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- Dark Cinematography - "[it] can seem like a bit of a risk to some brands, but what fun is it to play by the rules? Mix it up a little. Be creative . . . Dark is not a bad thing – it’s natural." Plus embedded videos of this colorist's spots featuring this emerging commercial trend. (robbessette.com)
- Bringing the Past to Life - “Brazilian artist Marina Amaral has used Photoshop to add a new dimension to photographs that had previously only been seen in black and white.” a 21-year-old artist does painstaking research to bring
historic black and white photos into stunning color. (dailymail.co.uk)
- Meet the Colorist - “Colour grading can be just a step in the process of the fabrication of a film or a piece
of art; it really depends on the clients.” Aline Sinquin is the latest colorist profiled by FilmLight . (filmlight.ltd.uk)
- [eBook] Narrating with Colors in Motion - "If you want to work with just one color, try to use different shades
of it and keep an eye on the visual weight. The more saturation your color has, the higher its visual weight will be." Using color in motion graphics. (studiodaily.com)
- A Visit to Trumbull Studios - this is a fascinating
read about VFX pioneer Doug Trumbull recent efforts to, "offer the same magic that he felt as a kid going to see Cinerama movies on 100’ curved screens." Discussion includes what he sees as the simultaneous failures of 3D and High-Frame Rate capture and display. (displaydaily.com)
- [video] 10 Best Uses of Color in Film - there are more than 10 films in here but all of them are very very colorful. (youtu.be)
- Color Inspiration: Houses of Every Hue - "Here are a few of our favorite fairyland residences along with the palettes each inspire." (colourlovers.com)
- Light the Background to Light the Foreground - "I’ve decided to start talking about shadows not as the absence of information, but as shades of black. And black is not darkness or lack of
information; it is simply another color, as in painting where one starts with a white canvas and has to add black in order to create mood. Black is an artistic choice, not an absence of dramatic detail." Art Adams. (provideocoalition.com)
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- [forum] Grading Panels Discussion - a quick run down of the different control surfaces by a colorist who says he has worked with them all. Missing from the initial list is the JL Cooper, with users chiming in on those panels as well as the Resolve 2K panels. (liftgammagain.com)
- End of Life: Avid Artist Color v1 - if you have a Euphonix-branded Artist Color control surface, then the end of 2017 is the end of life for that gear. They're also ending support of the Euphonix & Avid branded Artist Control
surface, which doesn't bode well for the long term health of the Artist Color. Stunningly, Avid thinks this gear is for Audio. (avid.force.com via Sanjin Svajger)
- FCPX-RED-Resolve Workflow Part 4: Group Workflow and Finishing - "With the update to FCPX 10.3, there is absolutely no reason why editing teams can’t finish a high end feature film/doc/TV show entirely within FCPX with the help of a
few third party apps and plugins." (fcp.co)
- Top 10 Free Alternatives To Expensive Software - DaVinci
Resolve holds the number 3 spot on this list. (lifehacker.co.in)
- Best Colour Grading Plugins for Video Editors - "If
you’re looking for a way to expand the native colour correction toolset of your NLE of choice, then these colour grading plugins could be the solution you’re looking for." Plus, discount codes for some of these solutions. (jonnyelwyn.co.uk)
- [video] Logarist Color Correction for DaVinci Resolve, Vegas Pro, and Final Cut Pro X - an interesting set of Camera and Display LUTs that converts footage into an 'optimal' color space for color grading. It's free, so watch the video then download the LUTs and experiment. (studiodaily.com)
- [video] Avid Media Composer: Creating Film Looks with BCC - like the headline says. (provideocoalition.com)
- Adobe FAQ: Create Packages to Deploy Creative Cloud for Teams - "Creative Cloud Packager lets you control which Creative Cloud apps users in your organization can install and whether to allow automatic updates. Follow these steps to create a package you can then deploy
using third-party tools." (helpx.adobe.com)
- WARNING: macOS to Get Night Shift - "Night Shift, the iOS feature that changes the color of a display to a warmer temperature at night, is coming to
macOS." Yeah, this won't be a problem for us colorists, right? (lifehacker.com)
- [video] HUD Elements 4K Tutorial - "You can make a HUD interface from scratch in less than 30 minutes using HUD Elements 4K from Luca Visual FX."
Because colorists are being pressed into various form of VFX... so why not be prepared? (toolfarm.com)
- Vimeo's New Video Review Provides Private Sharing for Time-Coded
Feedback - "Get frame-specific comments on rough cuts from collaborators and clients in real time." (nofilmschool.com)
- CINEXINSERT is a big time saver - "And it has many other uses, like re-striping timecode, adding audio tracks or re-mapping audio…that ALSO save you
from needing to re-export a new file." (lfhd.net)
- EasyTracker for FCPX - "The point of these plugins isn’t to give you cinema-quality subpixel-positioned tracking of difficult shots, but to supply cheap ‘n’ cheerful tracking quickly and easily within FCPX, without having to
hassle with finicky details in another app or manually keyframe a track." (provideocoalition.com)
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- Sundance, The Buzz, and Making Money - “As with any film festival, the buzz can be deafening from those who have witnessed a film during its premier. What plays good for one audience won’t necessarily connect with others.” A Brief History of Sundance Buzz and Where It Leads. (filmschoolrejects.com)
- Sundance Cyberattack - the FBI is investigating a cyberattack that briefly shut down the Sundance Film Festival box office. “The outage did not cause
any screenings to be canceled, though it did spark substantial conjecture over what may have motivated the cyberattackers.” (variety.com)
- What Do You Want to Watch Now? - “That’s an incredibly radical thought for an industry that has long told you what you had to watch and when.” Looking at the road ahead as TV moves from a linear medium, but rather a library-based one. (linkedin.com)
- The Year of Ukraine’s Film Renaissance - “Although Ukraine has about 2,500 screens, the national industry fights to survive against Hollywood and European productions. In recent years, Ukrainians
films have accounted for about 3 percent of all movie tickets sold.” (theubj.com)
- You can still buy a Super Bowl ad. Why? - "Shall we blame
Colin Kaepernick? Maybe it’s the NFL. Or it could be that advertisers just don’t want to pony up $5 million for 30-seconds of airtime in these economically uncertain times." (campaignlive.com)
- IMAX Plans to Create Big Screen Immersive VR
Experiences - "IMAX is hoping to lead the charge into this new medium for storytelling, investing $50 million into VR content." (etcentric.org)
- HLG vs PQ Systems for HDR Television - "While
the PQ system works very well for the application it was designed for, cinema, it is not so good when used in a very different application, television." The rest of the article explains the How and Why of it. (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.
- [video] How To Handle Scaling In XML Workflows for Premiere Pro - "You learn that the ‘Scale to Frame Size’ option can be a real problem to deal with. If possible, it’s best to avoid that option in Premiere. Plus, you learn
which Input Sizing setting you want to use in DaVinci Resolve for Premiere Pro XML workflows." (mixinglight.com)
- Screwing Up Flat Bids: 5 Strategies To Prevent & Fix Low Flat Bids - "I want to discuss some strategies for handling a bad flat bid, as well as how
to protect yourself and have leverage for going back to a client when the issue is not your bid, but rather the client changing scope." (mixinglight.com)
- [podcast] Reference Monitors & LG’s OLEDs in The Color
Suite - "we take some time talking about reference monitors, what makes a good one, connectivity, HD vs. UHD, budget... plus what it takes to put a consumer OLED into a professional grading suite." (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Premiere Pro Detective: Saving the Day with Input
Sizing (in DaVinci Resolve) - "[we're] revisiting a short film from another series [where] I ran into a ton of problems with resizes of 2.5K and larger images not properly importing in DaVinci Resolve. I didn’t follow the rules outlined in this series and wasted a ton of time. Let’s go back to that project, and re-do it with what we now know." (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Feature Grading: Preparing And Quoting - "Short form colorists like myself can struggle transitioning into longer projects as we are so used to obsessing over every little detail in a 30 second spot . . . Let’s jump over to the video below and dive into step one." (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Breaking Geographic Boundaries: Remote Grading Part 1 - "I started thinking about why large facilities were offering remote grading services . . . then I realized remote grading allows a company to expand their geographic reach – and that is something I longed for as well!" (mixinglight.com)
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- Which Cameras Were Used on the Oscar-Nominated Films of 2017? - this list is becoming an annual tradition. (nofilmschool.com)
- [video] A History of Production Company Logos - then and now. The who, when, and how Hollywood’s iconic production logos were created. Be sure to check out the last video at the end of the post - a 15 minute look at the very
best production company logos since the dawn of film. (premiumbeat.com)
- Harvard Wants to Teach You About DSLR Photography Online - for free. (nofilmschool.com)
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- 2017 REDucation Workshops - a list of the workshops being held at AbelCine in New York, Chicago and LA for 2017. (training.abelcine.com)
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Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers |
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- [video] Why Is Predator So Good? - a terrific breakdown of the camera movement, directing and thoughtfulness into making what could have been an entirely forgetful pulp film. If you love this film you'll like this treatment. (youtube.com)
- [video] Hands On: Philps Hue Light Strip Plus - this second generation Hue product is designed for accent lighting. Maybe now the Tao Treasurer will let me buy the darn system? (9to5mac.com)
- Reminder: Vermont's maple syrup logo - "is one of the greatest accidentally funny things in the world." he. he HE. wa-haha. Funny? Yes. But tasty? (twitter.com)
- [video] Bullet vs Prince Rupert's Drop at 150,000 fps -
can a drop of glass destroy a speeding bullet? Fun science. Part 1 explains the Prince Rupert Drop. Part 2 tests it with a rifle shot. (Part 1 | Part 2)
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- Razer Blade GTX 1060 Review - A gaming laptop good enough for video editing? “Razer seems to have taken a number of cues from Apple when it designed the Blade laptop.” (redsharknews.com)
- Affordable Color Grading Tools for Shooters and Editors - suggestions for hardware. (premiumbeat.com)
- Battle of the TV Titans: Samsung vs. LG at CES 2017 - it's OLED vs. QLED. Peak brightness vs. black blacks. An good overview. (displaydaily.com)
- LG: We Don't Need No Stinking Quantum Dots - instead, LG is banking on nanocells. What the heck are nanocell displays? You'll need click through and,
well, maybe you'll understand. (displaydaily.com)
- There's More than One Way to Make a Wide Color Gamut LCD - "the vast majority of LED-backlit displays used 'White LEDs'. These are not LED
devices that produce white light, but blue LEDs with some kind of colour conversion of some of the light to red and green. That's the same approach as used in current quantum dot solutions, but QDs are too sensitive to heat to be placed on the LED chip, currently, so phosphors have been used." Much more on those phosphors and dots... (displaydaily.com)
- Samsung and SpectraCal: Q Series TVs Support AutoCal - "not only will CalMAN automatically adjust color settings on Samsung’s latest TVs, it will add
color volume measurements to its toolkit." Here's to hoping that consumer TVs can finally look good out of the box. (avsforum.com)
- Can You Replace Your iMac 5K with a MacBook Pro and LG 5K
Display? - "before you ooh and aah about the P3 wide color gamut of the LG UltraFine 5K Display, be aware that the iMac 5K Retina display also has P3 wide color gamut (ooh, aah). Also, both screens have a 500cd/m2 brightness rating." (barefeats.com)
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- Tostitos and MADD create a breathalyzer bag to prevent Super Bowl DUIs - "the Party Safe Bag, a specially-made Tostitos bag that incorporates an alcohol sensor above the logo. When the bag detects the presence of alcohol, it displays a red steering wheel and the message "Don’t Drink and Drive." (campaignlive.co.uk)
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- [video] Parasail Fail - one small leap for parasailers, one giant tree says otherwise. (youtube.com)
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Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! We'll see you next week. Happy Grading! 11,350'ish Stories Now Shared
Support this Newsletter: Like, Tweet or Plus =>
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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