Trouble reading this newsletter? Read it online: http://www.aweber.com/t/BVoi6

The Tao Colorist

Issue CXXVII                                                           Brought to you by: Tao of Color.com

From the Editor: 

(I'm about to make a Special Announcement... which got rather lengthy. You've been warned.) 

This week I was going to launch our Annual non-Obligatory Subscription Drive (in which I ask you to show how much you value this weekly publication by... well, putting an actual value on it!)

But that's being pushed back a week as I've just hit another milestone here at the Tao of Color . . .

I'm thrilled to announce our new training program: 

Colorist Flight School LIVE!

This is a 10 student, 3-Day training program (with a 2-Day option) designed to teach a systematic approach to color grading that can be applied to any NLE or color grading app. This Spring and Summer I'll be travelling the USA teaching this system using my tool of choice, DaVinci Resolve Lite.

This training event is project based. What does that mean?

It means rather than using random bits of footage to teach specific interface elements or tips and tricks... I hand every student a short film--which we grade together from timeline ingest through final render. And as we step through the process, we learn DaVinci Resolve in a systematic way - exposing its layers of complexity when we need them and in a sensible order of attack.

(And by the way, the students get to keep the short film, bring it home (on a hard drive that I supply) and continue working on it. And they're licensed to use it in demo reels and private client demos.)

The training program also has an online component

Since we're working on an actual short film that I graded for an actual client, I have all sorts of notes and audio recordings that I'll share in the two weeks leading up to the training via a super-secret URL. This way you arrive prepped and ready to start the grade. The goal is to get all the client conversation stuff out of the way before class begins and jump right into doing what we're all there to do: Learning how to color grade while making sense of DaVinci Resolve Lite while executing someone else's vision.

END OF OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I think this is a good opportunity to share what this training represents to your humble newsletter editor: Colorist Flight School LIVE! is the culmination of a three-year vision I've had for the Tao of Color.

The Dead Man's Lake online training was a conceptual breakthrough for me which gave me the structure for this new training--and which my MasterClass members will see has opened up a whole new approach to the MasterClass as all of this feeds back onto itself (to be revealed later this year).

And since I'm suddenly feeling a little emotionally jiggly right now, I want to take this opportunity to thank:

• My wife, the Tao Treasurer, for her awesome support of the Tao of Color - which has consumed me in ways neither of us anticipated and without whom none of this could happen--including the publication you're reading right now.

• A big shout out goes to the world renowned Walter Biscardi, who is graciously hosting this first training event in the outskirts of Atlanta. He's making this ridiculously easy for me to roll out. And has been amazingly patient considering it's over 6 months late.

• Huge kudos to Ben Franklin and Anthony Melton of BloodyCuts.co.uk. They produced a terrific little supernatural thriller that has everything I want in a teaching tool:

• It's short film with a very focused story.

• It's good-naturedly cliche but with solid acting that pulls me in as a colorist.

• It has tons of opportunities for creating mood and emotion with both easy and complicated color grading problems to solve.

• It's not too graphically violent that I can't cut out the more objectionable bits while keeping the soul of the piece.

• And they're willing to share--everything!

What a terrific team of filmmakers Ben and Anthony are and I hope this horror anthology series of theirs garners them the kind of attention and opportunity they definitely deserve.

Click on this link to get ALL the details and sign up for the training. Don't wait, there are only 10 seats available in the entire world! Colorist Flight School LIVE! will be in Atlanta, Georgia the last week of May.

If you want me to bring Colorist Flight School LIVE! to a city near you, here's the request form. Go ahead and fill it out. I'll keep a running tally and when I'm in your area you'll be the first to know.

So there it is. See? Not the right time to veer into the annual 'public broadcasting' style pitch. Let's save that for next week. See you then! Enjoy this week's post-post-NAB edition.

---

The Craft

• The Interactive Color Calculator - Very cool. Select your color, get back a color harmony. Oh - (thanks to the Tao Treasurer for this tip) don't forget to scroll down where all the color science and theory of how to use this tool is explained! (sessions.edu)

• 'The Island House': Making The Book Trailer - An interesting story of a market segment for production and post-production that was almost non-existent a decade ago (unless you were working for Stephen King).  (thefilmbakery.com)

• The Promise Of Creative DI - The merging of color grading and visual effects. I do wonder how much longer anyone will be able to use the term 'Digital Intermediate' in its original sense.  (studiodaily.com)

 

Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers

JL Cooper Eclipse	Avid Artist Color	Tangent
Software: v2.9.3	Mac: v2.7.1	Color: v3.8
Color Plug-in: v 1.0.5	PC: v2.7.1	Wave Firmware: v1.9
Updated: Jan. 2	Updated: Feb 19	Updated: Feb. 7, 2012

 

Sunday Morning Fun(nies)

• Top 10 Awesome MacGyver Tricks That Speak For Themselves - FYI, MacGyver is a Tao Treasurer hero. And these ARE awesome. But this looks suspiciously like a honey-do list. (lifehacker.com)

• 10 Years of Photoshop Toolbars - Fun. (facebook.com via Patryk Kizny )

• [Video] Debunking 50 Common Misconceptions - Thankfully, not a blog post. And very fast paced. I also enjoyed this one on 35 Facts About Mr. Rogers. (laughingsquid.com)

• This. Pay Attention People. Aspect Ratio Matters. - Funny. (xkcd.com via @videoaaron)

NAB Wrap up

• NAB 2013: Musing of a Colorist - Your humble Newsletter Editor published this blog post on the trends that struck me at NAB. (mixinglight.com)

• NAB: Networking, Advancement & Beer - Why would you travel halfway around the world to come to NAB? Answers from my Mixing Light co-founder Dan Moran. (mixinglight.com)

• [Podcast] Rob Bessette: On Being a Demo Artist for Resolve 10 - A terrific podcast from long-time Tao supporter, Tom Parish. Interviewed is a Boston-based colorist hired to work the BlackMagic booth and demo Resolve 10. They dig into the tools he found most compelling and the reactions of the people he gave demos to... plus some insights on the Resolve software team as they prepped for the show. (tomparish.com)

• [Video] BlackMagic Overview: 2013 Synergies - A really quick and comprehensive look at what's been driving BlackMagic product development over the past year. From 4k cameras to 4k switchers to 4k recorders. A surprisingly interesting summary that take less than 4 minutes to watch. (provideocoalition.com)

• [Video] Grant Petty On Cameras, Codecs and Business Philosophy - Interviewed by Marco Solario. (redsharknews.com)

• [Video] DaVinci Resolve 10: Hero Features - This video gives you the flavor of the three big 'hero features' that the DaVinci team was promoting for Resolve 10. (Vimeo.com via jonnyelwyn.co.uk)

• On The Post Production Trail, Day One - Follow one attendee through a series of short blog posts as he makes his way through four days of NAB. (magazine.creativecow)

• Codex 'Vault' Now Supports RED, Sony and GoPro - Talk about working both ends of the camera spectrum. (definitionmagazine.com)

• [Video] Digital Rebellion: Kollaborate - I plugged the first part of this video last week... only to discover I missed the second part with John Chappell of Digital Rebellion. Not only that, I missed him at NAB as well! He makes amazing products and I wish I had hunted him down to say 'thank you'. If you're looking for an online review and approval solution, check out the 2nd half of this video.  (provideocoalition.com)

• [Review] SliceX for FCP X - A short review from a beta tester. (fcproxuniversity.com)

• The Death Of The Obvious - A thoughtful piece about the state of 3D and 4K at NAB. (btlnews.com via @AlphaDogsPost)

• Thunderbolt and Storage Drives - A good NAB wrap-up. Including news of faster Thunderbolt devices and a new Sonnet Thunderbolt PCI expansion chassis. (macworld.com via@post_vfx)       

Omm...! pic.twitter.com/K3z6vc2rzB    via @ColoristBoy