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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Scarlet Footage - DaVinci Resolve Color Example

Patrick O'Sullivan said:
I uploaded a shot of Tonaci's footage from his Scarlet after I ran it through DaVinci and one Reduser asked if I could put a video together on how I graded the footage.





Well here is the video explaining each of the different nodes in the sequence and what parameters I adjusted.


I'm not an expert but I've gotten so much from this forum I thought maybe this could help others out there looking to get started with Resolve.

If you guys have any questions on the grade or Resolve in general just let me know and I will try and answer them the best I can.
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Amazing job. Thanks so much for this.
 
That two-shot, every time I've seen it, just bothers me. Just has a video sharpness brutality I hope to avoid in using my Scarlet.
 
Thanks for taking the time to explain this all step by step Patrick. Really helpful!
 
Brant I am not sure if you are talking about the actual shot itself or the grade of the two shot.

If you are talking about the grade that is fine. But if you are talking about the actual shot it is easy to mistake RAW development for camera faults.

It has a TV-esque sharpness to it because that is the look I was going for. I didn't want it to look like the Tree of Life or True Grit.

The game changing thing is with that footage we could get those looks if we wanted. I read somewhere else on this forum an important note to keep in mind when checking out R3D footage:

Now, more than ever, you can't judge a shot by simply critiquing the cinematography. RAW footage has to be developed and that development can make or break an image. You cant just say an image has video sharpness and be done with it. That is no fault of the camera or the cinematographer. It has been developed that way.

If you want the film look you can have it. You want the TV look, you can have that to. You can even have the 7D look if that is what you are going for. It is all there. That is the beautiful thing.
 
Patrick, thanks for this tutorial. I'm just getting started learning Resolve and this is awesome for seeing how you can get some of these looks easily.
 
It seems like there are quite a few people here that are looking to get started with Resolve.

If you guys have any specific questions on controls/workflow/look creation let me know and if I find a spare few minutes I can throw together a little tutorial.

Things like specific looks from movies or tv shows is probably the easiest stuff to get across in a short video. If you have a specific R3D in mind you'd like to see graded a certain way just load it up and I will see what I can do to create a video explaining how to get the look.

There aren't a lot of resources out there for learning this stuff so this may help some of you out there.
 
I would LOVE to know, when you have a window node, lets say tracking something from the distance that moves closer to the camera, how do you keyframe that so the window wont stay huge for the very ending frame, or wont stay small for the very first frame.

Thanks Patrick! Glad you got on the forum!
 
Patrick O'Sullivan said:
I uploaded a shot of Tonaci's footage from his Scarlet after I ran it through DaVinci and one Reduser asked if I could put a video together on how I graded the footage.
Click to expand...
This is a "CSI" look? I assure you, Paul Westerbeck at Encore doesn't do 10 nodes for a shot like this on CSI at Encore/Hollywood. I bet two or three might actually do the job just fine. You might want to consider simplifying your approach and get there a more direct way. The real chore on shows like this are flashbacks and heavy "looks," especially when there's photographic problems.

Michael Millichamp said:
I would LOVE to know, when you have a window node, lets say tracking something from the distance that moves closer to the camera, how do you keyframe that so the window won't stay huge for the very ending frame, or wont stay small for the very first frame.
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The window sizes generally track dynamically, at least on all the stuff I've done this far. I've been very impressed by how well the tracking markers can detect object size, even if a character turns their head or exits the frame. The latter cases do sometimes require some manual keyframing and correction, but it's actually pretty fast.
 
Marc Wielage said:
This is a "CSI" look? I assure you, Paul Westerbeck at Encore doesn't do 10 nodes for a shot like this on CSI at Encore/Hollywood.
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Sorry Marc for any confusion but this was just a quick grade to show people what the possibilities are with the newest scarlet footage. I didn't mean I was actually trying to replicate CSI Miami exactly, just the general feel. Yes you are correct that Paul knocks this out in less.

When he does a free tutorial as a favor to a Reduser from the laptop in his kitchen on his night off I'm sure he will let us know.

I just thought it may be wiser to spread the nodes out so individuals could get a better understanding by visually seeing the path of a grade. That being said for those currently coloring prime time tv shows looking at the Scarlet section of Reduser for advice I will explain how to do it in less.

1. You don't need the first node. Any correction done on the 2nd node will be done before the LUT is applied. 10 - 1 = 9
2. You can combine the 3rd node with the second. You just knock down the saturation and add the curve to the 2nd node instead of adding a new node. 9-1 = 8
3. Remove the 4th node where we key the green leaves. You can just knock down the saturation more in the Outside Node after the Skin tone node. 8-1= 7
4. Remove nodes 5 and 8 by employing a production designer who can make sure wardrobe has their act together and isn't flooding your warm shot with cool colors. 7-2 = 5
5. You can combine the two gradient into one node. 5-1 = 4
6. We could have just gotten Tonaci to light the scene like we needed as well or not position the actors behind a green bush. Then we could have wrapped up this CSI grade in 2 nodes no problem.


By the way I am just being a jack ass. Yes you can and should get this grade done in a few less nodes but when you are a one man band just grade in a workflow that makes sense to you.
 
Patrick O'Sullivan said:
Sorry Marc for any confusion but this was just a quick grade to show people what the possibilities are with the newest scarlet footage. I didn't mean I was actually trying to replicate CSI Miami exactly, just the general feel. Yes you are correct that Paul knocks this out in less.

When he does a free tutorial as a favor to a Reduser from the laptop in his kitchen on his night off I'm sure he will let us know. .
Click to expand...


I think that what Marc was trying to say is that most high end colorists, especially working in television, take a different approach to what's useful in look creation. It has a lot less to do with altering colors or adding and subtracting saturation in specific hues that it does basic correction and light shaping. In other words, windows are often used to alter specific areas and achieve the separation you're talking about, along with proper use of basic grading tools. I find that inexperienced colorists, especially those who have never worked with an experienced one, end up concentrating on little things and largely ignoring the big picture. In their search for the "secret" to proper separation and color balance, they go to secondaries immediately and start treating everything in the image separately. They, when they're done, they wonder why the image doesn't have the wealth of color and "pop" that the colorists they think they're emulating get. The best separation and the best retention of the color palette in the photography come from achieving proper balance, not from separating out things that don't seem to be right prior to when that perfect balance is achieved. That "CSI look" you're talking about comes more from a combination of photography and slightly extreme contrast correction, combined with really excellent balancing of the three channels (primarily done in Resolve using only lift and gain, not gamma) and some "light shaping" via selective use of windowing than it does most of the things that you illustrated. Paul is a very good colorist, and yes, he uses a lot of windowing techniques. But he also gets proper balance before he does any of that, as do most experienced colorists regardless of their preferred visual style. If you're working on Resolve, and you're working with log coded material, another thing to try is to use the offset controls for balance and overall exposure, and the lift and gain masters for contrast on a node prior to the normalizing LUT (it can be the same node, as you mention, since the LUT is applied last). That comes very close to emulating the exposure and contrast controls on systems like Baselight and Lustre when working with log originals, and allows very good color separation and a very wide color palette. It also generally yields better flesh tones as a starting point, because you're essentially working with printer lights, which affect the entire range of values and don't separate the dark areas from the light areas. It's that tearing apart of the image that often leads to things like "blotchy" or magenta flesh tones, especially when gamma correction is involved.

Claiming to be a "one man band" doesn't absolve one from educating one's self about the time tested ways that professionals do their job, because often what you assume to be true isn't. This stuff isn't always obvious, and it isn't always what it seems to be. Innovation doesn't always stem from working in a vacuum, it often comes from knowing what others already do and coming up with something better. But it's always better to start from a place of knowledge than a personal assumption.
 
Patrick O'Sullivan said:
It seems like there are quite a few people here that are looking to get started with Resolve.

If you guys have any specific questions on controls/workflow/look creation let me know and if I find a spare few minutes I can throw together a little tutorial.

Things like specific looks from movies or tv shows is probably the easiest stuff to get across in a short video. If you have a specific R3D in mind you'd like to see graded a certain way just load it up and I will see what I can do to create a video explaining how to get the look.

There aren't a lot of resources out there for learning this stuff so this may help some of you out there.
Click to expand...

Hi Patrick,

Great post,very informative(I'm assuming by the way with a surname like that there's a bit of Irish in you!!)

Just wanted to ask about specifications using DaVinci Lite.I'm using a 2008 24" iMac and it seems my video card does not support the software(ATI,RadeonHD2600...also will not work on my 2008 Macbook Pro).

Just wanted to clarify that the video card in the new Macbook Pro line will support DaVinci just in case i wanted to upgrade when my Scarlet EVENTUALLY arrives because to be honest i've been using Color for the last few years and find the workflow

and roundtrip to FCP a tad frustrating-Resolve seems to be the bees knees!!

Thanks in advance,

John.
 
M Most said:
I think that what Marc was trying to say is that most high end colorists, especially working in television, take a different approach to what's useful in look creation. It has a lot less to do with altering colors or adding and subtracting saturation in specific hues that it does basic correction and light shaping.
Click to expand...

I agree 100% with what you and Marc both said regarding Paul and what makes him a great colorist and the what is necessary to get the proper CSI look on a show day in and day out.

I never stated that if you are doing a long form grade that you should take the approach shown in the video. My intended purpose when putting the video up was not to do a color correction tutorial but rather just an explanation. I was playing around with Tonaci's file and then posted the result for fun. Someone asked me to explain how I got there and I obliged. Looking at it I think the video is useful to newer users of Resolve as there are multiple techniques in there that they may not be familiar with.

I never claimed to be a one man band. All I wanted to do was tell people they are free to use Resolve as they please. No one should be worried that "Paul" gets the grade done in 2 or 3 and it takes them 4 or 5.

And again you are right about innovation hence sharing here. The video shows one process. I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable can see this video and better it so a little knowledge comes back my way.
 
Patrick O'Sullivan said:
It seems like there are quite a few people here that are looking to get started with Resolve.

If you guys have any specific questions on controls/workflow/look creation let me know and if I find a spare few minutes I can throw together a little tutorial.

Things like specific looks from movies or tv shows is probably the easiest stuff to get across in a short video. If you have a specific R3D in mind you'd like to see graded a certain way just load it up and I will see what I can do to create a video explaining how to get the look.

There aren't a lot of resources out there for learning this stuff so this may help some of you out there.
Click to expand...

+1 !!!!
 
The thing that tends to be very frustrating is when someone comes in and fully critiques a video that someone put together for free to help other fellow REDUSERS out. :-(

Patrick did a great job with that tutorial. People who are considering putting together a free tutorial may even get discouraged to even create one for fear of it being bashed to pieces. As the thread post history states, there are quite a few fellow users who though the tutorial was great. Let's just try and keep the talk positive on these types of posts as opposed to the alternative. I'm sure a lot more users would be inclined to post video tutorials in the future.
 
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