working in color
when we get to the color phase of our films we often work in FCP using the 3-way color corrector, RGB balance, and a couple other native filters. the tiffen dfx suite then steps in for some more advanced grading or fixing bigger problems. when we get a film that inspires us to do a really different look and feel with the color, that is when we head over to color (the apple app). color looks quite intimidating but really doesn’t take much to get a hang of. if you know photoshop you are more than half way there. with that being said, there is a ton of power under the hood and that can take quite the time to master. the primary room is very robust for most of your corrections and simple grading, but once you learn the secondaries, color fx, and geometry then you can do just about anything.
for patty and eugene’s wedding, she brought in many personal details and vintage items she has collected over the years. the seating chart was written on old windows. she brought in old trunks that held all of the props for the photobooth. a lot of her styling, form her hair, to her veil, to her umbrella, also had that vintage feel. when it came to the color i wanted to help convey that and really give the film an old and worn look. it took quite some time to get exactly what i had in mind, and the finished look combines quite a few corrections in the primary room, secondary, as well as a pretty big node cluster in the color fx room.
i’m really pumped with how it all came out and looking at the before and afters, i really feel the difference i was hoping to get across. i wanted to share some of the samples here as i think it is a pretty fascinating interface and program.
this grabs are from their same day edit, though the work in color wasn’t done the same day. we got asked to show the edit quite a bit earlier than planned, so i did a quick pass to clean up the color and that opened up the door for me to take some extra time the day after to process it how i wanted.
P.
one of my favorite frames (when in motion) from right before their first meeting in the forest.
a before and after grab from the finishing touches of patty getting ready.
a before and after grab from a shot with patty’s window frames that she collects.
the color interface. this is in the ‘primary in’ room.
Absolutely gorgeous. My ambition is to start getting clients interested in just this kind of editing/CC.
It’s a nice and also challenging variation to common CC.
Thanks for great and generous inspiration.
[...] this toning because patty loves to collect so many vintage things, from trunks, to chalkboards, to window frames. many of them were then tied into the decor of her wedding. that paired with what she wore on the wedding day made me think that a vintage tone would convey their story and mesh with it so much better. if your interested in reading more about that, check out my personal blog post about the color on this film here. [...]
Yeah, Color is suite…er…sweet! Seriously, I love and hate that program. Intuitive? No. Rewarding? Affirmative! Great job with the the tonality! Very vintage, so that’s a “mission accomplished”, in my book. See you in Portland!
Lovely tones! Is this video on vimeo? ;-)
Very nice!
you absolutely could. i find the time we spend on color goes up each workshop. with a section on apple color going further and further each time, i think it certainly gives you a good start
P.
This is really interesting – you could probably do a whole workshop on color grading. I’ve played around in Color but there is so much to learn there… I’ve really enjoyed the Tiffen filters – amazing results rather quickly.
jeff
color is more for the advanced looks, like this one. tiffen is all about power in simplicity and efficiency. we will actually be going over both, and native filters, in detail. we open up color and ealk you through each room, the workflow, and process footage on the spot with you.
P.
Wow, looking great. Luving color as well.
At Calumet, you folks used primarily Tiffen as your color grading tool(plus 3 way). Apple Color is a new way of bringing out the geography/feeling of a video for you now. Will you be teaching this at the SME?
-Joshua