Sunday, May 15, 2011
Technicolor Dreams
This is a video I made to test the Technicolor Cinestyle preset for my Canon 7D. It basically is a free download for Canon DSLRs that greatly opens up the shadow areas of the image. The picture as shot will look very washed out, (MANY examples of uncorrected technicolor cine footage on VIMEO) so it needs to be color corrected in post production to dial in the correct black and white and color saturation settings. But once you do.....WOW! It adds more dynamic range to the image, and it doesn't have that DSLR, super contrasted look as much. I also feel the moire is reduced quite a bit!
To really test things out, I shot what I consider a contrast range torture test! A mountain stream on a bright sunny day, with lots of dappled light. Bright, bright highlights and deep, dark shadows!
I then transcoded all the footage into ProRes LT, imported and edited in Final Cut Pro and then used Magic Bullet Looks to color grade all the shots. Basically I used lift/gamma/gain and then color saturation. I did not use curves as I found it crushed the blacks and blew out the whites a bit too much. Actually I had issues getting the LUT (Look up table) Technicolor supplies to load into Magic Bullet Look Up Buddy (I think my system- a G5 PPC-is too old to properly use it!). I felt using Lift/gamma/gain gave me the best tonal gradations anyway, especially for nature subjects where a real cine tone isn't as needed.
I mostly used my Tamron lenses. My trusty 17-55 F2.8 and the super zoom 18-270 F3.5-6.3. Kept shutter speed at 60 at all times, using ND filters when needed to expose properly.
Remember, this is shot using Technicolor cinestyle, but then color corrected in post. Your footage MUST be worked on after you shoot it, it does not look like this out of the camera. It amounts to alot more work in post production, is it worth it? I think so! I found this to make the 7D footage look quite stunning, especially considering what I usually get shooting such a contrasty subject.
Music is from Stock20.com, an excellent source for buyout music.
Enjoy!
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3 comments:
wonderful,wonderful,wonderful!
thank you,Paul!
Paul,
A brilliant video that I enjoyed immensely, thank you, and your latest piece is also quite beautiful.
I would like to ask you how you make MBL work on a G5 PPC. I have a good old G5 PPC and no matter what codec I use FCP6, MBL and G5 PPC never seem to want to play nicely (I end up having to use a Macbook for grading).
In most instances the preview screen is of low resolution and the footage will not render if you try anything other than basic.
The Macbook option is not as useful as it might sound, so I am considering an upgrade but still very much like using the old G5 PPC day-to-day.
Thank you in advance for your films and response.
Kind regards,
James
PS – I can’t seem to find Scott B. Adams “Listening to the Adirondacks” on iTunes, perhaps it’s not available in UK, which is a great shame. A great partner with the film.
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