So just how good is your ability to recognize colors? What about matching color sets? For anyone involved in the visual arts the ability to see and handle colors is a crucial skill set. Remember, professional don't really get paid for their abilities, they get paid for their taste, for knowing the difference between "perfect" and "almost".
Enter the "Color - Method of Action" game that's making the rounds on the internets right now. While it's a lot of fun to play, it can also help you understand your strengths and weakness as a colorist. In addition, it can help you begin to grasp some advanced color theory concepts. Check it out after the jump...
Yesterday Adobe announced the forthcoming Production Premium CS6, which will include new versions of Premiere, After Effects, Audition, Encore and Photoshop. Versions 5 and 5.5 both represented major milestones in terms of features, performance and stability. In fact, the increased stability of CS5.5 was a big part of why I finally decided to make the jump to a total Adobe workflow.
So do the new features of Production Premium CS6 represent the same leap forward in visual storytelling..?
A few weeks ago I wrote that one of the most common mistakes DSLR shooters make is using the auto-exposure function on the camera, but I didn't actually explain how. As I said, it's not an easy art to master, but if you want to be an effective visual storyteller it's crucial that you put in the time to really figure it out. After a converstaion last night with an aspiring filmmaker who's been learning this the hard way I figured it was time to finally knock this post out.
So what are the basic guidelines for shooting usable footage..?
Last month I had the chance to create a new short film for the RezDowntown campus. (you can check it out after the break) The community recently moved into a new venue, formerly the Crosstown Station, which provided some wonderful visual opportunities. I especially loved the different kinds of available light found there.
One of my favorite things about this project was that it gave me the opportunity to experiment with a number of different post-production techniques I'd never attempted. As a result, this might well be the first project I've ever created that I'd be really happy to see on a 40-foot screen. A big part of that had to do with some major software finessing of the footage in post...
Porn addtiction is one of the most pervasive problems we face in our society, yet it's something no one really wants to talk about. It takes a lot of courage to be willing to stand up and share your story about your battles with pornography. And while Tom Ryan's story is more dramatic than most, it's far from being a unique problem.
Someone turned me on to this amazing short film earlier today, and I knew a lot of you would definitely be able to appreciate what the filmmaker's up to with this piece. It's a incredible marriage of time lapse footage, motion graphics, visual effects, color grading and killer title work. The integration with the soundtrack is top-notch as well.
Douglas Koke is the visual artist, and you gotta respect the way he was able to find a compelling subject and then add several layers of awesome. Even better, the footage itself was shot with a sub-$1,000 Canon T3i.
DSLRs were never designed for film work, but there's no doubt they've completely changed the game in the world of independant filmmaking. And while they're capable of producing some astouding imagery, they need a lot of work to make them useable in the real world.
One of the most important refinements to come along in the past two years has been the advent of engineered Picture Styles. I've written a bit in the past about the granddaddy of them all - Technicolor's CineStyle. Since it's release it's the style I've used almost exclusively in order to achieve the most latitude when grading my footage. But the more I used the Technicolor style the more I started to have a big gripe with one aspect of it...
A few months ago Adobe announced that they would be aquiring Iridas' SpeedGrade color grading suite. While the details are still sketchy as to how exactly it would be incorporated in the Adobe software family, they seem to be indicating that it will probably be bundled into the forthcoming Production Premium CS6 suite.
As you can see from the video below (after the jump), this is a killer move for Adobe. One glaring piece of functionality that's been missing from the Adobe vidoe workflow is a professional color correction suite. But is Speedgrade as it exists today really the right step into the future..?
Over the past month or so my friends Rob Webster, Kathleen Sylvestri and I have been working hard on a new promo short about love, sex and marriage. What's made it great has been finally having an excuse to make a short film entirely within the world of Legos. (you can check it out after the jump)
One of my responsibilities on the project was color grading the final results. This presented a unique challenge as there wasn't anywhere stylistically to take it. For the sake of the story and the the tone of the composition those yellow Lego faces needed to stay in their correct color space. This wasn't a project to go all 'hipster' on.
What this piece needed a good Technical Correction grade without adding any Style Grading. If that last sentence seems at all confusing then this is the tutorial for you...
