Should I learn Coloring on Resolve or FCP/Avid?

[Desmond Ford]

I am a complete beginner to color grading. I am currently reading Hurkman's Color Correction Handbook and I'm taking online tutorials on Lynda.com. I also applied for internships at two well-known coloring houses here in NYC.

I'm going to be taking a course on FCPX and Avid over the next couple weeks. However, there is also a Resolve course that looks really interesting. Unfortunately, I cannot afford the hardware to color effectively on Resolve for some time (I currently use a MBP 15" but I'll be upgrading once the new 17" or iMacs come out).

I've taken the advice of so many posters in regard to coloring being more of a craft than I skill. So I thought it might be wise and cost-effective to learn to color on FCPX / Avid before diving into something more advanced with more commitment and investment like Resolve.

Again, I am a complete beginner. I know it will be some time before I can even consider coloring professionally, so there is no rush. I'm simply trying figure out the most effective, yet practical way to learn.

Basically, the idea is that I will learn the fundamentals and start developing my craft on FCPX / Avid and then ultimately move on to Resolve when I can invest in some more heavy duty hardware such as a Mac Pro with MC Color or Wave, Monitor, etc...

What are your thoughts? Any advice?

DF

 

[Christian Munoz D]

Resolve…FCP/Avid are not CC tools.

 

[Desmond Ford]

Resolve…FCP/Avid are not CC tools.

Yes, I know FCPX and Avid are not dedicated CC tools, but they certainly have CC tools within the software.

Perhaps I was unclear. My question was is it worth starting in FCPX/Avid as a cost-effective introduction to color correction... to learn the basics and develop my craft?

 

[Craig Parkes]

As per Christian's response Avid and Final Cut Pro X are not dedicated color correction tools, they are NLE's which allow you to color correct.

While you may not have the money to afford a dedicated system to do color correction a calibrated environment, attempting to do so without a bare minimum of tools would be a bit like saying "I want to learn to be a mechanic, but I can only afford a wrench. That'll get me by while I am learning, right?"

The answer to that is obviously a resounding no, same with color correction. While the art of color correction is something that is learned through practice and creativity, traditionally it's been done in environments with a large amount of technical infrastructure, with video engineering backgrounds AND photo chemical backgrounds, i.e environments which had access to and the need of highly skilled technicians, on top of the artists.

With desktop computing things are moving away from their video engineering background, but tv and broadcast systems are still based around specifications that have low tolerances for out of spec work.

The reality is that unless you have someone in the chain ensuring there is something at least approximating a calibrated color space then you aren't so much learning about grading, you are just learning the software, because grading is often about the nuance, not the big changes, and without decent calibration the nuance of a picture and how it reacts in different circumstances is impossible to tell if you aren't working on calibrated gear.

From your other posts you want to either learn to be an on set DIT or a Colorist. Either way the first thing you have to realize is that these are roles that have highly technical backgrounds, so either you must become a vide technician of sorts first, OR you must be working on gear that has been calibrated by technicians in a technically sound environment. Once you have accepted that as a NECESSITY everything else will come easier, because you will spend less time thinking "I can't afford all this gear, so how do I do it on the cheap?" and more time thinking "How do I get closer to an evironment that has broadcast and film post production gear where I can gain contacts and learn about this stuff hands on with other professionals."

Well know post houses that handle RED workflows aren't your only option here. Post Production and Broadcast technologies have quite a bit of cross over, so you could work for a broadcast network or a boutique documentary production company or assist on set as a runner and get to know a DIT or colorist or experienced online editor amd build the contacts to get some hands on help from post professionals that way. You could get similiar experience from your course. Once you simply accept that it will require hands on collaboration with people who are experienced AND have access to professional gear for you to learn, you can rely start asking the right question, which is not 'how do I teach myself this.' but 'how do I get someone to teach me this, and how do I get access to the gear to keep practicing?'

Teaching yourself on your own gear is hardly ever a good way to get into this industry, while collaborating with people on the right gear, whatever that may be for a given job, is.

Heck, save up, go out with a borrowed dslr, shoot a very short film, find someone to edit it and then pay for a professional colorist to finish it in a supervised session, and humbly tell them you are really interested in learning the ropes of color grading. You'll learn the most about the whole process and have some tangible experience, and I guarantee you it will be a more useful way to build contacts and learn about a professional approach to color grading than spending the same amount of money on gear and learning by yourself.

 

[Desmond Ford]

Thanks for your very thoughtful response, Craig.

Yes, I've been trying to get in with a pro, but it's just not that easy. I see how busy DITs and Colorists are on set. I don't blame anyone for not having time or desire to teach. I don't know how it is for features or tv, but in commercials, you usually have a day or two to finish the job and everyone is frantic. I've never been on a set where I felt comfortable enough to attempt to learn anything in regard to coloring because that would require me sitting down and taking a break and I have to stay on point like everyone else.

Not to mention, it's difficult to really connect with people and build relationships when your average shoot is two days long. I remember once doing an 8 day Maybelline commercial. By the end of it, we were all like family and I'm still in touch with a lot of the crew! So cool, so much fun... best shoot ever!

So, the truth is that paying for courses is my last resort. I've already considered most of what you and others have suggested before I arrived in my current dilemma. I really couldn't agree with you any more. I learn best by doing, but in the absence of that, I have to pursue other resources. I WISH I could intern at some cool coloring house, but clearly I'm not the only one!

So I'm just taking the situation into my own hands on this one and hoping I can get the most out of it. Maybe I can learn enough to talk intelligibly on it in the future, which might open some doors for me...

Thanks again for taking the time to answer me. You points are well taken.

 

[Peter Moretti]

Craig, I'm sorry, but I disagree quite a bit. If someone wants to learn the basics of color correcting, there is nothing wrong with starting out with the tools in Avid Media Composer. You've got vectorscope, waveforms, histograms, saturation, setup, gamma, gain, wheels, curves. You can create mattes, regions, gradients, secondary corrections, motion track.

Of course, being that Resolve Lite is free, why not learn that too?!

 

[Dave Blackham]

Resolve…FCP/Avid are not CC tools.

Agreed. But Resolve Lite is a Free and very good tool.

 

[Craig Parkes]

Desmond, as you have pointed out there is no time to learn color correction on set. What you may have missed is that basically no color correction happens on set.

Yes first lights and dailies are produced on set these days, but not only is that a very recent occurence in general with the advent of RAW workflows, how this will be done and in what way it comes together is hopefully a decision that is co-ordinated through on set production AND post production, not something simply decided upon, and thus to be learnt and taught by DITs in isolation.

From your posts it seems like you have plenty of on set contacts and experience, but not enough contacts on the post production side of the equation. To get the level of knowledge you, I think need getting to understand post from a post houses point of view will be most valuable - otherwise you will run into the trap of becoming an glorified data wrangler.

Also, I am not saying there is no point learning color correction through Avid or Final Cut, but rather there is no point in learning the techniques or skills required to be a colorist through Avid or Final Cut. It's a poimt of difference that is more obvious if you are working in a post facility environment.

Should you know about NLE's before getting into color correction? Absolutely. You should also know about EDL and tape to tape and all sorts of historical stuff in terms of a context for editing, grading and post in general. Ideally you should know about chroma sub sampling, YUV verus RGB, Composite versus Component, Analog Video Signals, vectorscopes, waveforms etc etc. My point is thst the best place to learn this is in a post environment where that stuff is relevant on a day to day basis. It's not something that can be picked up on set certainly. It is also hard to teach yourself because even if you understand the content, a lot of it is less valuable without knowing the context of a working post environment.

If you aren't working in post you won't know why sometimes you should be working uncompressed versus prores versus DNxHD versus the native capture format, and why sometimes that's completely impractical or inappropriate to go with one over the other, it will always be completely impractical to work uncompressed for example if you are working off a laptop alone for example (although technology is making that more viable).

Basically, like most things to really learn it properly you need to be immersed in it and face multiple practical considerations and see practical results in action in an environment where you can get mentorship and feedback, learning on your own is possible, and you can learn ho wto color correct footage in an edit with Avid and FCP and FCPX or any suite but the approach of a dedicated colorist is based on a fairly different workflow in most cases - even if the results and ways you are altering the image are comparable the role of a dedicated colorist is, in my opinion, as much about how you get there as the end result. Much like the difference between a finishing system like Smoke and a multi faceted compositing and motion graphics system like After Effects, one is based around the idea of client supervised sessions, and the other isn't. If someone wants to learn what it means to be a professional Colorist then their first port of call should be to understand the nature of client supervised work.

To learn the post side of things, even from an onset DIT perspective but especially as someone who aspires to work as a colorist, the best place to be and build contacts is from within the post environment, in my opinion. And I think you can normally get a taste of that environment without buying gear at all, just by visiting post places or getting involved in productions where you can directly interface inmpost, and for people starting out in my environment that tends to be on shorts and music videos.

 

[Paul Sage]

I agree with what Craig is telling you. But while you are trying to get into a post house for an internship, spend some time on your home computer and tinker around with Resolve Lite. It will give you a basic understanding of what the tools are, even if you arent working in a proper environment or on the proper equipment.

 

[Paul Provost]

And head over to creative cow
More appropriate forum
Also if you can get finalcut studio 3 installed, you could practice in apple color. That is a dedicated color correction program that will run on just about anything. There are tons of online learning resources for it. And it will be much easier to transition to resolve when you can.

 

[Paul Sage]

One more thing. If your going to go the intern route, make sure to intern at a small boutique post house. Interns typically arent allowed to do much and have basically no interaction with artists in a larger facility, other than paperwork or running errands.