Tutorial on RED Premiere Pro CS5.5 Color Correction?

[Stephen Pruitt]

Hi all. . .

. . . as sad as it makes me to report this, it is looking more and more like I am going to have to do the color correction and grading of our new feature film myself. You can blame this on poor planning on my part and SAG rules (we are too close to the $200,000 budget limit for a SAG ultra-low-budget feature to pay anyone to do this work).

Now here's my question: I know absolutely nothing about color correction. I would like to know if there are any good, easy-to-understand tutorials on how grade and color correct using only the color/grading tools inherent within PP CS5.5's "RED package".

We are looking at a world premiere in January/February, so the sooner I get started, the better.

Any suggestions?

Thanks much.

Stephen

 

[Ben Scott]

There's a multitude of great tutorials out there but in all seriousness if you're spending close to $200,000 on a movie, FFS find a way to get someone who knows what they are doing to finish it.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

Apparently you did not read my post, Mr. Scott. I CANNOT spend more money on the film without going over the $199,999.99 limit for a SAG ultra-low-budget film. If we do, the SAG low-budget contract kicks in and my budget immediately jumps up to $300,000. We do not have the money to do that.

I'll either need to find someone to color the film for a percentage of the take, or I'll have to do it myself. This is also why I am doing all the ADR on the film myself. (And it's working MARVELOUSLY well, thank you.)

Anyway, that's the story.

Stephen

 

[Matthew Scott]

Hey Stephen, I have created over 20 hours of free tutorials on color grading. I designed them specifically so that the audience learns how to grade, using simple tools that are available in most professional editing systems. Premiere Pro does not have a multipoint flexible masking tool (the garbage mattes are not the same), but other than that, there is a lot of power available to you with the tools that are there.

Visit my blog: www.mattscottvisuals.com and navigate to the top of the page "TUTORIALS". There you will find many a useful videos that I've created over the past couple of years.

Also something to consider, which I highly recommend, is to AAF or XML your project over to DaVinci Resolve Lite. I have also created tutorials for resolve: here is my latest > http://mattscottvisuals.com/color/2013/6/14/qualifiers-masks-balancing-basics-davinci-resolve-lite-

 

[Guy Staley]

Visit my blog: www.mattscottvisuals.com and navigate to the top of the page "TUTORIALS". There you will find many a useful videos that I've created over the past couple of years.

Run, don't walk, straight to Matthew's blog. His tutorials are amazing! The DaVinci Resolve tutorial especially, is really excellent! Thanks Scott!

 

[Matthew Scott]

haha, thanks Guy

 

[Gary Paul Walker]

Run, don't walk, straight to Matthew's blog. His tutorials are amazing! The DaVinci Resolve tutorial especially, is really excellent! Thanks Scott!

Agreed! I regarded myself as pretty experienced but watching Matthews tutorials helped immeasurably..

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

Okay. . . this sounds great!

If I send things over to Resolve, how do I recombine things back again for a DVD export? That is, how do I get my audio and video put back together???

Stephen

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

Does Resolve Lite do 4K??? I will be heading toward a 1080p finish, but would like to keep the possibility open of a 4K finish if UHD really takes off.

Thanks so much!

Stephen

 

[Matthew Scott]

Resolve Lite does not support a 4k project (it scales down your project to fit 1080p) but all you would need to do is purchase a dongle and change your frame settings when or if you decide to go 4k finish.
As for DVD, I would simply render out a 10bit intermediate from resolve and create your deliverable from that.