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- Cinematography Tip: Masks and Vignettes - "The result adds visual interest while closing in the rectangularity of the motion picture frame. Let’s have a look at some ways that vignettes and masks can be put to use in modern moviemaking." It works for DPs and colorists. (premiumbeat.com)
- FilmConvert Color Up Competition Winners Announced - "The competition attracted more than 600 films this year, across Music, Documentary, Wedding, Commercial, Action, Creative categories, and there were an impressive 21,000 votes cast
for the People’s Choice award." (newsshooter.com)
- [video] 7 Things To Watch Out For To Avoid ‘Bad’ Color Grading - the best part of the embed, from the perspective of someone who practices and teaches
the craft of color grading, are the quotes of haters saying how much the author sucks at grading! Been there, lived that. Plus, a good list of tips. (nofilmschool.com)
- HDR Video Part 5: Grading, Mastering, and Delivering HDR - "we’ve covered the basic question of “What is HDR?”, what hardware you need to see it, the new terms that apply to it, and how to prepare and shoot with HDR in mind. Arguably, we’ve saved the most complicated subject for last: grading, mastering, and delivering." Word.
(mysterybox.us via Marc Wielage)
- Creating Derivatives From The 4K/120/3D ‘Billy Lynn’ Master - "captured in 3D, 120 frames per second and 4K resolution . . . the film will only be
shown in this format on a few select screens . . . the question is: Can you maintain a similar emotional impact when showing the film in 2D, 2K and lower frame rates?" (displaydaily.com via Greg Staten)
- On Color Science For Filmmakers - "The elusive thing that we call the photographic look is an abstract phenomenon . . . can we as filmmakers identify, isolate and understand any of these underlying attributes so that we can manipulate
them meaningfully for ourselves, or are we forever relegated to . . . browsing for pre-packaged solutions" Good read. Be sure to actually click the photos. (yedlin.net)
- [pdf] HDR Content Creation: Creative and Technical Challenges - I'm pretty sure we featured this an issue or two ago. But the Tao Treasurer
included it here and it's too late (and I'm too tired) to double check. If you missed it last time, grab it now and save it for offline edumacation. (taniapouli.me via Marc Wielage)
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- Quick Tip: How to Use Composite Modes in Resolve - “My mind was still in Adobe CC mode — DaVinci Resolve doesn’t have “blending modes.” Instead, it uses Composite Modes.” Pithy overview for the novice. (premiumbeat.com)
- [video] Tips for Better Color Grading Workflow - for editor/colorists or filmmakers just starting out. A short sit down with a colorist who answers your questions about his approach to grading. (fstoppers.com)
- Firefly: Color Grading With French Tone - on overview of the package of color and dailies tools from Firefly Cinema. (provideocoalition.com)
- [video] Why You Need to Revisit FCPx - "This video neatly wraps up in a short, well put package why FCPX has become a superior non-linear editor compared to the traditional track based systems. Essential viewing, for your un-enlightened colleagues and friends." (fcp.co)
- Mocha Pro 5 Plug-In For Nuke - "powerful and popular planar tracking, roto and object removal tools are available as an integrated OFX plug-in for
NUKE, Fusion & Vegas Pro." (vimeo.com)
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- Arcades Introduce Virtual Reality Entertainment To Consumers - "Virtual reality has failed to catch on in numerous iterations over the last 60 years, and some experts now say that the virtual reality arcade . . . may save today’s VR
from that same fate." I saw these in Beijing - but they didn't look too busy. (etcentric.org)
- Report: Online 4K Ultra HDTV Purchases Seeing Growth - "The study revealed more and more consumers are finding
it preferable to purchase a television online rather than compete with other shoppers in a brick-and-mortar store environment during Holiday promotional periods." Plus other fun facts. (hdguru.com)
- Pixvana Packs 10K Resolution Into 2K Streaming Speeds - "Utilizing FOVAS technology, video resolution in front of the viewer (the larger plane of the frustum) is maximized, while resolution elsewhere (like the sides and back of the frustum) is reduced." Yes, VR is a whole other lexicon of acronyms and terms of art. Articles like this
will help you get acquainted. (newsshooter.com)
- When Is VR Really Going Mainstream? Later Than You Think - "I will throw my hat into the ring and guess that it will take 3-4 years before the
fundamental requirements of displays and data processing have reached a level that allows for a great VR experience." Click through for his thinking... (displaydaily.com)
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The stories featured in this section are from MixingLight.com, 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. - [podcast] Colorist Inteview: Rob Bessette - "senior colorist at Finish Boston and specializes in coloring commercials. With over 11 years of experience, Rob has had the opportunity to
color spots for Toyota, Coca Cola, Sam Adams, Subway, Chili’s, Dunkin’ Doughnuts, and many others". In front of the paywall. (mixinglight.com)
- [video] When Do I Media Manage Footage Off The Client Hard Drive? - when is a simple concept not quite so simple? In a job like this... part 3 of your
humble Newsletter Publisher's series. (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Matching Pantone References: And When To Say No - Gasp! (mixinglight.com)
- Moving From The Mac To A Windows PC Part 1: Addressing Common Objections - colorists on Macs are becoming a dying breed (for good reason, in your Publisher's opinion). It's time to start thinking about moving on and this is a good place to begin that process. (mixinglight.com)
- Thinking Like A Colorist: Forest Scene - "When Hans Zimmer is scoring a movie he can chose to use minor sad sounding notes or major and happy sounding notes. I always approach my grading
in the same way. For this scene I thought there was two important directions." Includes a link to download the footage and give it a go yourself. (mixinglight.com)
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- [video] At The Bench: Introducing The Alexa SXT - "the latest evolution of the ALEXA camera line, with several new features and the horsepower of the ALEXA 65 camera." For when clients start talking to you about it. (blog.abelcine.com)
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- FilmLight Color Workshop - FilmLight is holding demonstrations and talks designed to show the complete color pipeline from set to screen, using FilmLight's BLG format. Register online. Paris December 6, 2016 (eventbrite.com)
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Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers |
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- [video] Come Together - ’Tis the season of goodwill and shameless capitalism. Here's a beautiful ad in the style of and directed by Wes Anderson to get you in the spirit of opening your wallet. Fans of this director will be filled
with joy. (youtube.com)
- [video] Canal Kitchen - who knew that creating VFX was this crazy and fun? Did we mention it’s fun? (youtube.com)
- The World’s Strangest Homes - and not a color suite in any one of them. But that’s not what makes them strange. How about the house in El Salvador which is made entirely from plastic bottles, to The Toilet House in South Korea
which is made from… (castrads.com)
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- [firmware update] HDR Preview Mode For Flanders Scientific DM Series Monitors - "Now, all three monitors from Flanders Scientific DM series feature three selectable HDR Preview modes . . . Three monitoring modes are available: Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG), ST2084 clipping at approximately 300nits, ST2084 with a highlight roll." Why the
'highlight roll'? Click the link to read and find out. (provideocoalition.com)
- Eizo: The First Monitor With USB Type-C - “The new monitor from the Eizo Corporation is not a revolutionary
product.” So begins a review of a monitor that’s making news for the presence of the USB Type-C connector. (provideocoalition.com)
- Is The MacBook Pro Good Enough For Real Professional? - "one of our video producers here at Business Insider,
has been testing the 15-inch model of the MacBook Pro for a little over a week. I had him detail some of his thoughts from a video editor's perspective. Here's what he told me." (businessinsider.com)
- Apple Defends Touch Bar MacBook Pro’s 16 GB Ram Limitation - "Apple asserts its top-of-the-line laptop is an exercise in balancing performance with energy efficiency. In the case of system memory, underlying technology enabling high-capacity, high-efficiency RAM is simply unavailable at this time." Or, plug it in and let users add
more RAM. (appleinsider.com)
- Mac Pro Tower Upgrade: PCIe 3.0 Carrier Board For M.2 Flash Blades - "we chronicle our experience with PCIe 3.0 Carrier Board with the same
four M.2 SM951 AHCI blades. You will be shocked, but not in the way you think." (barefeats.com)
- 2587MB/s Thunderbolt 3 Trickery With The ‘Late 2016’ MacBook Pro - "We followed the procedure posted on 9to5Mac. Our 2016 MacBook Pro 15-in now recognizes the AKiTiO Thunder3 PCIe Box as a legit Thunderbolt 3 device . . . we
were knocking on the door of 2600MB/s." (barefeats.com)
- Editing and Color Grading With The Tangent Element Kb - "I want to talk about using just one part of the colour grading control surface, the Element Kb to control both editing and colour grading functionality inside of Premiere
Pro." (jonnyelwyn.co.uk)
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- [video] The Bullet - a black and white short film graded by colorist Aubrey Woodiwiss. Audbrey emailed the Tao newsletter about her workflow: “I graded “The Bullet" on a baselight . . . I set the desat at the end of my 'stack' to allow access to the color information . This allowed me to push contrast into tones and still access color information, For example
the greens, grass and leaves - this added to the slight unusual look we gave to this film. The overall contrast was built in a Luma curve which allowed me to have the shadow areas to be more dense and the highlights acting more in a linear fashion. Furthermore, I used shapes to dodge and burn. Generally I kept the tool set to a minimum because I was trying to replicate old coloring techniques.” Great looking short. (vimeo.com)
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Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! We'll see you next week. Happy Grading! 11,050'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)
- Color Grading with Avid and Symphony - Written for version 6. Fully applicable to version 7. I was a contributor. (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, CSI
Colorist, Coach: TaoOfColor.com | MixingLight.com patrick@taoofcolor.com
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