Posts Tagged ‘Color Correction’

Canon 5D MK II & The Video Village Challenge

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Elite Team members light the diner in Livingston Montana, while I discuss the shot with the agency

Elite Team members light the diner in Livingston Montana, while I discuss the shot with the agency

At first glance with the Canon 5D you notice one thing, the minute you plug a mini HDMI cable or a 1/8” mini plug into the outputs on the camera, your LCD screen disappears.  It is like a sick magic trick that for some reason, not one person can figure out. Manufacturer’s around the world have jumped on this phenomenon and offer many products to solve the visual issue.  One of the leaders has been Marshall Electronics.  In the necessity to try and keep things small they have upped production on smaller lightweight monitors to try and keep ahead of the curve. Stay tuned because smaller ones are coming soon.  The 6.5” Marshall monitor that I use in the Moviemaker kits has given me my eyes back. There are many ways to give video village a signal and I want to take you through all the ones that have worked for me and then you can make the decision on what makes the most sense for your production requirements. I would love to hear your ideas and what works for you.

Standard Def output to a 6.5" on-board Marshall monitor in a massive mall in Dubai shooting a Rani energy drink commercial, simple, and small

Standard Def output to a 6.5″ on-board Marshall monitor in a massive mall in Dubai shooting a Rani energy drink commercial; simple and small

1.SDS (Standard Def made simple)

Marshall on-board monitor, you feed that monitor from the AV out of the camera with the 1/8” mini plug to RCA, then RCA to BNC barrel.  You are now GTR (good to roll), you can jump out of the Marshall monitor with a BNC cable to a wireless video transmitter or go wired straight to the video village monitor.  I power my wireless video transmitter as well as my 6.5” Marshall on-board with a Anton Bauer 90 Dionic battery with p-Tap power ports.

My arsenal in Dubai was Stand Def all the way, with Marshall's monitor.  I would dial in exposure out of the mini HDMI output that lead to my 24" HP Dream Color monitor and then disconnect and plug in the 1/8" mini and go

My arsenal in Dubai was Stand Def all the way, with Marshall's monitor. I dialed in exposure from the mini HDMI output that lead to my 24" HP Dream Color monitor and then disconnected and plugged in the 1/8" mini and go

This was are SD rig of choice on the Dubai Rani drink commercial

SD rig of choice on the Dubai Rani drink commercial

PROS: KISS (keep it simple stupid) not many things can go wrong with this.  It requires minimal extra gear to the camera other than the Marshall monitor and an Anton Bauer power supply.  The more gizmos you put on the camera, the more the equipment tends to fail.  Keep a Z-Finder on your camera so that you can unplug and get color and exposure so it becomes your viewfinder.  This works perfectly for a business as usual Video Village.  The playback person can record, playback, edit, etc.


CONS: Standard Def image, very soft and hard to see focus. You can not judge color, contrast or exposure. You will need to use the mini HDMI port and a lighting monitor to see or a Z-finder and the back LCD screen.



2. HDSDI (High Def made difficult)

Mini HDMI cable out of Canon Camera to BlackMagic HDMI to HDSDI converter.  Out of the BlackMagic BNC cable to the input on an Marshall on-board monitor.  From there you can go to a wireless transmitter or be wired.  Now you can go HD wireless or SD.

PROS: You are able to get a sharper picture to the on-board Marshall monitor and can view full HD when playing back with the camera only. It is a little better on judging exposure, color and contrast if Marshall is calibrated correctly.  Still advise having the Z-Finder on camera so that you can pull out the mini HDMI connector and get exposure dialed in.


CONS: Lots of added gear that has the potential to go down very often.  The BlackMagic box is built to live in a rack with an air-conditioned environment; not dust, heat and slamming it around on a daily basis. The first thing to go is the box. Remember you will never see HD until you playback and if you have a video playback person recording all of this you will never show HD to the client or agency.  The only way you will with this set up is if you assume the job of video playback at the camera itself.  Then putting all this extra stuff is worth it.  More power requirements with the converter box.  Makes camera heavier, larger footprint.



3.HDMI (Good for a Cinematographer, Cable complicated)


I have been trying to perfect this approach for the last 5 months with all the commercials that I have been doing recently.  HP 24” Dream color monitor is mounted to the dolly or near the sticks or at the remote head console.  I needed to be able to adjust exposure when the camera was 50’ in the air.  I could not rely on an SD monitor or light meter because it does not compute.  So, I set out on a mission to solve it. When I started I fell in love with having this beautiful image to look at, manicure, maintain and polish to a perfect exposure.  It also brought about a transformation with the client and agency relationships.  Now this obviously only works if you are not doing hand-held camera, but I will get to how this works brilliantly in a minute.


Wide shot of my Elite Team and I in Washington D.C. subway tunnel system, with on-board HP 24" Dream color in action

Wide shot of my Elite Team and I in Washington D.C. subway tunnel system, with on-board HP 24" Dream color in action

Pedro the agency Art Director and I discuss the shot one on one

Pedro the agency Art Director and I discuss the shot one on one

Dave Kundsen and I line up the next set-up with the 24" HP Dream Color mounted to the PeeWee Dolly

Dave Kundsen and I line up the next set-up with the 24" HP Dream Color mounted to the PeeWee Dolly

**** DOLLY SET-UP: You come out of the mini HDMI port of the camera to 6’ mini HDMI to Reg. HDMI cable then into a HDMI splitter box that you send one HDMI lead to your on-board 24” Dream color that you mount onto the dolly, then the other HDMI lead that has to be a professional grade HDMI cable to keep the signal strength then this goes to video village where another 24” HP Dream color monitor awaits.  If you want to send that a distance than I would use a 25’ cable to get it down the dolly and then to a HDMI signal repeater that requires AC power; then you can go another 50’ to 100’ with the professional grade HDMI cable.  The video playback person is eliminated.  You are the video playback person.  As a cinematographer you now have to operate off the HP dream color that is mounted to the dolly with a black hood over your head.

****HOT GEARS ON THE DOLLY SET-UP / ON TRIPOD: You come out of the mini HDMI port of the camera to 6’ mini HDMI to Reg. HDMI cable to a HDMI barrel connector.  From there you go 50’ Professional grade HDMI cable.  It needs to be professional grade to carry the signal with out a repeater for that distance.  This then goes to a HDMI signal repeater which require AC power.  Out of the repeater I go 6’ HDMI Cable to a HDMI splitter box which requires AC power, where one lead goes to the HP Dream color lighting monitor that I have positioned at the HOT GEARS wheels console, then the other lead goes to another 24” HP Dream color monitor for the agency and client to view.  You operate off of the Dream color at the HOT GEARS console with a black hood over your head.

****CRANE SET-UP: You come out of the mini HDMI port of the camera to 6’ mini HDMI to Reg. HDMI cable to a HDMI barrel connector.  From there you go 50’ of High end HDMI cable.  It needs to be professional grade to carry the signal with out a repeater.  This goes to a HDMI signal repeater for that distance.  Out of the repeater I go 6’ HDMI Cable to a HDMI splitter box which requires AC power, where one lead goes to the HP Dream color lighting monitor that I have positioned at the remote head wheels console, then the other lead goes to another 24” HP Dream color monitor for the agency and client to view.  You operate off of the Dream color at the remote head console with a black hood over your head.

2- 24" HP Dream Color monitors, HDMI cables with repeaters and splitters at 5600 feet on the Triangle Jib

2- 24" HP Dream Color monitors, HDMI cables with repeaters and splitters at 5600 feet on the Triangle Jib

My poor man's Hoodman for Dream Color monitor at the remote head console

My poor man's Hoodman for Dream Color monitor at the remote head console

On crane operating with the Dream color and the black hood

On crane operating with the Dream color and the black hood

**** TRIPOD SET-UP: You come out of the mini HDMI port of the camera to 6’ mini HDMI to Reg. HDMI cable then into a HDMI splitter box which requires AC power that you send one HDMI lead to your on-board 24” Dream color that you mount onto a Jr. Low Combo Stand near your  tripod, then the other HDMI lead goes to video village where another 24” HP Dream color monitor awaits.  If you want to send that a distance than I would use a 25’ cable to get it down the sticks and then to a HDMI signal repeater which requires AC power, then you can go another 50’ to 100’ with a professional grade HDMI cable to the video village.   The video playback person is eliminated.  You are the video playback person.  As a cinematographer you now have to operate the 24” Dream color that is near your tripod with a black hood over your head.

My double Dream Color set-up where the agency can view full HD and I become the DIT and the video playback person

My double Dream Color set-up where the agency can view full HD and I become the DIT and the video playback person

Marc Margulies dials in the A camera shot at the Iwo Jima Memorial

Marc Margulies dials in the A camera shot at the Iwo Jima Memorial

Having the intimacy with the agency and client next to the monitor was paramount on this job

Having the intimacy with the agency and client next to the monitor was paramount on this job

PROS: I either prefer to go (SDS Standard Def SImple) or (HDMI Cable Complicated) as a Director/Cameraman. Now why would I go choose this route when all the others seem so much easier? They are but the weakest point of this camera is the HDMI aspect.  The cables are a nightmare because they break easily and the little hair thin pin connectors get twisted easily. I prefer to go with this system because it increases my speed and what you see is what you get. You can judge all color, contrast and exposure. You do not have to check it with a lighting monitor and then disconnect, then re-connect.  If the sun goes into the clouds it is not a problem to adjust the exposure because the HP monitor becomes your film camera viewfinder.  Everyone sees the best possible image while we are lining it up and rehearsing because you can roll a rehearsal and watch it back in Full HD. No added weight and a smaller camera footprint. You can judge focus off the monitor.

Darin Necessary and I tackle the Royal Marines onboard the "Ocean," with a Z-finder and reviewing with the director after we felt we got the shot

Darin Necessary and I tackle the Royal Marines on-board the "Ocean," with a Z-finder and reviewing with the director after we felt we got the shot

****Going Handheld- not business as usual

When I shoot hand-held, I view it through a Zacuto Z-finder while shooting and do not link myself to anything.  Then after I have done several takes that seem to be amazing, I go back to the agency and client and we plug into their HP Dream color and review. I am there with them, looking at their faces as they view the takes. The feedback is immediate and personal; we talk together and discuss changes as a team.  This is absolutely essential as a Director or Cinematographer.  Now you have a direct connection with the agency and client.

CONS: Nightmare to deal with all the cables running everywhere, broken connections, signal noise. Operating off a large monitor on dolly can restrict your moves, then you have to punt to HOT GEARS if it does. That requires more gear and so much for the smaller footprint.  No wireless option.  Requires AC power for splitters and repeaters.  More connections to go down and power issues.

What are your ways of solving these issues? I would love to hear you comments and ways that you have cracked the video village egg!

Color Grading the 5D MKII for Case Combines

Friday, July 16th, 2010

There have been so many great comments on the BTS of the Case Tractor commercial that I wanted to share the 30 second spot with you. I am always comparing the 5D to Reversal Film Stock because you have to get it close in camera. Lets go on a journey to see how well we did. I will show you the offline edit of the MOV. files out of the camera that were decompressed with CS5. This decompressor is phenomenal. Adobe has it going on.

The first cut will be an offline edit and then next one will be the finished spot done on a Speed Grade DI color correction system. Andrew Huebscher was my colorist. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1030152/ He is extraordinary with this platform. I have not seen very many people with that level of talent. Andrew is a Director of Photography with a great eye for color and contrast. Additionally, he can track, move and create windows that do magic things to push the 5D camera to perform at its very best. Check out “The Last 3 Minutes”, Navy Rescue Swimmer, Navy Diver, as well as Case. These are perfect examples of his talent.  Bruce Hermann at Lost Planet  http://lostplanet.wiredrive.com/l/p/?presentation=96cd4fa04afa270cd4e7fb4774cb2156 edited the spots for me and I love his style and cutting pace.  Enjoy!!

Here is the un-color corrected offline edit done by Bruce Hermann at Lost Planet

Now here is the finished product with voice over, music, and sound design.

The following 5 screen grabs from the spot tell you what Andrew and I did in the color correction bay.

Un-color Corrected Aerial Shot: Crop Duster Cam 3-5D's mounted to the landing gear of a Cessna single engine

Un-color Corrected Aerial Shot: Crop Duster Cam 3-5D's mounted to the landing gear of a Cessna single engine

Color Corrected Aerial Shot

Color Corrected Aerial Shot

This was an interesting shot. When we got it to the edit bay it was soft because the engine vibration was blurring every other frame. So Lancer at Bandito Brothers Post extracted every other frame and then used Twixtor to frame blend. I feel it works great for a 2.5 second shot. Or we could have hired a gyro stabilized Cineflex mount for a A-Star chopper, flown in the pilot, the Aerial photographer and the mount. $25,000.00 later you would have had the same shot.

We increased the contrast on this and added the rich golden wheat color that is the thread that takes you through the whole spot. That was it.

Un-Color Corrected wide shot of a wheat field at sunset

Un-Color Corrected wide shot of a wheat field at sunset

Color Corrected wide shot of a wheat field at sunset

Color Corrected wide shot of a wheat field at sunset

On this one we did a slight vignette on the edges. Andrew and I increased the contrast and we put a power window on the wheat to dial up the richness and saturation of the afternoon sun.

Un-Color Corrected shot of our Actor driving the Case Combine

Un-Color Corrected shot of our Actor driving the Case Combine

Color Corrected shot of our actor in the cab of the Case combine

Color Corrected shot of our actor in the cab of the Case combine

The Farmer in the cab was shot on a 50mm Kowa. We grabbed the wheat with the secondaries and brought out its warmth. We put a power window on the actors face to bring up his detail and warm up his skin tone. We then took another power window and brought up the luminance level of the LCD screen in the upper left hand corner.

Un-Color Corrected shot of combines harvesting at sunset

Un-Color Corrected shot of combines harvesting at sunset

Color Corrected shot of combines harvesting at sunset

Color Corrected shot of combines harvesting at sunset

This is a 75mm Kowa, with the beautiful sunny side up flare in the lower left hand corner. We put a slight vignette on the shot around the edges. We warmed it up slightly and increased the contrast and saturation, but very slightly. Notice how nicely the sun blows out in the frame, no HD hard edges. This feels like film, like digital film.

Un-Color Corrected shot of farmer in the field at sunrise

Un-Color Corrected shot of farmer in the field at sunrise

Color Corrected shot of farmer in the field at sunrise

Color Corrected shot of farmer in the field at sunrise

This was also shot on the 75mm Kowa, at sunrise. I loved this location because it felt like the landscape was right out of a Margaret Bourke White print during the great depression.

All of us are looking at this endless horizon of creative expression, ARE YOU READY? I know I am.

Color Correction: Put Your Best Foot Forward

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

My first experience with the 5D DI color correction was for the Terminator Webisodes produced by the Bandito Brothers through Wonderland Sound and Vision.  McG asked me to be the Director/Cameraman for these alternative marketing shorts that were going on the Internet.  They would release one a week leading up to the opening date of “Terminator:Salvation.”

I wanted the look and feel of the Webisodes to feel like a prequel to the film, so the style and color that I had done on “Terminator:Salvation” would be the consistent thread throughout the project.

When we began the color correction process we quickly realized a new grading process was necessary as the old rules did not apply.  We started with a LUT (look up table) that gives you the look and feel of Kodak Vision print stock in the digital world and the Codec just fell apart.  Andrew Huebscher, the colorist at Bandito was earning and learning as we dealt with this very compressed Codec for the first time.  The old rules of color correcting film and when Andrew would turn the knobs to make a change the color would shift radically.  We soon understood that with this fragile color space you had to move the knobs very delicately.  We learned not to use the Vision LUT when color correcting digital footage.

TechCom #2 My first project on the Canon 5D and color correcting with the 8 BIT compressed color space

TechCom #2 My first project on the Canon 5D and color correcting with the 8 BIT compressed color space

I treated the 5D like I was exposing reversal film stock, you had to get it close to what your final product would be.  Any extreme manipulation in color was difficult. For example, if you were in an interior and then moved outside and forgot to change the color temperature and shot footage. Then, all your exteriors would be blue. It would be very difficult to just fix it in post and difficult to swing.  You can do it but it never matches well. It just feels wrong.

This was a shot from the Untitled Navy SEAL movie.  We were color balanced for underwater which is around 7000 deg. K and when our camera surfaced it was way to cold, we tried to swing it but it had a weird quality.

This was a shot from the Untitled Navy SEAL movie. We were color balanced for underwater which is around 7000 deg. K and when our camera surfaced it was way to warm, because our daylight was around 5200 deg. K, we tried to swing it but it has a weird quality.

This is another example of our camera being set at 7000 deg. K and trying to swing the image to a more neutral tone, it is not bad, but I feel it still has a bizzarre quality to it.

This is another example of our camera being set at 7000 deg. K and trying to swing the image to a more neutral tone, it is not bad, but I feel it still has a bizzarre quality to it.

Our solution was to go back to the RAW Cineform 444 files and start anew. This worked very well and it seemed to give us much more range. I also realized too late that this camera needs light.  If you don’t feed it enough light the 8 BIT compressed color space quickly goes to 4 and then to 2.  You can always create contrast by stretching the image by pushing the whites and pulling your blacks down.  Underexposure is a powerful tool with this camera, but the whole image cannot be underexposed.  It will result in noise, fall apart quickly in color correction and just look muddy.

After this first experience I knew I needed to educate myself. I read about different picture styles that gave you more digital latitude but I wanted to create my own and each camera’s sensor is different.  It is not a plug and play technology.   I set out to tackle the EOS utility and the Picture Style editor to create my own RAW look.  I took a RAW still image then dragged that image into the Picture Style editor window.

Picture Style Editor w/tool Palette

Picture Style Editor w/tool Palette

I then moved my mouse down to the lower left corner where there is an icon that has two squares in it.  You click on that and two identical photographs show up on the screen.  I then move over to the right side where you find a curve graph.

Icon used for creating two identical pictures so that you can see your changes realtime

Icon used for creating two identical pictures so that you can see your changes in realtime

I start at the bottom of the curve and start to bend it to open the shadows.  Then, I move up to the middle and open up the mid-tones and then finish at the top swinging the highlights so that I can suppress them to hold more detail.

Bending the curve to open up the blacks slightly to increase your dynamic range

Bending the curve to open up the blacks slightly to increase your dynamic range

Bending the highlights to bring them slightly down to increase your dynamic range

Bending the highlights to bring them slightly down to increase your dynamic range

Once this RAW file worked well in the color-grading bay, I wanted to now design a picture style that took in each camera’s sensor personality.  The 5D is the king of the hill and all the others are trying to climb up to the top but they don’t even have a rope.  The 7D has much more contrast, more saturation and less detail.  The 1D is a very unique sensor and is incredibly sensitive.  I cannot put my fingers on it but it lacks even more detail than the 7D and has a strange contrast along with gray skin tones.  It has to be the small mega pixel count.  So, I factor all these things into my RAW look for each camera.

Then I went a step further.  Balancing camera color is one of the most important things that you can do.  Each camera comes from the factory supposedly balanced but all of them have a bias.  Set up a white card with the correct color temp. on the camera, which it depends on the color temp of your light.  If you are shooting with a Tungsten source then you would be at 3200K, if it is daylight you would be at 5200K and so on.  Or you can auto white balance, your choice.  Some cameras come with a yellow bias, a magenta bias and or a green bias.  Sometimes you get one that is perfect from the factory but from my experience that is not the case.

White Balance Shift

Go To your White Balance Shift and select it

My 7D’s have come with a magenta bias and I intensely dislike that color.  So dialing that color tone out was my first priority.  Here is what worked for me: Go to WB/Shift+- and select it.  A graph will come up where it shows a little white dot in the center.

Here is your WB Shift Grid, here you can shift your bias

Here is your WB Shift Grid, here you can shift your bias

Go up to the little advance button, which is above the big wheel and it also moves your focus box.  Push it one-way or the other to swing your camera to produce pure white.  If your camera is coming up magenta, then you would give it a few points to the green.

If your camera is magenta bias then slide the dot up into the green 2 points

If your camera is magenta bias then slide the dot up into the green 2 points

If your camera has a yellow bias, I would swing it into the blue region.

If your camera has a yellow bias then add two points of blue

If your camera has a yellow bias then add two points of blue

Now if the color is somewhere in the middle of what those controls can do, you can even more specific with different shades of green, blue, etc. by going diagonally and you get a shade of the red, green and blue.

This is if your camera has a magenta yellow bias, you are making cyan by sliding up the grid diagonally

This is if your camera has a magenta yellow bias, you are making cyan by sliding up the grid diagonally

This is if your camera had a red yellow bias, you are adding magenta to counter the yellow and blue to counter the red

This is if your camera had a red yellow bias, you are adding magenta to counter the yellow and blue to counter the red

I take one camera that I have balanced perfectly white and it becomes my default camera; every camera is now balanced to that.  I have tried the waveform monitor thing, but found that to eye it works better for me.  If this color space was not so compressed it would not even be an issue.  But it is for now and this is the best way that I have found to maximize your color space.  Taking two identically calibrated monitors, I put my default camera on one and then the new camera on the other monitor and adjust to eye.   Once I get them very close I put a HDMI switcher in line and go back and forth from my default camera to the new camera on the same monitor until it is exact.  I just repeat this process until all my cameras are balanced to the default camera.  It is so helpful because when you are out shooting with multiple cameras and multiple operators you need to know as a cinematographer that they are choosing the right exposures and color temperatures based on one common denominator, that every camera looks the same.

On the Navy SEAL movie this task was daunting.  We had so many cameras coming in from so many different vendors. It is a process that is incredibly important and not many people know that this function exists.  We are led to believe that it comes balanced at the factory.  I can tell you this isn’t the case.  Take the time and create a RAW look that you are happy with and see if your camera or cameras have a bias.  Happy in-camera color correcting.