[TaoColorist] Sunday Morning Reading (The Van Gogh Edition)
Published: Sun, 09/09/12
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The Tao Colorist
for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sunday.
Issue CIV Brought to you by: Tao of Color.com
Dead Man's Lake
Stay tuned for next week's announcement about Tao of Color's next major color grading instructional initiative, 'Dead Man's Lake'. It's made possible by the filmmakers at BloodyCuts.co.uk. To get you in the mood here's a great review of the Bloody Cuts horror anthology by MikeJones.tv:
- Why Some Bloody Cuts Are Better Than Others - Why do some horror films emotionally engage us while others have us wishing everyone would die already? (MikeJones.tv)
- 'Dead Man's Lake' Trailer - This coming Saturday is the debut of the next installment in BloodyCuts' 13-part anthology horror short film series. Yesterday the trailer was released. Note: As is often the case, the trailer does not reflect the final graded film (but I love how hokey it looks... my grade is not of the cruddy VHS variety). (BloodyCuts.co.uk)
The Craft
- Blackmagic CEO Grant Petty Talks About the New Cinema Camera - Why is this story about a camera listed up here in the craft section? Because there are great insights in this three part interview about Blackmagic's approach and the fact that they chose not to make the 'perfect' camera. They picked their niche. I especially like Part 3 where Grant talks about why they didn't choose a Super35 sensor size. They had one criteria they used for the sensor and that was that. After watching this I felt this deserved to be up here in the Craft section. (Vimeo.com: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 via @jimwicks)
- What's the Next Technology That Will Change the Way You Watch Movies? An interesting article on what three industry veterans think will be the next step forward in motion picture technology. Hint: It's in the eyes. (io9.com via Tom Parish)
- How Dr. Who Looks Got A Make-over Thanks to 'Color Recovery' - This is a great (and deep) article by Kevin Shaw on iColorist about the digital restoration of a key Dalek episode from the original Dr. Who series. It highlights a new restoration process, created out of necessity for this job. (iColorist.com)
- Seeing Van Gogh's Paintings, The Way Van Gogh Saw Them - Did Van Gogh have a color deficiency? At a Japanese color conference, an exhibit was set up using filtered light to show how people with color deficiencies see. Under this light were a series of Van Gogh paintings. The results surprised the author and revealed a new layer to Van Gogh's genius. (asada0.tumblr.com via Dexter Gresh)
- Do You Have Tetrachromatic Vision? "One study suggested that 2-3% of the world's women might have the kind of fourth cone that lies between the standard red and green cones, giving, theoretically, a significant increase in color differentiation. Another study suggests that as many as 50% of women and 8% of men may have four photopigments." This difference allows some people to see up to 100 million different colors (compared to 1 million colors for the rest of us). (ColourLovers.com via @JimWicks)
- The DSC OneChart: A Shooting Chart for the 'Raw' and 'Log' Age - Art Adams dives deep into this new chip chart. Explaining why it's more useful than the standard monochromatic chart most of us are used to. Try not to get offended by all the 'keep your colorist from messing up the image' references. (ProVideoCoalition.com via @IAmColorist)
- Arri Alexa LUT Builder: Legal vs Extended - This is a massive brain dump filled with lots of valuable information. Unfortunately - it's a tough slog through this treatise on the differences between recording in Arri as Legal vs Extended and what post production software calls Legal vs Full Range. This information is useful for workflows outside of Arri - I just wish it was done as a series of articles breaking down the various sub-issues more neatly. (NegativeSpaces.com)
The Tools
- Avid Releases Media Composer, Symphony 6.5 - For this newsletter's readers, enhanced relinking and additional AMA workflows are likely to make a difference. (TejBarra.com)
- Lightworks v11 for Windows: Now Available For Download - Here's the feature list. (lwks.com)
- Back to School with SpeedGrade - A list of Adobe's growing resources for learning SpeedGrade. Included is a link for to their recent 'SpeedGrade for Aspiring Colorists'. (blogs.Adobe.com)
- Blackmagic Announces UltraStudio 4k with Thunderbolt (ProVideoCoalition.com)
- Avid Studio for iPad: Now Pinnacle Studio... and Free - Temporarily. (ProVideoCoalition.com)
- [Video] Resolve 9 Feature: External... Fill? Resolve 8 gave us the external key node. The new release of Resolve 9 now gives us... an external fill option. Watch Juan Salvo's tutorial on this new feature to grok it. Nifty. (Vimeo.com)
- [Video] Resolve 9: Dailies Workflow for Premiere Pro CS 6 - Load up the dailies in Resolve, render and import the proxies into PrPro, edit your timeline, import into Resolve and relink back to the source footage. Watch it in action. (YouTube.com)
- Adobe Premiere Pro CS6: How To Import CinemaDNG Footage - You need hunt down an importer from Adobe Labs (which may or may not be available for Mac). Watch for all the details. (YouTube.com via @andres_dla_cruz)
- Smoke 2013: Take the Scruffy Smoke Challenge - A nice meaty tutorial on keying and compositing in Smoke. (YouTube.com)
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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The Business
- Apple's Set-Top Box Dreams Have Gone Nowhere - Reports of Apple's talks with cable providers seem to have come up empty. Surprise, surprise. (VideoNuze.com)
- FIOS TV Exec: Cord Cutting is Growing (and changing the TV biz) - Over the past two years of this newsletter I've linked to many stories about cord cutters; most of it contradictory. This is one of the few times we've heard a cable exec say it's a growing phenomenon. (Gigaom.com)
The New Kid on the Block
- [Video] Philip Bloom: Review of the BlackMagic Cinema Camera - This is a 45-minute video review of the BMCC... using just the basic kit and its internal battery. I'm not a guy who can sit through video reviews of cameras; I sat through this. Well done - though I did speed through a few of the montages he put in there. (philipbloom.net)
- Blackmagic Announces a passive micro 4/3 mount - To ship in December. Why is this a big deal? Click through to find out. Well explained. (johnbrawley.wordpress.com via @postvfx)
- Blackmagic Cinema Camera: A Hands-On Review - The first few paragraphs summarize the experience of these filmmakers using the BMCC on a weekend shoot. Scroll down to the italicized text for more detailed - and informative - feedback on how this camera compares to other rigs. (latenitefilms.com)
Edumacate Yerself
- [Video] Color Grading 101 with DaVinci Resolve 9 - This is a 101 video. And there are a few minor errors... but I really like seeing how a still photographer approaches DaVinci Resolve as he learns how to use it. Worth a watch if you're new to Resolve. (fstopacademy.com/blog)
- [Podcast] The Coloristos: GPUs - The trio tackles the elusive topic of GPUs for post-pros. This is the fifth installment of their podcast. (coloristos.com)
- Learning Smoke 2013? Here are some useful online resources - It's a long list. I'm glad to see it. (smoke-training.com via post vfx)
JL Cooper Eclipse | Avid Artist Color | Tangent |
Software: v2.8 |
Mac: v2.6.2 |
Software: v3.8 HUB v1.0 |
Color Plug-in: v 1.0.5 |
PC: v2.6.2 |
Firmware: v1.9 |
Updated: |
Updated: October 20 | Updated: Feb. 7(ish) |
Sunday Funnies
- [Video] What the Indiana Jones Sword fight Scene was SUPPOSE to look like - Recently found footage of outtakes before the sword fighter got sick and Spielberg re-worked the scene into one of the greatest moments in action film history. (filmmakeriq.com)
- [Video] Henri, Paw de Duex - The life of an existential cat. Living in France. Funny. (youtube.com)
- [Video] Clever Bird Goes Fishing - It's a bit long but worth the wait. In 30,000 years this bird's descendents will rule the Earth. (youtube.com)
Gear Heads
- Want a 4k TV? Get Ready to Shell out $25,000 - But hey, it's an 84-inch screen. (filmmakeriq.com)
- NVidia Announces Quadro K5000 - This card might finally end PC-envy. (architosh.com)
- ARRI Light for under 14 Dollars - I just can't tell what the color temperature of the bulb is. (cinescopophilia.com)
Beyond the Interface. Learn Technique. Includes: Resolve 9*
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DaVinci Resolve, DaVinci Resolve Lite : Mac & Windows!
Also available: Colorista II | Apple Color | FCP 7
*Resolve 9 Training available after the software's officially out of Beta
Your Career
- Does Klout Discrimination Really Exist? And can an employer legally refuse to hire you based on your Klout score? (mpdailyfix.com)
- How to Overcome Three Big Fears of Creative Entrepreneurs - Some good advice in here. (LateralAction.com via @markmcguinness)
- Clean Out Your Inbox to Become a Better Decision-Maker - A strategy for getting through your email. (feeds.gawker.com)
- Create a Landing Area to Consolidate Clutter and Simplify Your Morning Routine - One key to having a good day? Getting off to a good start. And not rushing around hunting for your stuff every morning is a good place to begin. (lifehacker.com)
Tweet of the Week
RT if this is what you think of every time you hear "Fifty Shades of Grey" > pic.twitter.com/j1JmTAId (@emerywells)
The Next Step Is A Doozy
- After 35 Years of Travel, Voyager Still Going Strong - Voyager is on the verge of hitting interstellar space... that moment in time when it no longer feels the gravitational pull of our Sun. (blog.macsales.com)
A Step Too Far?
- What's the Big Deal With iPhone UDIDs? 12 million unique iOS identifiers were recently stolen off an FBI laptop. The FBI denies it. Apple says UDIDs have been deprecated. But the list seems genuine. Is there a legitimate privacy concern? (ArsTechnica.com)
Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. Happy Grading!
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Curated + Edited by: Patrick Inhofer, photon-wrangler & founder, TaoOfColor.com
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