
This was a really exciting piece to work on from a color correction standpoint as the client was willing to go for a really aggressive look featuring bold saturated colors on the car with a high contrast black and white background around them. It makes for a really "punchy" look with the bright colors of the cars screaming around a stark monochramtic background. VFX rotoscoped the horizon and the skies and also gave me some really useful alpha mattes of the cars in each shot. From there I used a combination of power windowing, and selective chroma/luma keying to achieve the look (and of course do some enhancement work on product logos, tires, etc, its a commercial after all). This was by far one of my favorite color grades this year; its always a pleasure when clients want to push the envelope and really commit to and embrace a sylized look like this.
And if you'd like a little behind the scenes on the "on-set" production of the spot check out this great video:
This was a really exciting piece to work on from a color correction standpoint as the client was willing to go for a really aggressive look featuring bold saturated colors on the car with a high contrast black and white background around them. It makes for a really "punchy" look with the bright colors of the cars screaming around a stark monochramtic background. VFX rotoscoped the horizon and the skies and also gave me some really useful alpha mattes of the cars in each shot. From there I used a combination of power windowing, and selective chroma/luma keying to achieve the look (and of course do some enhancement work on product logos, tires, etc, its a commercial after all). This was by far one of my favorite color grades this year; its always a pleasure when clients want to push the envelope and really commit to and embrace a sylized look like this.
And if you'd like a little behind the scenes on the "on-set" production of the spot check out this great video:
Friday, June 3, 2011
Just for Fun - Hot Wheels!
So the past few months have been a whirlwind of commercial work. I really enjoy working on short form content as the visuals need to be Hight Impact and memorable if you've only got the viewers attention for 30 seconds. For a colorist that's like getting handed the keys to the kingdom to "go to town" and give everything a little bit of extra "pop". Here's a little teaser I did as part of a larger Hot Wheels campaign, the final piece culminated in a 22min special after the Indy 500, but this is a taste. This particular project involved a lot of mixed footage: 5D's, Super 16mm, little Go-Pro cameras, amongst other HD sources, and was shot at completely different times of day. Needless to say, visual continuity was not the main thrust here, instead, high impact compositions and heightened colors was the idea for a "child-like" visualization of a very real stunt!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Anatomy of a Grade - Episode 07 - Sunset Grad Filter
Well its been a while since my last post; between a flurry of work and travel I haven't had the time to sit down and do one of these since February. None-the-less I finally took some time to examine one of the classic color grading techniques that I get asked to do quite a bit, the "Sunset Grad Effect." This technique is pretty simple and straightforward but can be used in an infinite number of ways to get varying effects. Essentially we're replacing the need to place a graduated filter on the camera (for color effects, exposure is a different story), as we can achieve the same result in color correction. Take a look!
Although this technique can be used and abused depending upon the project, its one that really can save an otherwise uninteresting shot and give it a bit of life! The trick is to use it sparingly, and hopefully, tastefully... although this is of course always in the eye of the beholder!
Although this technique can be used and abused depending upon the project, its one that really can save an otherwise uninteresting shot and give it a bit of life! The trick is to use it sparingly, and hopefully, tastefully... although this is of course always in the eye of the beholder!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Anatomy of a Grade - Episode 06 - Day For Night
Ahh, the infamous "Day For Night" effect. It has many forms, many variations, and is often the brunt of many a cynically charged diatribe by cinematographers and colorists alike. But ultimately, the "Day For Night" look is a powerful tool that can be utilized in post production in the right circumstances and in the right hands.
The following episode demonstrates a dramatic example of a shot that wasn't supposed to be a night scene... and ultimately became one!
Now there's obviously some serious tracking going on in this shot and some color correctors aren't capable of this degree of accuracy with their trackers. So not all grading suites would have this capability (but most do now-a-days). AND, one must always remember that shots like this do take a bit of time, so if budget is an issue and you're "on the clock", then you might not be able to give the same "tender loving care" to every shot like this one. However, the point I'm trying to make here is, its possible! One doesn't need to do everything in a compositing program to achieve looks like this anymore.
The following episode demonstrates a dramatic example of a shot that wasn't supposed to be a night scene... and ultimately became one!
Now there's obviously some serious tracking going on in this shot and some color correctors aren't capable of this degree of accuracy with their trackers. So not all grading suites would have this capability (but most do now-a-days). AND, one must always remember that shots like this do take a bit of time, so if budget is an issue and you're "on the clock", then you might not be able to give the same "tender loving care" to every shot like this one. However, the point I'm trying to make here is, its possible! One doesn't need to do everything in a compositing program to achieve looks like this anymore.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Anatomy of a Grade - Episode 05 - "Digital Re-Lighting" in Color Correction
Ok, so I know its been a while since the last episode in this series; but what can I say its been a bit busy around here. Regardless, I finally found some time this week to pull together some new material for a couple of demos and here's the first of two!
Episode 05 is taken from a documentary feature that I've been color correcting and on-lining over the past month. The particular shot that the episode focuses on is a standard "talking head" interview setup with a "mixed" lighting scenario. In this case, the filmmakers had very few tools at their disposal for lighting (and very little time with the subject). The result was the subject's face had two very different light sources on either side creating some dramatic color and luminance contrast across it. However, with a little "Digital Re-Lighting" in the color suite, we were able to achieve the filmmakers "single-source/soft-lit look" after the fact! Take a look:
Episode 05 is taken from a documentary feature that I've been color correcting and on-lining over the past month. The particular shot that the episode focuses on is a standard "talking head" interview setup with a "mixed" lighting scenario. In this case, the filmmakers had very few tools at their disposal for lighting (and very little time with the subject). The result was the subject's face had two very different light sources on either side creating some dramatic color and luminance contrast across it. However, with a little "Digital Re-Lighting" in the color suite, we were able to achieve the filmmakers "single-source/soft-lit look" after the fact! Take a look:
Thursday, January 27, 2011
How To Prep a Final Cut Pro Sequence for Color Correction
A number of clients have handed me projects over the past few months that have involved A LOT of prep work to get them into the DaVinci Resolve system here at the Color Suite. So... I've finally made a "how to" video on getting your finished Final Cut Sequence ready for Resolve. Prepping a project for color correction in DaVinci Resolve involves making your project "EDL" compliant. What's an EDL you might ask? Good Question. Check out this video and take a look!
Also, check out the official Basher Films Final Cut Pro Project Prep Specs in the previous post below (or click here).
Also, check out the official Basher Films Final Cut Pro Project Prep Specs in the previous post below (or click here).
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Official Basher Films Final Cut Pro Sequence Prep Specs for Color Correction
Here they are, the official Final Cut Pro project Prep Specifications for Basher Films. I've included a link below to download the PDF directly as well. Take a look, as these specs will greatly aid in getting your FCP project smoothly in to DaVinci Resolve quickly and easily (saving you TIME and MONEY, and me a HEADACHE).
Official Basher Films Final Cut Pro Spec Sheet PDF: http://www.basherfilms.com/pdfs/Basher_FCP_Project_Prep_Specs_2011_PDF.pdf (right click and "save as" or "save target" to download)
Also be sure to check out the "how to" video made by yours truly, found here: http://www.vimeo.com/19235313
COLOR CORRECTION PREP SPEC SHEET FOR FINAL CUT PRO PROJECTS
1. BACKUP YOUR PROJECT - Please make a backup copy of your original final project and your final sequence and keep it somewhere safe (as in don’t bring it to basher films!).
2. CONSOLIDATE VIDEO TRACKS TO A SINGLE TRACK USING - Take your new copied project and/or sequence and consolidate all your video tracks down to 1 VIDEO TRACK with any extra media such as stills, VFX shots, text generators, etc, on TRACK 2. Please be sure that all your master media for color correction is consolidated down to these two tracks as it greatly aids in preparing your sequence for color correction. (if you’ve used superimposition effects or have layered video effects you may leave those on Track 2 if consolidation down to 1 track is prohibitive). Please be sure that you’re final sequence is “EDL compatible” and uses CUTS AND DISSOLVES ONLY (try to change any opacity transitions to cross dissolves as those translate better for color correction). Please see a “how to” video for this process made by Chris at: http://www.vimeo.com/19235313.
3. NOTE ALL FILTER EFFECTS , SPEED CHANGES, AND STILLS - Please make a not of any shots that have a Final Cut Pro video filter on them (including simple size changes, etc) as well as shots with any speed changes or still images. Ideally these shots would be re-export as consolidated quicktime files by using the “export – quicktime movie” command and then bringing the new “flattened quicktime back in to the final cut sequence and replacing them in to track 01. Regardless, any shots that are not re-exported in this fashion must be made known to Basher Films.
4. TRANSFER PROJECT TO EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE - Please take this new consolidated sequence and all its referred media and transfer to an external hard drive (NO USB DRIVES PLEASE, either firewire 400/800, or ESATA) for delivery to Basher Films. Please refer to the media manager instructions in step 5 for instructions on how to do this.
5. USE THE “MEDIA MANAGER” FUNCTION - Please use the “MEDIA MANAGER” function in Final Cut Pro to media manage your final sequence (and only your final sequence) to an external hard drive (please do not use USB hard drives as they are notoriously slow, firewire 400, firewire 800, or ESATA will work much better). Select “copy media”, use 2 second handles for your clips, and direct all the new files to the external hard drive.
6. DOUBLE CHECK MEDIA ON DRIVE - Please double check and make sure that the new project and the project files are both located on the external hard drive that you will be bringing to Basher Films and that all the relevant media is linked to them.
Official Basher Films Final Cut Pro Spec Sheet PDF: http://www.basherfilms.com/pdfs/Basher_FCP_Project_Prep_Specs_2011_PDF.pdf (right click and "save as" or "save target" to download)
Also be sure to check out the "how to" video made by yours truly, found here: http://www.vimeo.com/19235313
COLOR CORRECTION PREP SPEC SHEET FOR FINAL CUT PRO PROJECTS
1. BACKUP YOUR PROJECT - Please make a backup copy of your original final project and your final sequence and keep it somewhere safe (as in don’t bring it to basher films!).
2. CONSOLIDATE VIDEO TRACKS TO A SINGLE TRACK USING - Take your new copied project and/or sequence and consolidate all your video tracks down to 1 VIDEO TRACK with any extra media such as stills, VFX shots, text generators, etc, on TRACK 2. Please be sure that all your master media for color correction is consolidated down to these two tracks as it greatly aids in preparing your sequence for color correction. (if you’ve used superimposition effects or have layered video effects you may leave those on Track 2 if consolidation down to 1 track is prohibitive). Please be sure that you’re final sequence is “EDL compatible” and uses CUTS AND DISSOLVES ONLY (try to change any opacity transitions to cross dissolves as those translate better for color correction). Please see a “how to” video for this process made by Chris at: http://www.vimeo.com/19235313.
3. NOTE ALL FILTER EFFECTS , SPEED CHANGES, AND STILLS - Please make a not of any shots that have a Final Cut Pro video filter on them (including simple size changes, etc) as well as shots with any speed changes or still images. Ideally these shots would be re-export as consolidated quicktime files by using the “export – quicktime movie” command and then bringing the new “flattened quicktime back in to the final cut sequence and replacing them in to track 01. Regardless, any shots that are not re-exported in this fashion must be made known to Basher Films.
4. TRANSFER PROJECT TO EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE - Please take this new consolidated sequence and all its referred media and transfer to an external hard drive (NO USB DRIVES PLEASE, either firewire 400/800, or ESATA) for delivery to Basher Films. Please refer to the media manager instructions in step 5 for instructions on how to do this.
5. USE THE “MEDIA MANAGER” FUNCTION - Please use the “MEDIA MANAGER” function in Final Cut Pro to media manage your final sequence (and only your final sequence) to an external hard drive (please do not use USB hard drives as they are notoriously slow, firewire 400, firewire 800, or ESATA will work much better). Select “copy media”, use 2 second handles for your clips, and direct all the new files to the external hard drive.
6. DOUBLE CHECK MEDIA ON DRIVE - Please double check and make sure that the new project and the project files are both located on the external hard drive that you will be bringing to Basher Films and that all the relevant media is linked to them.
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