I'm confused with... Color Outputs RedAlert/RedRushes

[Anna Fuller]

Can someone please clarify for me which output in RedAlert is my .R3D raw colour....
is it the Metadata button or the default button. The default button always seems to look overexposed. Also having just upgraded to v20.1.6 all the colours have changed. How do I white balance in Red Alert (am I just doing it by eye on the histogram?) and should I be doing it whilst viewing the default or the metadata?

I am using an Avid Offline to FCP online Workflow, so I am converting to AvidDNX quicktimes using RedRushes. And then MonkeyExtract to Conform (should I be doing a pre-grade/whitebalance in RedAlert which creates an RSX file to use in RedRushes/MonkeyE).

Thanks in advance
Anna :willy_nilly:

 

[Kaku Ito]

Anna,

I think the default button goes to the basic setting of the metadata and if the clip is shot under looking 709 then the default that is Redspace would make it look overexposed. Metadata would switch to the setting of the camera when it was shot, so you might wanna work from that.

For less confusion, if the footage was shot with pre-build20, you should install 3.6 instead of 20.1.6. You can work with this but the color science is totally different, so you would really need a right monitor environment to adjust that back.

 

[Anna Fuller]

Hi Kaku,

So I should stick to 3.6 and metadata... so I had some material that came back from a shoot with a wacky cyan tint when looking at the metadata button (somehow it had been set to -25... but this isn't how it was filmed? on the default it is perfectly normal ... that's the RAW data?

... Are these dumb questions... I can't find much information on the Colour Science and what Space I should be working in... I'm delivering HD TV. Any input would be hugely appreciated.

Anna

 

[Kaku Ito]

Anna,

The metadata is not burned in to the RAW data, so if there are few clips with wacky color shift then you can just turn it back to normal unless that was what the DoP wanted.

RAW is the actual video data that is not developed through the metadata. The DoP can go through the clips and reset the metadata before the proxy editing, or just forget about it and just edit, then process the metadata upon grading. What kinda of grading are you planning?

Can you check if it was shot with build 20 or build 18?

 

[Anna Fuller]

It was shot with build 18 and I've reset the metadata.

So the default is the RAW... If it looks overexposed in there then it probably is.

We'll be grading in FCS Color, with an HD monitor. So I think that I should, when it comes to doing the conform (using Monkey Extract) render the default so that no accidental pregrades by the Cameraman/Director when viewing what they've shot gets through to the end grade.

Thanks for taking the time to talk this through with me