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Every Director, DP, Editor or Colorist that has reached the pinnacle of their craft - they have a story to tell. And if you're lucky, you get to meet them early in their careers and watch them grow as artists and professionals. I want to take a moment to congratulate my business partner at Mixing Light, Dan Moran. He's still early in his career. And he's talented and growing. It's fun to watch. I mention this because he's left one of the most well known post production companies in London to start the color division of an up-and-coming shop in the heart of Soho, London. The name of his new shop is Coffee & TV. Congratulations Dan! If you're in London and looking for a great colorist, be sure to dial him up! See you next week. Happy Grading! |
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- A DP’s View of Color Grading - “create/dream in pre-production, commit in production and confirm and finesse in post.” A cinematographer’s advice to other cinematographers on how to make their color grading session a success. (blogs.indiewire.com)
- Roger Deakins Says Shooting Film Is ‘Over’ - the famed DP is all over the blogosphere with his personal opinion about shooting on film. Or. Not. Shooting on film. (studiodaily.com)
- Meet the Colorist - Encore colorist Laura Jans Fazio is profiled about her work on Mr. Robot—which is one of our favorite series from 2015. Both in terms of story and in terms of cinematography and look. (postperspective.com)
- 14th Annual VES Awards: All The Winners - the big list. (fxguide.com)
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- [video] Luminance And The Waveform - this is a terrific video that has a few ideas I'll be 'borrowing' when teaching how to use scopes. Especially, showing why you generally want to attack contrast before color. (vimeo.com)
- Raw Is Not Magic - “there is some really clever stuff going on in most raw processing software that can make it seem like raw images have magical properties . . . And raw? It’s not magic — but the reasons it can feel that way are worth exploring." (prolost.com)
- Color Correcting Sony A 7SII Footage - your client shot on Sony’s popular mirrorless camera and wants a more natural look. This tutorial recommends skip the native Sony S-Log 3 LUT and reach for an ARRI Alexa LUT. Why? Read on. (premiumbeat.com)
- Master The Tech Side Of The Color Grading Craft - being a colorist means that you wear many hats: artist, craftsman, color scientist, and ...techie?! Yup. Dive in to learn three practical tips for using your scopes. (nofilmschool.com)
- Does Anybody Know What Time(code) It Is? - the latest Mac OS El Capitan is playing havoc with Final Cut Pro X’s timecode GUI. Until Apple fixes the problem one intrepid editor has found his own temporary workaround. (fcp.co)
- Kicking The Tires On Avid Media Composer 8.5 - "I seem to care less
about some of the tentpole features . . . [and] focus on those little features that will make life easier for offline craft editors like myself. For every online editor dealing with HDR, 7.1 audio and custom raster sizes there’s 10 of us (probably more) just cutting story." A good roundup. (provideocoalition.com)
- Color Grading Made Easier With Film Convert - presented in the Premiere Pro version of this LUT-based software. (borrowlenses.com)
- Working With SMPTE ST2084 & BBC HLG HDR - a great write-up on these moving-target /
emerging standards. One conclusion, "Another of the often overlooked potential issues with HDR has to do with the need to limit the power requirement of the display, as obviously extreme brightness causes excessive power consumption" and eye strain. (lightillusion.com)
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- RED, Avid Announce Technology Deal - news release announcing that Avid DNxHR and Avid DNxHD formats will be coming to future RED cameras, including, Weapon, Scarlet-W and Red Raven. (toolfarm.com)
- What You Need To Know Now That American
Filmmaking Is Legal In Cuba - "Although documentary productions have long been treated as journalistic (historically, another exception to the embargo), these news amendments open the door for non-journalistic projects, including music videos, experimental, and of course, traditional narrative productions." Read the article to learn
what you need to do before buying that plane ticket. (nofilmschool.com)
- Why VR Matters - a discussion with the Executive Producer of MPG's VR division about VR for advertising and entertainment. (motionographer.com)
- Transitioning Into VR Filmmaking With Sundance Short Film ‘Sonar’ - "we love cinematography actually, and in VR there's no framing anymore. It's all POV and then we thought, well if it's all POV, it's
probably very boring and we don't want to create a rollercoaster ride. That's why we immediately started off the movie with a free flying camera to avoid giving the viewer any sense of his own body." Good interview worth reading. (nofilmschool.com)
- Checksums, Speed, and Acceptable Risk - “if your media is compromised, that's the end of the road.” If you’re not using checksum every time you copy video files you’re playing with fire. (library.creativecow.net)
- [video] The Super Bowl L Ad Tracker - "up-to-date list of the brands running Super Bowl spots and the agencies involved in creating them." Plus embeds of the ads that have been released. (adweek.com)
- LG Is Staffing A Social Media War Room - "About 30 to 40 reps from LG, Mindshare, iCrossing, HG Ad and Twitter will staff a war room in Mindshare's New York office, working the
electronic brand's Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels during the game." (adweek.com)
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The stories featured in this section are from MixingLight.com, a companion color correction membership website to TaoOfColor.com and paid sponsor
of this Newsletter. Want to read a story listed here but not a member? Sign up for a free 24-hour Test Drive. - [video] Look Inspiration: 70’s TV Inspired Retro Look - "This Insight is based on both creating a parody of 70s tv shows rather than
imitating it and also giving difficult tasks your best shot." (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Look Inspiration: Bond Movie Inspired Retro Look - "The art direction plays a HUGE part of this look but we will do our best to replicate the tone and
mood in the grade." (mixinglight.com)
- Getting More When You’re Getting Paid Less - "In the past month, I have had three projects that have allowed me to get more out of a project than just what the project budget allowed. Let me explain the projects and then in the following sections I’ll explore the techniques I used to ‘get more’." (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Look Inspiration: Inspiration From Unlikely Sources - "This insight
is a bit of fun and gives an overview of how I approach matching shots to the images that clients send me." (mixinglight.com)
- [video] DaVinci Resolve: Do You Choose
Video or Data Levels? - watch this Insight to learn why the best choice, most of the time, is to not choose at all... (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Colorist Inspiration: February 2016 - "There has been so much great work [that I've been seeing] recently that I thought it was the perfect time to get your creative juices flowing and fired up
for 2016." (mixinglight.com)
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- Razorblades, Tape, and NLE’s - back before NLEs. making motion pictures involved Steenbecks, flatbeds, and work prints. A pithy post on a time gone by and the impact it had on today’s films. (blog.planet5d.com)
- Over The Shoulder And Inside - you can learn a lot looking over the shoulder of a
talented artist. And it’s fun. Our editor/colorists readers will enjoy Jony Elwin’s roundup of feature film editors and the timelines from their famous movies. (jonnyelwyn.co.uk)
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- Up.Grade: Europe's First Post Graduate Program in Color Grading - they're graduating their first class and are now taking new applications until Feb. 29. (upgrade.dffb.de)
- The Direction of HDR Webinar - "Join SpectraCal's assembled technical talent . . . to deliver a comprehensive one-hour briefing 10am (Pacific) February 11." Click to sign up. (spectracal.com)
- [video] Crash Course: Editing in Resolve 12 - Boston-based cinematographer Will Tejeda releases this $29.99 downloadable video training. (vimeo.com)
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Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers |
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- [video] Elvis Redux - he’s back! Elvis has entered the building…disguised as a 16-year-old kid? Somehow, this young French Canadian sounds like a full grown Elvis. Seriously, listen with your eyes closed. He’s a dead ringer! (youtube.com)
- Homeless Man Now Accepts Visa, Mastercard and American Express - not your grandfather's homeless. (mashable.com)
- 8 Classic Movie Props That Were Tossed In The Trash - including the sad history
of the original Death Star. (mentalfloss.com)
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- Atomos Shogun and Ninja Assassin Get Price Drop - plus details on a February promotion on their Ninja Star. (cinema5d.com)
- LG 4K HDR OLED TV Rules CES 2016 As Rivals Go LED LCD - a good take-away from CES. (hdtvtest.co.uk)
- LG Reveals Super Bowl Deals On Select OLED, LED TV Models - "LG is celebrating the Super Bowl
and its first-ever Super Bowl TV commercial by offering sports lovers a range of special promotional deals [through February 13]" (hdguru.com)
- [video] 6000 MB/s Networking Explained - "how [high performance networking] is changing how
we make media by displacing physical SDI infrastructure" and how HDR is accelerating this displacement." (cinetechgeek.com)
- What’s The Best Gaming Mac In January 2016? - for your downtime. (barefeats.com)
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- 5 ‘Smart’ Gadgets That Are Stupid On Privacy - in a world where coffee makers are connecting via our WiFi networks to the internet... you've got to think about how they may be used by hackers to tunnel past your router and onto your computers. (expressvpn.com)
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- What the L? Why The Super Bowl Dropped the Roman Numeral - "L, for 50, has been banished in the name of graphic symmetry and positive thinking. L is apparently for losers. L is the loneliest number. The NFL insists it’s only a year break, that all roads will lead to Roman numerals, and Super Bowl LI, after Sunday. I’ll beLieve it when I see it." A good writeup why the NFL
thought they had to drop the L. (tbo.com)
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Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week! Happy Grading! 9,350'ish Stories Now Shared
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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 are Affiliate links that help support the TaoOfColor.com. FSI is a paid sponsor. Tao of Color, Inc. is part owner of
MixingLight.com—which is a sponsor. BlackMagic Design is sometimes a client.
We thank you for your support.
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Managing Editor:
jim@jimwicks.com
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Published by:
Patrick Inhofer: Photon-Wrangler, Fini.tv | TaoOfColor.com | MixingLight.com
patrick@taoofcolor.com
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