The Editblog

I just started looking at a new blog (at least new to me) called view from the cutting room floor, ruminations on editing from the bottom of the post production ladder. It’s just that, a blog from an assistant editor who makes no secret that he is an assistant. It looks like quite a nice resource from someone clawing their way up the post-production ladder. One post that caught my eye was The underappreciated art of color correction. While there are a lot of under-appreciated arts in post-production color correction would be right up there at the top of the list. It’s an interesting step that is often skipped entirely, especially when shooting on videotape. Film has to go through some color correction process (for the most part) during the transfer. A one-light can at least give you some kind of look but a full-on color grading session in telecine is what film deserves. There is a link in the above mentioned post that shows an uncorrected still image and a whole range of looks applied to that still image. This is a great example of what color grading can be about as you take the time to really dig into a scene and create looks and moods to coplement and even enhance a story. 

With the advent of the RED camera and the raw image that it produces, it seems that color grading is sort of having a rebirth.  A RED image has to go through some color grading process to realize the full potential of the image and give you something other than the flat look of the raw image. Like desktop publishing and non-linear editing before it, low cost desktop tools like Apple Color will have a lot of inexperienced colorists color grading footage. I love that all this technology is available to anyone (myself included) but I’m still a firm believer in letting a dedicated professional do their job. Sure a professional colorist on a DaVinci will cost more than your camera assistant using Magic Bullet Looks but if you are working on a professional job with any kind of real budget doesn’t your project deserve it?

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 8:31 am and is filed under Editing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.