Digital Video - March 2009 - (Page 14)

COLOR BY THE NUMBERS ONE INSIDER’S GUIDE TO COLOR GRADING IN APPLE’S FINAL CUT PRO BY OLIVER PETERS A s an editor and colorist, I’ve used a number of NLE colorcorrection tools, ranging from Avid to Final Cut Pro. I like Apple Color, but, for quite a few projects, the prep time that’s necessary to use it makes color grading within Final Cut a more attractive solution. For a variety of reasons, I still find myself doing advanced color correction inside FCP — even for feature-length films. I’ve developed a recipe of go-to plug-ins and a grading workflow that helps me create the ideal look. Coloring the music video “En Mi Vida” for singer G.No. (Image courtesy of Gardelino.com) select between the two looks that you are trying to establish. OPEN PLAYHEAD SYNC — A COLOR-CORRECTION MODE At the start, I move all possible timeline clips down to video track V1 and change the playhead sync mode in the Canvas window to Open. This loads the sequence into the Viewer window, where the filter tab will reveal any effects applied to the sequence clip where your playhead (current time indicator) is parked. Working in this mode allows you to advance from one clip to another and immediately apply new filters. You are actually operating in a manner similar to Avid’s dedicated color-correction mode, except that in Final Cut Pro you can also apply and tweak other effects filters within the same window. Naturally, I open the video scopes tool to monitor levels. Although I still prefer external hardware scopes, the built-in software scopes get the job done. SHAPES, WINDOWS, VIGNETTES A hallmark of top grading solutions, such as da Vinci Systems’, is Power Windows. This feature lets the colorist mask portions of the screen and apply a separate layer of grading within that masked area. Artistic application of Power Windows permits the colorist to “relight” a scene. Apple Color offers this, too, but you can get similar results in FCP by applying additional filters. My favorites are Face Light and Colorista. Face Light is a freebie created by Australian Marcus Herrick that has the effect of brightening the image within an oval area isolated by the plug-in. You can control its size, aspect, softness and opacity (level of brightness), as well as blur the highlighted area (good for softening facial wrinkles). Add Face Light over a person’s face for a bit more snap when simply raising the gain in the regular 3-way corrector doesn’t work or causes you to blow out the highlights. Two or three people in the shot? Simply add a Face Light filter for each person. Magic Bullet Colorista works as a full-screen filter, but you can also use it to perform the same type of function as Face Light by using Colorista’s round or rectangular masks. All color-correction adjustments may be applied inside or outside of these areas, so it’s great for grading isolated portions of the image, like the sky or a bright window. In addition to the typical lift/gamma/gain color wheels, there’s also an exposure slider that brightens the image in a very photographic way. A number of indie features have been graded entirely with the Colorista filter. It can also be installed and used in Apple Motion, Avid Media Composer and Adobe After Effects. One more common filter in my recipe is Vignette, another free plug-in from Herrick. Lens distortions — such as lens vignetting, where the outer edges of the image darken — tend to trick our minds into seeing an image as more filmic. Sometimes this is a natural byproduct of the lens selection but often is artificially introduced by the DP. Subtle use of the Vignette filter tends to focus attention toward the center of the frame and sells the image as more artistic. www.dv.com LIFT – GAMMA – GAIN There are three main color grading plug-ins to use: the built-in Final Cut Pro color corrector, FCP’s 3-way and/or Magic Bullet Colorista (Red Giant Software). The basic color corrector is for simple things and gives you the ability to shift hue, but I go straight to one of the 3-way correctors. Colorista is somewhat cleaner than the FCP 3-way, but the built-in filter performs better in real time. For the majority of the timeline, I will use the FCP 3-way to create a primary grade. You can also stack various color-correction filters for a cumulative result. Doing so is similar to applying several Secondary tabs in Apple Color. For example, you could apply the built-in 3-way to a clip and set the contrast, brightness, saturation values and a neutral color balance. On top of that, you can apply a second 3-way (or other filter) and further affect the full-screen image. Let’s say your client is trying to decide between a warmer or cooler look. You could try to do this all within a single filter or you could apply three filters: one for neutral, plus a second to tint the neutral tones toward red or a third to tint them toward blue. Enable/disable the filters to 14 dv march 2009 http://www.Gardelino.com http://www.dv.com

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Digital Video - March 2009 Contents MX02 Instant Expert First Look: EOS 5D Mark II Powerlight 1735W Color by the Numbers A Versatile Disc Indeed Slice/Dice DV101 Production Diary

Digital Video - March 2009

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