[TaoColorist] Sunday Morning Reading (35mm: 1889 - 2011)

Published: Sun, 12/04/11

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The Tao Colorist

Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor 
for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sunday.
Issue LXXIII                                                           Brought to you by: Tao of Color.com

The Techniques

  • 3 Color Photography - Aimed at the Photoshop artist. Inspiration for the colorist. (VignetteMagazine.com)
  • [Review] Cinegrain: Turn Digital Into Film - The whole 'Film Look' discussion aside, Cinegrain has scanned hundreds of 35mm, 16mm, Super8 grain, flashes, leaks, splices and Leaders. Most are designed to be used in the Overlay composite mode. Arrives on hard drive. Nifty. (NoFilmSchool.com)
  • Pleasantville On Media Composer 6 - A color isolation technique. (GeniusDV.com)

The Tools

  • [Tutorial] Edius 6: Color Grading - This is Part 1 of five videos exploring the color grading capabilities of the PC-only NLE. (Vimeo.com)
  • DaVinci Resolve 8.1.1: Lite No More - My thoughts on the latest 'incremental' update to Resolve. And why there's nothing incremental about it. (TaoOfColor.com)
  • CineStyle LUT for DaVinci Resolve - If you've been jones'ing for a LUT to apply to your Canon DSLR with the Cinestyle gamma setting enabled... Desktop Video Guy has built a LUT for you to download and use in Resolve. (DesktopVideoGuy.com)
  • [Review] Autodesk Smoke 2012 SP 2 for Mac OS X - Includes new mulit-layer stereoscopic timeline and an improved 3D-aware lighting system. (PostMagazine.com)
  • [Review] Autocue T-Series LCD - Colorist Ola H. Voll takes a look at an AutoCue LCD to replace an aging LCD. (Colorist.no)
  • Red Giant Software: 'DeNoiser' Pulled from the Market - Google acquired their technology partner and is using the software to improve YouTube uploads, revoking Red Giant's licensing. They're re-developing the plug-in from the ground up. (RedGiantSoftware.com)
  • Pimp Your After Effects - Stu Maschwitz shares his specific settings for getting After Effects ready for a post-production pro. His 'pimps' include hacking preference files and grabbing 3rd party scripts. Good stuff. (Prolost.com)
  • [Forum Post] An OLED Story, Part 2 - This is a follow-up posting on a story we included in the Newsletter a few weeks ago. It continues to note how age plays a difference in how different people perceive (or not) a magenta shift when viewing OLED monitors. Post includes a link to determine if you're color blind. (tig.colorist.org)
  • [Software Update] BlackMagic UltraScope 1.5 - Now includes error logging. Follow the link for the ReadMe. (blackmagic-design.com)
 

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Flanders Scientific Broadcast Monitors

The LM-2461W is an affordable 24" color critical reference monitor featuring 10bit color depth, 3G/HD/SD-SDI Inputs, 12 onboard scopes, and DCI P3 support. All standard and all for just $4,995.

Learn More About the LM-2461W

 

The Business

  • Freelancers: Why Your Next Gig Will Be In Web Video - About the need for corporations to have savvy filmmakers leveraging the web. (FilmSlateMagazine.com)
  • 4K Cinema: How I Learned To Start Worrying That 2K Isn't Good Enough - A report from a screening of the newly restored Kubrick classic, "Dr. StrangeLove". The screening included a split screen demo of 2k vs 4k. The author was blown away by the 4k image - finding 2k soft and underwhelming. There's more on the StrangeLove restoration. (OnBennysDesk.com)
  • SRMemory - Think Sony's tape business doesn't see the writing on the wall? And do you think Sony hates wasting a perfectly good brand name? Sony introduces an extension of the SR product line with new high-speed 'SR'-branded Memory cards. Transfer speeds are rated up to 5 Gb/s - moving 10 hours of recordings in 30 minutes. The article also has a link to their SR MasterDeck - a harddrive that looks almost exactly like a tape deck... (ProVideoCoalition.com)
  • Digital Domian IPO Opens Flat - The legendary VFX powerhouse had to scale back the shares offered and raised less money than expected. Shares fell 16% in its first day of trading. They initially hoped to raise $115 million but walked away with $41 million. (StudioDaily.com)

Tools You Might Use

35mm Exhibition R.I.P. (1889 - 2011)

  • 35mm Theatrical Projection Soon To Be A Niche - After more than 120 years of dominance, January 2012 will mark the first year in which more film houses will be projecting digitally than from 35mm. The chart showing the rise of digital and the fall of 35mm is pretty dramatic. By the end of 2012 film projection will account for only 37% of global cinema screens. That's not a drop, that's a plummet. (isuppli.com)

Outside 'The Box'

  • First Look: Optical Anti-Aliasing Filter - For the 5D mkII. Moire be gone... (OneRiverMedia.com)
  • The Software Camera - As cameras become more driven by chips and software, no longer are their features set in stone. What does this mean to the cinematographer? (FilmmakerMagazine.com)

Edumacate Yer'self

  • [Live Demo] A Celebration of Color - Dolby Labs and Image Systems are teaming up for live demos of the Nucoda FilmMaster and Phoenix restoration system plus the Dolby PRM-4200. New York City. December 6. (ImageSystems.tv)
  • [Live Demo] Advanced Classes in 3D Color Grading on DaVinci Resolve - Plus a class on getting started in DaVinci Resolve Lite. December 14, London. (DefinitionMagazine.com)
  • Assimilate Scratch: Worldwide Training - If you might be in the market to get trained up on Scratch, then bookmark this page. (assimilate.com)
  • [Webinar] THX: Color Management 102 - How to create and use Display Profiles and LUTs in professional workflows. Wed, December 7. The link is for registration to this live free webinar. (GoToMeeting.com)
 
  
Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers
 JL Cooper Eclipse Avid Artist Color Tangent Wave

Software: v2.6b4

 Mac: v2.6.2

Software: v3.8

Color Plug-in: v 1.0.5
 PC: v2.6.2
Firmware: v1.9

Updated:
Nov 21

 Updated: October 20 Updated: Jan. 28(ish)
 

Sunday Morning Fun(nies)

  • [Video] Flash Musical: 'Sit On Santa' - Improv Everywhere breaks into song in a New Jersey mall vocalizing everyone's inner urge to sit on Santa. Santa agrees. (Mashable.com)
  • [Video] This Is How You Shoot A Camera Test - I agree. A terrific and funny video showing the capabilities of the Canon EOS C300. Canon loaned the filmmaker the camera - but decided against using the final video review. Watch to see why... (ProLost.com)
  • [Video] 70mph. Downhill. On a stick. - A neat documentary on the fastest, most dangerous hill on the Skateboard Racing Circuit. (Vimeo.com via kottke.org)
  • [Video] Dark Knight Rises. On YouTube - Footage from bystanders of the location shoot. No spoilers (other than Cat Woman's costume). (ReelSEO.com)
  • [iPad App] Poly - Turn your photos into colorful geometric shapes. This is a demo of the app in action. (Vimeo.com via @craigtozzi)
  • [Video] GoPro Doggie Cam - A GoPro, a dog, and a stick. It's awesome watching the dog's eyes roll about as he runs with the stick. (FilmmakerIQ.com)
  • Jetpacks: Now Available for Purchase - Looks like a ton of fun. Even at $100k. (Mashable.com via @Company3)
  • What the NFL Won't Show You - Watching NFL games has always annoyed me since I can't really see what all the players are doing - the camera shots are too tight. Apparently - the NFL likes it this way - refusing to release the wide angle footage to anyone not on the NFL payroll. Here's the killer quote from the article: "By distributing this footage only to NFL teams, and rationing it out carefully . . . the NFL has created a paradox. The most-watched sport in the U.S. is also arguably the least understood." Agreed. All because coaches are afraid of being second-guessed even more. Very 20th-century thinking. (online.wsj.com)

Gear Heads

  • 2011 MacBook Air: 6Gb/s SSD Upgrade - Bare Feats tests if there's a significant hard drive speed gain with OWC's user installable upgrade module. (BareFeats.com)
  • Hack Your Monitor and 3D Glasses For Ultimate Privacy - Yup. Rewire your computer monitor so it looks blank to anyone not wearing a matching pair of 3D glasses. You might have to explain to your mother what exactly it is you don't want people to see... (Engadget.com)
  • How to Overclock Your Video Card - Meant for gamers. My bet is this will work for Colorers too. (LifeHacker.com)
  
Resolve 8: Twenty+ hours of video                   Grade a 16-Minute Short

MasterClass: DaVinci Resolve 8

Workflow, Technique & Interface Training for Professional Storytellers
DaVinci Resolve 8 | Colorista II | Apple Color | FCP 7

Giving It Away

  • ProLost: Holiday Gift Ideas 2011 - Books. Lenses. Software. And more. (ProLost.com)
  • The 5 Best Toys of All Time - Fun list. (Wired.com)

Your Career

  • How to Think Creatively - Not so much a how-to. Still. Decent insights. (blogs.hbr.org)
  • Make 'Dropbox' Even More Useful - Dropbox is an amazing 'in the cloud' tool that would cripple me if it were to disappear. If you're similarly addicted, here are 5 add-ons to heighten your fix. (DuctTapeMarketing.com)
  • Stop Competing To Be The Best - This advice from Harvard Business Review isn't as counter-intuitive as it seems. (blogs.hbr.org)
FCPxxx: Tweet Of The Week

"@TheEditDoctor You'll be happy and disappointed that our FCP X software sales are now dwarfing our best FCP 7 software sales"  
Tweeted by @philiphodgetts
 

The Next Step Is A Doozy

  • Terminator-Style Contact Lenses - So you can watch your Twitter feed without your boss ever knowing. (DailyMail.uk.co)

A Step Too Far?

 

Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. Happy Grading!
  
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