[TaoColorist] Sunday Morning Reading (The Donkey Kong Edition)

Published: Sun, 08/24/14

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

The Tao Colorist

Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor 
for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sunday.

         Issue CCVII                                                                             A TaoOfColor.com Publication

     Publisher: Pat Inhofer                                                            Managing Editor: Jim Wicks

From the Publisher

  • A big shout out to everyone who showed up and said Hi at the Blackmagic Design event in New York City.
  • It was a big turnout. 
  • And the Resolve station was busy - with lots of interest from Blackmagic Cinema and Pocket Camera owners.
  • It's always a blast to introduce new people to the craft. And talk shop with the experienced pros.
  • And speaking of turnout...
  • If you're in or near Amsterdam during IBC, scroll down to Edumacate Yer'self and register for the IBC Edition of the Colorist Mixer!
  • It's free and open to anyone who creates good looking moving images - and anyone who support those people.
  • Unfortunately, I won't be there.
  • Taking the lead in organizing this get together is Warren Eagles of the ICA.
  • There's no doubt he's pulled together an industry event that everyone will enjoy.
[change of subject]
  • Next weekend is a holiday weekend in the U.S. of A.
  • The newsletter will be off.
  • We'll be back in two weeks.

Happy Grading!
The Craft

  • [podcast] Colorist Randy Starnes - dive into this interview with Colorist Randy Starnes. Randy talks about his television series work, what drew him to the craft of color grading and the importance of working with DPs to get the color right. (tomparish.com)
  • Top 5 Life Skills - no, this isn't a story that belongs in the career section. This has to do with learning your craft. Editor Brady Betzel opens up about the 5 valuable skills he learned as an Assistant Editor. (postperspective.com)
  • Colorful Explanations - Enjoy learning how 15 things got their colors. Our favorite: number 12 the color psychology behind... fast food logos. (mentalfloss.com)
  • Color and Storytelling - filmmaker Robert Mills dives into a wondrous article of hues and saturation in which he explores the importance of color in storytelling in films. Read what inspired his blog post and what he discovered along the way. (robertmills.me)
  • 'Pixel' A Short Video Profile - Kyle McCoy is an artist. His medium? Pixels. Small plastic real-life pixels. A terrific story of craft. (laughingsquid.com)

S P O N S O R E D   M E S S A G E

Tao of Color's Official LCD Reference Monitors

Flanders Scientific CM250 OLED Reference Monitor

The CM250 OLED color critical reference OLED monitor featuring a 10bit panel, 12 bit, 4:4:4 and XYZ signal format support, 3D Calibration LUTs and 3D DIT LUTs ,  3G/ Dual-Link/ HD/ SD-SDI Inputs, plus 14 onboard scopes and meters on all inputs.

FSI CM250 OLED Only $6,495.

Learn More About the FSI CM250

The Tools

  • [video] 1D vs 3D LUTs: The Colorist's Perspective - What's a 1D LUT? What's a 3D LUT? And most importantly, how does the difference impact our work in a color grading suite? A free video ripped from Mixing Light's upcoming In-Depth Resolve 11 training series. (mixinglight.com)
  • [forum] 'Expendables 3' 4K Workflow Discovery - "images in the film were scaled up (for example) by a factor of 2 in 4K, which would be the equivalent of a factor of 1 in 2K. So why is the scaled up result in 4K better than no scale in 2K? The answer is simple: more pixels is always more pixels." On the advantages of 4K acquisition, even if delivery is 2K. (reduser.net via Marc Wielage)
  • [videos]DaVinci Resolve Tutorial Round-up - editor Jonny Elwyn's has compiled a number of recent free Resolve tutorials covering everything from using color charts to working with RAW and some tweets he found interesting. (jonnyelwyn.co.uk)
  • [Premiere Pro] Masking and Tracking - Larry Jordan shows how it's done - because you, Sir or Madame Colorist, may one day be asked to track and blur the faces of the not-so-innocent. (nofilmschool.com)
  • Footage Studio 4K: ProRes Encoding On A PC - "One caveat is that some internal processing is done at 8-bit depth, depending on which source and output codecs you use in combination with the settings you select. This means that in some cases, transcoding a clip from a 10-bit source to a different 10-bit output may result in a degradation of quality." (nofilmschool.com)
  • SGO Mistika: Reveals Spacial Isolation Toolset - It reads the Z-Depth maps from 3D software, allows the colorist to group objects based on Z-Depth and then color correct those groups: 'allowing the colourist to perform far greater creative manipulations, from grading and colour correction, to defocus, and re-lighting, further enhancing the reality that Stereo 3D can bring to the big screen.' (sgo.es via Marc Wielage)
  • [Review] Red Giant Universe - "Universe plug-ins are a combination of upgraded effects from the Red Giant Effects Suite, brand new plug-ins and a set of upgraded and new premium tools that are well-known among Red Giant fans." (videomaker.com)
  • [video] Video Compression 101 - you've worked hard to make your video look great. And then you see it online. WTF? The magic behind video compression - which makes online streaming video possible - is compressed into this 6 minute video.  (youtube.com)
  • Video Compression 201 - okay, so now that you know all about video compression, you need to know a few rules of thumb to selecting the right codec for a project. Cinematographer Art Adams has more than a few rules that could help you. (provideocoalition.com)
  • Son of Video Compression 201 -  an award winning L.A.-based filmmaker finds a massive quality difference in an NLE compression duel. Click through to see which he says is far better at compression: FCPX or Premiere Pro? (noamkroll.com)
  • Everywhere isn't Anywhere - have you used Avid Everywhere? Probably not. It's a marketing strategy that has some people confusing it with Adobe Anywhere. Master Editor Oliver Peters sorts out the specifics of of how Everywhere differs significantly from Anywhere. (digitalfilms.wordpress.com)
  • [review] Smoke 2015 - the newly released Smoke 2015 has been shipping since May of this year. The current release includes Service Pack 1, which adds some engineering updates. Click through for a review of Autodesk's latest. (postperspective.com)
The Business

  • NFL Films Retains Its Name As It Goes Digital - Terrific story that takes you inside NFL Films as it makes a breaks from the past and goes filmless - and the business pressures to driving the decision. (nytimes.com via Marc Wielage)
  • Super, super slo-mo - researchers create the world's fastest camera. How fast? Try, 4.4 trillion frames per second. Imagine the disk space you'll need for this. (wired.co.uk)
  • Doctor On Demand Raises $21M Series A - Whaaa? Why is this story in the Newsletter? Because this is the type of thing our business will likely embrace one day. (techcrunch.com)
  • The Secret To Successful Sound In Movie Trailers - If it seems to you that movie trailers tend to sound the same - it turns out it's our collective fault. Interesting article on how sound decisions are made for movie trailers. (thecreatorsproject.vice.com)
Friends & Family

MixingLight.com is a companion membership website to TaoOfColor.com. Want to read a story listed here but not a MixingLIght member? A free 24-hour test drive is available.

  • [video] Resolve 11: Highlights and Shadows Controls - "I find these controls work best on interior shots that have lots of natural bright light. The curve that they apply takes the image down to a point where we have recovered as much detail as possible but not pushed the highlights so low that they have turned grey." (mixinglight.com)
  • Evaluating A Project: Key Strategies To Understand What A Grade Will Really Take - "We've all been there - you quoted a price and days later you're still working on the project because it was much more involved than you originally thought. The reason I'm writing this Insight is because just recently I misevaluated a project I was grading and guess what happened? I took a bath." (mixinglight.com)
  • Colorist Circuit Training: From Camera Rushes To Final Look - "This insight focuses on my grading process and a step by step of how I got from original camera rushes to the final look. This is more about the WHY I did things rather than the HOW." (mixinglight.com)
  • Essential Skills For Assistant Colorists: Introduction - "From my perspective as a senior colorist, I want someone that I can trust to prepare the project right up to the point where I open the project in the grading suite as the clients walk in. For example, my assistant checks xmls , offline reference movies, audio and generally kicks ass on the workflow side of things." (mixinglight.com)
  • [video] Log controls as a secondary correction - Log color grading tools are traditionally matched with contrast / pivot tools to execute broad primary color corrections. In this Insight, learn how you can also think of using this tool to make precise, secondary corrections as well. (mixinglight.com)
Outside 'The Box'

  • [video] Automatic Editing - two words you don't normally see together are 'Disney' and 'Research.' But Disney has, in fact, been doing R&D on a way to automatically edit footage from multiple social cameras. Dive into FutureWorld. (disneyresearch.com)
  • [Review] Lightworks v12.0.i - the NLE that has been in use for 25 years is now on beta for Mac. Click through for a review of a Pro editing app that you can buy or rent, depending on your needs. (postperspective.com)
  • [video] Amira vs Alexa - with 2 cameras sharing the same sensor what's the difference between ARRI's lineup? Plenty, as it turns out. Click through to go under the hood for a look at both cameras. (youtube.com)
Edumacate Yer'self

  • IBC 2014: Colorist Mixer - While Team Tao or Team Mixing Light won't be at this year's IBC tradeshow in Amsterdam. ICA's Warren Eagles will be leading the Colorist Mixer festivities. Bringing together colorists, their assistants, their bosses and vendors it's a relaxed evening of social mingling. Saturday September 13. Free registration. (eventbrite.com.au)
Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers
JL Cooper Eclipse: Software v2.9.9.1 | Updated August 7, 2014

Tangent Design: HUB v1.1.7 | Wave Firmware v1.12 | Updated July'ish 2014

Avid Artist Color: Mac v3.1.3 | Win v3.1.3 | Updated June 30, 2014
Sunday Morning Fun(nies)

  • [video] Ron Howard Explains it All - the actor/director lets aspiring filmmakers in on his secrets - and into his hotel room - in a digital short released by New York's Tribeca Film Festival.  (youtube.com)
  • [video] Up! The Michael Bay Version - what if Michael Bay had directed Pixar's animated classic, Up!? Cue the explosions.  (youtube.com via filmmakeriq.com)
  • Pierce Brosnan Plays 'Golden Eye 007' - late night host Jimmy Fallon challenges Brosnan to a round from this classic Nintendo64 game. (laughingsquid.com)
Weekend Warriors

  • Sony outs its first curved 4K TV - in 65" & 75" sizes. Not yet available for purchase. (hdtvtest.co.uk)
  • Samsung UE48HU7500 UHD Tv Review - "After calibration, colours looked wonderfully balanced, with no undue tinting to spoil proceedings. The supplied [Flesh Tone] control allowed us to dial skin tones to a highly accurate level, injecting authenticity to the entire picture." (hdtvtest.co.uk)
    Gear Heads

    • A Brief History of the USB - everything you could possibly want to know about the USB but were afraid to ask. After nearly 2 decades on the market, dive into this exhaustive blog post about the Universal Serial Bus.  (arstechnica.com)
    • Bluefish444 offers new SDI features - for Adobe CC, Media Composer 8 and Scratch 8. (postperspective.com)
    • A Tale Of Two Thunderbolts Drives - "A small, ultra-fast portable SSD RAID has a very useful place in this 4K world of the playback and moving of massive video files, on-set or back in the edit suite . . . and that old-school RAID updated with a Thunderbolt connection . . . allows for speeds way beyond what an eSATA connected RAID would achieve." (provideocoalition.com)
    • New USB3.1 Connector Brings Faster Speeds - and cables you plug in any way you want. (nofilmschool.com)
    • RoundUp: USB 3.0 Bus-Powered Single Drive Storage Devices - With so many choices of portable drives, how does one choose? (barefeats.com)
    • ShootOut: Best 'Mid 2014' Retina MacBook Pro Quad-Core versus Best 'Late 2013' Counterpart - Like the title says.(barefeats.com)
    • ShootOut: Quad-Core Macs - "So is the fastest Quad-Core i7 Retina MacBook Pro just as fast as the fastest Quad-Core i7 iMac? And how do both compare to the slowest 2013 Mac Pro -- which happens to sport a Quad-Core Xeon running at a higher core clock speed?" (barefeats.com)
      New Kids on the Block

      • [upgrades] Blackmagic firmware updates - BMD upgrades the firmware for its Cinema Camera and Pocket Cinema Camera. Adds histogram, audio meters and media time remaining indicators. Click through for the details. (fstoppers.com)
      • [android app] Color Share - is a new portable color correction tool designed for digital imaging artists. Export Baselight BLG, CDLs, and more, 'Color Share' allows users to to visualize and share images. Android only. $7.49 US (play.google.com)

        Is it time to turn color correction into skill set you can sell?


        Remastering Mother Died:
        A Color Correction Home Study


        => Download a short film (shot on RED, 5K, 5:1)

        => Grade Along with TaoOfColor founder Patrick Inhofer

        => Send Patrick your work, he'll evaluate it as your Senior Colorist


        Click for full details

        Getting Ahead

        • Earn More Money - like the sound of that headline, do ya? Who doesn't want more money? Click through for 3 ways to earn more from the work you do for clients. (99u.com)
        • Bargain Hunting Clients - what do you do with those clients who are more interested in price than quality? Click through on how to deal with these price shoppers and learn why sometimes you can't 'bargain hunt' for QUALITY. (linkedin.com)
        • Creativity, Inc - Pixar President Ed Catmull weighs in on the 1 question successful people should NEVER ask themselves. He asked himself the question, and immediately regretted it. What was that question? You'll need to click to find out. (businessinsider.com)
        • Who Named The Colors? - author and entrepreneur Seth Godin uses color as a starting point about culture and crowds. Short and pithy.  (sethgodin.typepad.com)
        • How To Make Your Next Vacation Count - and not become stressed out when you should be relaxing. (99u.com)
          Showcase

          • [video] Australia's Gold Coast - shot with 3 Canon 5DIII Cameras by filmmaker Joe Capra over a two week period on the Gold Coast of Queensland Australia. The still images were graded in Adobe Lightroom, with additional minor grading in After Effects. (vimeo.com)
          The Next Step Is a Doozy

          • [video] The words stay the same: They just take longer to hear - the video that no one bothers to watch got a facelift. United Airlines has gone hip with its new inflight safety video. Very creative, but we've heard it all before. Publisher's note: I've been force fed this video twice. It's unbearably long for the purpose of being cute to the point of tiresome. Notice how they start with the pilot downing a shot of caffeine. My first thought: Long night with your Parisian gumar, mon Capitan? (youtube.com)

          Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you in two weeks. 

          Happy Grading!
            
          6,800+ 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)
          • Digital Cinematography: Fundamentals, Tools, Techniques and Workflows - Don't let the title fool you. I'm only a third way through this book and its explanations of how digital images are recorded, sampled and viewed is essential knowledge for anyone who's craft intersects with digital images. Not light reading. But not filled with math either. I highly recommend this book. (amazon.com)
            Have a book you think should be in this list? Reply to this email and let me know!

            FCC Disclaimer: Links in this email to Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or ToolFarm.com are Affiliate links that help support the TaoOfColor.com. FSI and SpectraCal are paid sponsors and BlackMagic Design is a current client. We thank you for your support.

            Patrick Inhofer
            Published by:
            Patrick Inhofer: Photon-Wrangler, Fini.tv | TaoOfColor.com | MixingLight.com
            patrick@taoofcolor.com