Color Chip Chart and Grey/White Cards

[Scott Crawley]

Perhaps the biggest question I have is this; If my creative partners and I were to follow this procedure and for some reason a real interest in a professional theatrical master were to emerge, would we be in good shape or at least better shape than if we had not? Will a pro Colorist like, or hate me when he is done fixing it?

For the amount of time it takes to shoot the charts I don't anticipate a problem with it even if my grade were a total failure.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Trouble is that after the conform session following the EDL, all the color charts and grey scales are edited out of the movie before the colorist begins work, and if they are working from the original R3D files, then they will be converting them from scratch when they begin the final color-correction, so there will be no reference charts to follow for each scene.

The charts only would get used to set-up dailies and if for some reason all of the footage was being transcoded each day and stored as something like RedLogFilm DPX files for the eventual conform and final color-correction. But most features just do a temporary transcode to something like Redgamma or Rec.709, not sure which, for HD dailies, and then go back to the R3D files for the final conform and conversion to 4K or 2K DPX files, at which point the charts are gone.

Not sure about the workflow for TV series shooting on Red cameras, if they transcode once for dailies and for storing debayered footage for final color-correcting, in which case the dailies conversion, probably to 1080P RGB in log form or Redgamma, would also be used for the final mastering.

 

[Scott Crawley]

Ah, that exposes my short form myopia. When I do a final conform from R3d, going back to the first shot of a setup is no trouble because I have fairly immediate access to everything. I can see how that could be problematic when you have 30 days or more of source footage and many thousands of cuts. I think I have a better appreciation for the need to embed the data from jump street and will strive to run my own units differently. It seems I have been a bit sloppy.

Thank you very much.

Trouble is that after the conform session following the EDL, all the color charts and grey scales are edited out of the movie before the colorist begins work, and if they are working from the original R3D files, then they will be converting them from scratch when they begin the final color-correction, so there will be no reference charts to follow for each scene.

The charts only would get used to set-up dailies and if for some reason all of the footage was being transcoded each day and stored as something like RedLogFilm DPX files for the eventual conform and final color-correction. But most features just do a temporary transcode to something like Redgamma or Rec.709, not sure which, for HD dailies, and then go back to the R3D files for the final conform and conversion to 4K or 2K DPX files, at which point the charts are gone.

Not sure about the workflow for TV series shooting on Red cameras, if they transcode once for dailies and for storing debayered footage for final color-correcting, in which case the dailies conversion, probably to 1080P RGB in log form or Redgamma, would also be used for the final mastering.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

ChipSet

ChipSet

Due to the variety of ways people work there may not be a universal "best practice". That said, I have an idea that might be valuable. Since cameras like REDs are essentially computers with lenses on them, why not leverage that embedded processing power to create rich scene referred metadata.

ChipSet:

Traditionally one would use chip charts, MacBeths, Cam-Aligns, etc with scopes/meters/histograms to manually dial in various parameters.

My idea is to create a chart designed to work with the camera software to create a metadata reference. Imagine a chart split into sections (white, black, gray, color swatches) with 1/2" thick solid gray borders. Then you have a setting in the display tools that shows a frame guide type overlay (and primary green for middle gray) you could line up with the chart. Adjust the iris so the gray reads right at middle gray. Trigger "ChipSet" dynamic compliance to create a metadata file that neutralizes variations from known values.

I would use this metadata file for monitoring, matching cameras for multi-cam and would want it to be able to travel with the media as a reference, even if the RMD is altered later, so it could be mined during final color if so desired. Graeme could specify the colors used in the color swatches to optimize the precision of the process (as an example he had DSC add 6 colors to RED Cambook edition of their chart that he wanted in there to more accurately evaluate RAW parameters).

The classic grey card reference (assuming the card itself is accurate) is very valuable, it can get color temperature and tint neutralized quickly. My theory is that if you had a dozen or more colors to use as references, and a computer to process that information (like the one inside our cameras) you could create a very precise "correction" LUT that nulled out non-linearities, including complex variances in lighting sources.

To be clear, creating an evocative image that may or may not look like reality is a critical part of our craft. Just because one has a neutral reference doesn't mean you can't ignore it when doing more stylized looks. Moreover, extrapolating from David notes, by providing collaborators like colorists with a known reference point they can be assured that more dramatic exposure or color choices are intentional, not errors to be "corrected".

Cheers - #19