• Note to Tao Colorist Newsletter Staff - This coming week being Thanksgiving - a time for family and appreciating what we have - you are officially discharged of your duties for the week. There will be no Tao Colorist Newsletter next Sunday. 

• I offer thanks to Jim and the Tao Treasurer for your amazing support and effort. Enjoy the down time. You've earned it!

• Note to Tao Colorist Readers - Next Sunday, I hereby bequeath our weekly shared time back to you. Make good use of it. Or no use of it. That's what a holiday is all about. We'll see you in two weeks.

• Actually, I just lied. While Jim and the Tao Treasurer will be off, *I* will see you in 8 days, since the day after next Sunday is Cyber-Monday, the largest online sales day of the year. You'll be getting a special Tao of Color email on Cyber-Monday announcing a one-day sale. Keep an eye out for it.

• On being the junior - interesting article by Aurora Shannon on what it's like to be a Junior Colorist (assisting Colorists like Stephen Nakamura on Quantum of Solace, no less). Good read. (networkninenews.com)

• Know your waveform! RGB va Luma in the field - DP Art Adams delves into the mechanics of television signals, the difference between RGB and Luma waveforms and why he doesn't rely solely on RGB anymore. As a colorist, much of what he says resonates with me. (dvinfo.net)

• [video] Walt would be proud - The Bear & The Hare is one of the most popular adverts in the UK. We suggest you watch the commercial first, and then the BTS video to truly appreciate the craftsmanship in this cute holiday spot. Awesome creativity. (creativereview.co.uk)

• Colors organized neatly - great set of Flicker images. ( flickr.com via kottke.org)

• [video] The father of fractals - take 5 minutes, have a cup of coffee, and be inspired by the man some call the father of fractals. Benoit Mandelbrot's love of mathematics fueled his discoveries which uncovered the hidden patterns of nature. In turn, his discoveries continue to inspire film artists and more. (youtube.com)

• Direct Link in Action: Moving between Premiere and SpeedGrade - a new feature allows users to quickly open a Premiere Pro timeline directly in SpeedGrade and return to Premiere without the usual xml roundtripping. The new feature is called, Direct Link. And if you click the link, you can watch it in action. ( retooled.net)

• [Podcast] 4K: Display Technology and Calibration - what stays the same? What will change for mastering 4K and 8K UHD media? (tomparish.com)

• Baselight Plus: New turnkey option -includes CPU, 24 TB of RAIDed storage, Baselight Slate control surface, two licenses of Baselight Editions and one year support contract. How much? Click through to find out. (filmlight.ltd.uk)

• After Effects Creative Cloud Updates - some interesting new features. Including a new Upscaling effect with new image processing algorithms. ( provideocoalition.com)

• Baselight For Avid on Windows - Baselight Editions is now available for Avid on Windows. (filmlight.ltd.uk)

• Restoring: Taxi Driver - this is article goes in-depth with the people who restored this 1970s classic to 4K splendor. Colorist Scott Ostrowsky illuminates his workflow. (library.creativecow.net)

• Restoring: It Happened One Night - The classic Frank Capra film is restored to 4K.  Colorist Scott Ostrowsky describes how he use Baselight to grade this classic. (library.creativecow.net)

• Restoring: Mary Pickford's lost film - the actress, producer, and co-founder of United Artists made 205 films in her career. Now, one film that was lost has been found and restored. (library.creativecow.net)

• The restoration of Les Enfants du Paradis - this 1940s movie has a story all its own. Forbidden by Nazis. Last shown in the U.S. 30 years ago, now restored, and in 4K. A great story, and great before and after stills. ( library.creativecow.net)

• Why Post in 4K? - this is the big question many people, clients AND post professionals, are asking. Cost and benefits need to be carefully weighed. (studiodaily.com)

• Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition (DCDC) Platform Goes Online -  Satellite distribution for theatrical exhibition. Using the DCDC, users of this platform expect to drop exhibition costs significantly. It's a venture between Hollywood heavyweights and theater owners. Click through for more details. (studiodaily.com)

• Film fading to black - ARRI, Panavision, and Aaton, quietly cease production of film cameras and focus, instead, on digital cameras. Meanwhile, "I think we've reached a kind of tipping point on the acquisition side and, now, there's a tipping point on the exhibition side." (library.creativecow.net)

• Getting SpectraCal's 'Color Checker' and Virtual Forge working on one Mac - Finally. I've posted my step-by-step guide for getting the SpectraCal Tao Bundle up and running on a single Mac. And by the way, the special is still running. Click through for that link. (taoofcolor.com)

• [Video] Working with Blending Modes - Dan Moran starts a series about blending modes. In this Insight: Overlay. (mixinglight.com)

• [Video] Splitter / Combiner: An Introduction - Resolve 10 features a brand new type of node. This Insight breaks it down and offers an introduction to it. (mixinglight.com )

• [Video] Reverse Engineering LUTs (featuring FilmConvert plug-in) - your humble newsletter publisher answers a MixingLight member's question and pulls up a LUT and analyzes it so we can properly prepare a RED shot for it. And the curve we're applying? It's generated from FilmConvert's OpenFX plugin for DaVinci Resolve 10. The fundamentals will apply to any LUT-style transform. (mixinglight.com)

• [Podcast] From the Mailbag: Clarity Slider & VFX Grading Workflows - In Episode 5, Team MixingLight.com answers questions from two members: How to replicate LightRoom's Clarity slider in a grading app? How to work with VFX artists and move shots around without getting locked into a 'look' you can't work with? (mixinglight.com)

• [Video] LUT Preppers: 4 Techniques for preparing an image for a LUT - There are lots of ways of working with LUTs. In my continuing series about LUTs, I share 4 common 'variations' on a theme to give you ideas to explore. (mixinglight.com)

• Now Shipping: Color Correction Handbook, 2nd Edition - A very good friend of the Tao (true story: many moons ago, over lunch, we used to talk about someone needing to create a color-correction newsletter), Alexis Van Hurkman's updated book on color correction is now shipping from Amazon. No chapter left untouched, a few new chapters and so jam-packed that his publisher had to split part of it into a second book: Color Correction Look Book (amazon.com  | Preorder the Look Book)

• Stage of film editing - Oliver Peters has some very good insights for new directors who think production is over when the shooting stops. (digitalfilms.wordpress.com)

• The big picture - Colorist Aaron Williams covers the basics of IMAG (Image Magnification), used in live multi-camera coverage of events on big screens. What you need to set up a basic system, who should be on your team, and how to lead them to make a great show. It's broken up into 3 parts: (Part 1 | Part 2  | Part 3)

• [video] The snack that saved the movies - FilmmakerIQ has a curiously delicious video essay that looks at the science and mechanics that make popcorn pop, and traces the history an ancient snack that ultimately rescued the film industry. (vimeo.com)

• [video] A badassery split - watch Jean-Claude Van Damme the most epic of splits. And done in one take no less. The commercial demonstrates the truck's precision and stability. The same could be said for Van Damme.  (youtube.com)

• [video] BTS of the badassery split - if you loved the Van Damme / Volvo ad, its funny watching Van Damme not being incredulous as the stunt is explained to him. (youtube.com)

• The 2014 World's Fair, Imagined By Isaac Asimov - (tested.com)

• [Video] Kickstarter Parody - seeks money to fund a better Kickstarter video (mashable.com)

It borders on creepy how excited I get when @Telestream Episode gets all my processors transcoding at 100%.

• [video] Everything flows - this is a lovely piece that is enchanting to watch. Filmmaker Ettore Biondo captures a lovely fluid motion, with some amazing colors. Ettore emailed us to say that he did compositing and color grading in After Effects, and the live action was shot using a Canon DLSR. Composer Constantin Philippou's soundtrack rounds out the film nicely. (vimeo.com)