The latest news, reviews, thoughts, and humor for professional (and aspiring) moving image Colorists and Finishers. |
This Week On "The Tao"
- ProApps Users: Apple Is Speaking. Are You Listening? - I initially wrote this back in November - I had to let it sit before I tweaked it up and posted it this week. I share thoughts and observations about how Apple operates. And what we might deduce. (TaoOfColor.com)
Tools Of The Trade
- All About ACES, Open EXR, and IIF - A Mike Most post dispelling misunderstandings about this 'next generation' color information interchange specification. (MikeMost.com)
- The 'Fill LIght' in Magic Bullet Looks - How to use the 'Fill Light' filter in MB Looks to selectively lift your blacks... though it's not accurate when showing how you can't achieve this same effect in the 3-Way Color Corrector. (RedGiantSoftware.com)
- The Archiving Dilemma - Shane Ross blogs about his archiving solution. It's pretty much how I handle things as well. (lfhd.net)
- Avid: Supported Drivers, Software, and Quicktime - Do you ever need to figure out exactly which version of Quicktime matches your install of Avid? Then bookmark this. (DylanReeve.com)
- WebM vs h264: A Simple Explanation of Why It Matters - The VHS vs Betamax of our day. This is a good walkthrough but in the end it becomes a pitch for Soreson 360 (which I use and like) and other similar services. (blog.sorensonmedia.com)
On Craftsmanship
- Why Do We Need Lighting Anymore? - Philip Hodgetts tackles the notion that lighting has gone from something we 'need' to something we merely 'want'. (PhilipHodgetts.com)
- FCP Interface: One Size Does NOT Fit All - If you don't have multiple (often radically different) window layouts tailored to the different tasks that need to be accomplished while editing (and grading)... then you are NOT working at peak performance. (BiscardiCreative.com)
- The Costumer Designer's Process - If you like listening to total pros in related crafts talk about their work... this one is for you. (FilmmakerIQ.com)
The Color Correction Handbook - Last week's 'Recommended Reading' I called one of the two best books on Color Grading. This book is the other best book on Color Grading. And long-time readers of this newsletter are very familiar with it. From setting up your grading room, to understanding color balancing, secondary corrections, skin tone, and mastering frequently called-upon "Looks". . . this is easily the most authoritative book for our Craft.
Buy it. Read it. Learn It.
(Amazon.com: Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema )
Tao Rating: Essential Reading
Doing Better Business
- How To Get Good At Making Money - "This is not about getting rich (though there's certainly nothing wrong with that). Instead, for me, making money is about freedom. When you owe people money, they own you--or, at least, they own your schedule. As long as you remain profitable, the timeline is yours to create." (inc.com via @the99percent)
- The Pros and Cons of YouTube Video On Your Site - YouTube as a professional streaming video solution? (ReelSEO.com)
- Where Will You Be in Five Years? - This is a nice thought experiment. My 5 Year Plan seems to change every 9 months... which is kind of the point. (blogs.HBR.org)
- Don't Be Nice, Be Helpful - As colorists, we all need to take criticism. This article talks about how to give criticism, constructively. And why handing it out is a compassionate thing to do. (blogs.HBR.org)
- Zen and the Art of GMail - Do you do GMail? Then you might like this multi-part series. (db.tidbits.com)
Edumacate Yer'self
- DaVinci Colorist Breaks Down Colorista II in AE - Red Giant Software's blog has a good write up from a post house owner / operator, who's also a DaVinci colorist. He talks about his use of Colorista II in After Effects for a recent show open his company produced. (RedGiantSoftware.com)
- Scared Straight: When Laying Out A File-Based Workflow, It's Helps to Work Up Some Paranoia - From the PBS Quality Group (direct PDF Download: Current.org via @bosfcpug)
- Archiving Your Final Cut Pro Projects - A Webinar preview from Larry Jordan (YouTube.com)
Criminalizing Your Customers
Free. As In Beer.
Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers
| JL Cooper Eclipse |
Euphonix MC Color |
Tangent Wave |
| Software: v2.1.6 |
Mac: v2.5.7 |
Software: v3.8 |
|
Color Plug-in: v 1.0.5 |
PC: v2.5.7 |
Firmware: v1.9 |
| Updated: March 7 |
Updated: Feb. 18 |
Updated: Jan. 28(ish) |
Sunday Morning Fun(nies)
- Inventables: Materials From the Future - That you can buy now. (Inventables.com via kottke.org)
- A Brief History of Title Design (Vimeo.com via Kottke.org)
- "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2": Behind the Scenes - Anyone else have high hopes for this film? (YouTube.com)
Memory Lane
- James Cameron: Before Avatar - A TED talk. (Ted.com)
Gear Heads
- 2011 PowerBooks: The Difference That Processor Frequency Makes - Trying to decide which PowerBook to buy? You should probably read this. (HardMac.com)
- The D.I.T. Station, Part 2 - Visualized in Cinema 4D (Vimeo.com)
- [Podcast] Thunderbolt! - Proof that Apple really does love our industry. (PhilipHodgetts.com)
By The Numbers
- AG-AF100 and PMW-F3: On the Charts - I try to keep this newsletter light on camera stories. But this post does a nice job evaluating images using test charts. (ProVideoCoalition.com)
Seeing Is Believing
- Perspectives on the Death of 3D - And congrats to Philip Hodgetts who gets mentioned with the same authority of Walter Murch and Christopher Nolan. (MikeJones.tv)
Weekend Warrior
spice up your films advance your career
MASTER THE ART OF COLOR GRADING
Last One Out, Turn Off the Lights
- YouTube: High-Quality Motion Estimation and Color Enhancement - YouTube announced they acquired Green Parrot Pictures. GPP specializes in applying cutting-edge Digital Signal Processing to take mundane images and... transform them. YouTube wants to do the same to the 2,000+ hours of crappy little home videos that get uploaded every 60 minutes. Read the full press release (YouTube-Global.blogspot.com via @grempe)
The Next Step Is A Doozy
- Meet the Next Secretly Written Copyright Treaty - How does the Homeland Security mantra go? If you have nothing to hide than you have nothing to fear? Don't look now... they're hiding it. (ArsTechnica.com)
A Step Too Far???
The Lowest Common Denominator
- The World's Greatest Extra (YouTube.com via ReelSEO.com)
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