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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 CLXXXII
A TaoOfColor.com Publication Publisher: Pat Inhofer Managing Editor: Jim Wicks
From the Publisher |
- We're a little light on The Tools this week. But that's how it goes on the internet... it all happens in waves. If you're a DaVinci Resolve user, the link to Ripple Training actually has a half-dozen movies for you to watch. So don't miss it.
- We're also putting the final details together on our NAB 2014 Colorist Mixer. It's at The Bar in the Monte Carlo hotel on April 6 starting at 7:30p. It looks like the invitation will be sent out to you this week - so keep an eye for it. We're putting the final touches on the EventBrite sign-up page.
See you next week. Happy
Grading! |
The Craft |
- What Is Color? - "The Flame Challenge is an international contest started by Alan Alda that asks scientists to communicate complex
science in ways that would interest and enlighten an 11-year-old." The 2014 Flame Challenge is to entertainingly answer the question: What is Color? (centerforcommunicatingscience.org)
- True Colors - "Unlike many Color Management books, this e-book focuses less on equipment calibration and more on the management and treatment of image files. It centres on how to make the
workflow of shooting> processing> manipulation> reproduction to be as predictable and optimal as possible." Aimed at photographers, looks like there might be something in here to benefit the Digital Colorist. (grygarness.com)
- Interview: Colorist Dado Valentic - He's got a great story. An example of a colorist who decided to define his career rather than the other way around. (splicecommunity.com)
- Film Restoration at Criterion Collection - behind the scenes of the various departments a film goes through during the restoration process. (vimeo.com via nofilmschool.com)
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The Tools |
- [video] DaVinci Resolve 10.1 Features - Ripple Training posted 7 free tutorials that are worth taking a look at. Colorist Alexis Van Hurkman walks you through some key new features in DaVinci Resolve version 10.1. (rippletraining.com)
- Get 'Spotlight' back under control - Mac-based colorists have surely run into the problem when their CPU usage goes nuts for no apparent reason. Sometimes, it's 'Spotlight' that's consuming all
that power. Bookmark this blog post for what to do the next time it happens to you. (9to5mac.com)
- FCPx: Rules of the 'Consolidate' Command - If you're like me that you frequently need to handle the media management duties of your more... 'challenged'... clients. FCPx's new consolidate command is a HUGE step forward for that app. But it has
its rules. Click through and read this blog post to understand them. (macprovideo.com via @Noctylux)
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Resolve acts as a pattern source for CalMAN.
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The Business |
- The battle of the 4K cameras - Panasonic GH4 and the Blackmagic Production Camera go pixel to pixel in a specs-based comparison test. (eoshd.com)
- Everything you need to know about 4K video - in less than two minutes. This video is a good example of how 'UltraHD' is being explained to the masses. (mashable.com)
- Ultra-HD TV: Seeing is believing - "The CEA concludes that it's critical for consumers to see Ultra HD technology in
person to be able to understand its benefits." From two recent studies they've done. (hdtvtest.co.uk)
- Interlaced video is dead - that's the headline of this story. I'm linking to it because if you read the actual story... it's about why interlaced video isn't
dead - which is an interesting story but I suppose, doesn't make as good link bait. (redsharknews.com)
- The future of Internet-delivered video? - officially, Verizon says it treats all Internet traffic equally. But after reading this exchange between Verizon and one
customer you might think Verizon is purposely slowing down Netflix on its FIOS customers. (stopthecap.com)
- Deep pockets - Netflix says it will spend $3 billion on TV and Film Content in 2014. (theguardian.com)
- Protect your brand - cyber attacks and stolen identity are nothing new. But stealing your url? Read how one person lost their Twitter username, and solid advice on how to keep it happening to you. (thenextweb.com)
- 4K BluRay: 12-bit color encoding technology - "DCE is an extremely efficient process requiring very little additional bandwidth or processing power to deliver true 12-bit equivalent color to compatible displays". (hdtvtest.co.uk)
- YouTube Adds '2160p 4K' option - to its video quality settings. I missed this story from early in the year. (hdtvtest.co.uk)
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Friends & Family |
MixingLight.com is a companion membership website to TaoOfColor.com. Want to read a story listed here but not a member? A free 24-hour test drive is available. - Getting up to speed with monitor calibration, Part 1 - A detailed overview of the core tools and steps when calibrating your monitor for professional color correction. (mixinglight.com)
- Commercial Workflow: Labeling and Ingest - If you have
trouble keeping all your media assets organized, then maybe these tips from a commercial colorist are up your alley. How do they manage to keep dozens of jobs generated on a weekly and monthly basis organized? (mixinglight.com)
- Six techniques for creating a 'Primary' correction - In a tool like DaVinci Resolve, there are a slew of different ways for doing your initial contrast expansion... especially with log-recorded images.
This Insight shares 6 different approaches I'll often cycle through when starting a big project. (mixinglight.com)
- [Podcast] Which is better: SpeedGrade or Resolve? - A question the founders of MixingLight.com get asked ALL the time. We finally address it in this podcast. Plus - we answer a second question on managing versions in Resolve. (mixinglight.com)
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Outside 'The Box' |
- Diffusion filters for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera - "My goal for this test was to find a filter that took the digital edge off the BMCC, do a fairly good job of retaining some fine detail, and give me an edge over my competition." Good introduction about what to look for when tasked with creating a 'diffusion look' in post-production. (provideocoalition.com)
- Comparing the Big 3 - Master Editor Oliver Peters does a comparison of Final Cut Pro X, Media Composer, and Premiere Pro CC. (digitalfilms.wordpress.com)
- [video] Editor's Insight - Alan Edward Bell, editor of The Green Mile, The Amazing Spiderman, and The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire talks about using Media Composer on his projects. (apps.avid.com)
- [video] The History of Cutting - The Soviet Theory of Montage. FilmmakerIQ does a nice job of profiling how Soviet silent filmmakers pioneered new innovative about editing that helped move movie making forward. (vimeo.com)
- The Tramp - as we approach the 100 year anniversary of
Charlie Chaplin's iconic character, dive into this blog post to see the exact spot - then and now - where he completed his transformation into The Tramp. (theatlantic.com via @LynetteDuensing)
- On track - VFX Supervisor Rob Legato has been using Mocha since Shutter Island. In The Wolf of Wall Street, Legato continues his use of the Academy Award winning tracking software. Click through to find out why. (imagineersystems.com)
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Edumacate Yer'self |
Autodesk Flame Color Management Workshop - in NYC with Cedric Lejeune. February 25th - February 26th (eventbrite.com via @C_Workflowers) Ken Burns' interactive American History iPad App - included here as a reference for how to take your work and repurpose it. (9to5mac.com)
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Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers |
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Sunday Morning Fun(nies) |
- One actor,
one take, six iconic scenes - very cool. Be sure to watch the BTS video on that same page. (sploid.gizmodo.com via @post_vfx)
- Women get Photoshopped into a Cover Model - click through to watch their reactions to a retouch artist's idealized version of four regular women. (youtu.be via @KatrinEismann)
- Apple's Forgotten Designs - the Cupertino, California, company is known for a lot of things. But there are some Apple
products that never took off and have eventually been forgotten by most. (designtaxi.com)
- Where's Waldo? - and by Waldo we mean, weather. Designer Kelly Norton wondered 'Where in the U.S. will you find the most 'pleasant' days in a year?' His curiosity became a creative interactive map. (kellegous.com)
- [video] Pitstop - You can count the number of seconds this pit crew takes on two fingers. Don't blink, you'll miss it. (youtube.com)
- [video] Sledding, Swedish Air Force style - take one sled. Add a tow rope. And a fighter jet, courtesy of the Swedish Air Force. And you have yourself, a video that probably also belongs in A Step Too Far. (youtube.com)
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Weekend Warriors |
- [DIY] Making A Smoke Duct For Your Fogger - to put the smoke
precisely where you need it on-set. (youtu.be via filmmakeriq.com)
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Gear Heads |
- MacPro availability 'deteriorates' - Ship dates have slipped to
April. (9to5mac.com)
- [Mea Culpa] 2013 Mac Pro
FirePro D700 OpenGL - is better than originally reported by Ars Technica. The reviewer relied on Maya rendered for some of its less-than-stellar benchmarking and blamed the problem on Apple. It turns out the problem was with Maya, not with the MacPro. Includes some code you can enter into Maya to fix the problem it's having. (arstechnica.com)
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Are you looking for a steady diet of pro-level color grading tutorials? TaoOfColor.com Presents:
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Getting Ahead |
- Seriously, sitting is killing you - parking yourself in front of the
computer for 8 hours a day may get the job done, but at what cost to your health? Four experts weigh in on the detailed chain reaction of problems from head to toe. (apps.washingtonpost.com)
- Don't let the door hit you on the way out - Jay Leno's 6 lessons for leaving a job you love. Because, at some point we all have to leave it behind. (forbes.com)
- The Vision Thing - what do you call yourself? How important is it to identify yourself as an artist, not just to yourself, but to others? (blogs.psychcentral.com)
- Snack smart - being creative all day long means taking care of yourself.
Dig into this nutritious website for 100 healthy snacks delivered to your doorstep. Your waistline will thank you. (naturebox.com)
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Tweet of the Week |
@videoaaron Congrats! Have you considered adding "..._v2_Final_FINAL.avi" to the
name? @Diego24fps
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Showcase |
- [video] Made in the Land of Wheat and Maize - at just under 5 minutes, this is a lovely piece of filmmaking. Wonderful framing, pacing, and storytelling. (vimeo.com)
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The Next Step is a Doozy |
- You are committing a crime right now - US telephony company AT&T
mistakenly made user accounts public and a hacker provided proof of this. He was convicted of 'hacking' AT&T. What's the doozy? The law used to convict him is so obtuse that anyone using the internet anywhere could be convicted of hacking. Click through for more details and links. (blog.erratasec.com)
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A Step Too Far? |
- Does anybody know what time it is? - blogging, tweeting, creating. Who's got time for a life outside work? You might need the Balance Watch, a special timepiece that helps bring balance back to your life. Or completely disrupt your life if you follow it too precisely. (kickstarter.com)
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Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. Happy Grading!
5,550+ Stories Now Shared The Book Shelf
- Color Correction Handbook, Updated - Alexis Van Hurkman has updated his Color Correction Handbook, which has set the standard for learning all things color correction. (amazon.com)
- Color Correction Look Book - This is the second part of the Color Correction Handbook, exploring the creative techniques for over 200 different visual looks. A sort-of recipe book for
colorists. (amazon.com)
- The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction - Read how a dozen different colorists grade the same footage with the same gear, differently. A fantastic approach to learning the craft of color grading by Steve Hullfish. (amazon.com)
- Autodesk Smoke Essentials - Walk through grading a short sci-fi film (with downloadable ProRes4444 source material) while learning the ultimate online finishing app... Autodesk Smoke. (amazon.com)
- Color Grading with Avid and Symphony - Written for version 6. Fully applicable to version 7. I was a contributor. (amazon.com)
- Adobe Speedgrade CC: Classroom in a Book - A solid book for a solid grading app. (amazon.com)
Have a book you think should be in this list? Reply to this email and let me know!
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is a current client. We thank you for your support.
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Published by:
Patrick Inhofer: Photon-Wrangler, Fini.tv | TaoOfColor.com | MixingLight.com
patrick@taoofcolor.com
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