Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • 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 :)

Best skin tones

Jason Von Drayco

Jason Von Drayco

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 2, 2011
Messages
89
Reaction score
0
Points
0
What are your top 3 films that you think have the best digitally acquired skin tones? Can be shot with any camera, any amount of post/grading done, make up tricks Bla Bla
 
And you are right.
The Great Gatsby trailler looks awesome.
 
So far... none have come close to film for me.

The Avengers worked pretty well. Although I do prefer the look of Downey Jr's character in Iron Man... so yes I still prefer film. But overall, the skin tones hit the "good enough" mark for me.

Slumdog Millionaire worked in terms of saturated, filmic skin tones that fit the story - although that was not entirely digital.

Recently I worked on The Dictator, and the skin tones were pretty natural in that too.

Social Network, District 9, Zodiac and Dragon Tattoo had skin tones that worked for their stories but I certainly wouldn't want those tones in my any of the movies I want to make. Just a personal choice.

Still waiting for one film shot on RED that makes me go "oooh, I want that look for my movie!"...

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
Hmm, "Avengers," "The Dictator," "Skyfall" - all Alexa shows. "Social Network," "District 9," and "Dragon Tattoo" - all what I would call "distressed looks," or at the very least, "stylized" looks. There seems to be a bit of a pattern here, in that Red seems to have been chosen for pictures that were designed around "distressed" pallettes, where Alexa seems to have been chosen for shows that were going for less "stylized," more conventionally beautiful images. At this point in both products' development, it seems that the general perception of each is a bit different, if one is to believe that at the studio level, cameras are chosen for similar reasons to film stocks, that is, they are chosen because they are appropriate for the story and the look that is desired by the creative team. That is not to say that you can't shoot conventionally beautiful images with Red, or that you can't shoot "distressed" images with Alexa. But it does seem that at a certain level, they are being employed on pictures that represent their perceived strengths. Perhaps some upcoming productions like Gatsby and Hobbit will challenge that perception. We'll see.
 
"Distressed looks" - I like that as a descriptor.

But that begs the question: What are some of the best examples of conventionally beautiful Red-acquired skin tones and images?

I actually love what Red does with skin by capturing all that detail. I'm guessing the Alexa skin-tones benefit from the extra DR on the high end... the Dragon sensor should help even the field.
 
I worked on this film last year. It's got some a whole bunch of different skin tones. Shot on Epic. There's was definitely one shot in that movie I was particularly fond of but I'll let you guys see it and figure it out. Can't vouch for the story but this is a camera forum anyway. :-)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232200/

I think RED skin tones can look great. Alexa can too. I'd probably still take film at this point in time but give RED and Arri credit, they have come a long way and are breathing life into the images now with new color science and extended dynamic range. I'm sure we will see more improvement as time goes on.
 
Melancholia http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527186/ has beautiful skin tones and facial lighting in general. Also, the actors are shot in multiple lighting conditions (and gradings) from super strong direct HMI, warm indoor light and straight daylight (grey and muted sun). It's very much a "character driven" movie so actors are on screen (often in mid or close shot) most of the time. It was shot Alexa with Phantom for slo-mo.

Contagion has naturalistic (fairly realistic) skin tones. It's a bit of a harsh, unaffected and un-retouched look. But I think that is deliberately done to match the dramatic and somewhat "real time" nature of the story. I mention it because its a RED picture, but does not have the distressed and heavily graded look as much, it tends toward a more realistic feel.
 
Melancholia is quite beautiful at times, and often in a big budget perfume ad kinda way. There are moments when its rendering of skin tones has a plastic quality, looking much like a doll's. But then there are times in low light and artificial light conditions that skin tones do take on a very strange pallor, even to the naked eye. When watching movies we too often expect skin tones, among other things, to appear perfectly balanced and organic even in the broadest range of scenarios, and with little thought to the filmmaker's intentions: dolls can be fragile, and hollow.
 
I am not the best judge here as I am according to the aviation quacks and my old schoolage test, mildly red-green colourblind and can never get a full private pilots licence. That grievance over, I went to our local Hoyts Carousel cinema and saw Mel Gibson's "Get The Gringo". There was some talk around that it was going to be shot on SI2Ks but subsequently was shot on RED and Phantom for the slow-mo sequences. The colours looked fine to me. Apparently, if you are in the US and haven't seen it yet, you'll only ever get it on download or maybe DVD.
 
I don't know but I can tell you which movie has the WORST skin tones I've ever seen in my life.

Shot on Alexa:

http://youtu.be/yc3Ab52uqM8?hd=1


Holy moly those skin tones. never seen anything like it...maybe Lincoln Lawyer shot on Red comes close to the awfulness of this
 
Looks brown and dull.

Actually, I like the way the red renders skintone when hdrx is applied. The highlight becomes so pretty.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top