"The Lesson"

[Paul Leeming]

Last weekend I directed and shot my first M-X narrative short movie called "The Lesson" using our Mysterium-X camera at 4.5K 23.98fps. Shot entirely on Canon EF lenses using the Birger/Viewfactor mount and follow focus.

Though it was set in one room, it presented a challenging lighting situation as we only had a minuscule budget and couldn't afford a large lighting setup to balance out the windows. However thanks to Mysterium-X's amazing dynamic range, exposing so the outside wasn't blown out still allowed me to hold on to all the blacks with no distracting noise at all, giving me maximum flexibility to push the image in post.

Now I will begin editing the film before colour grading it etc.

Here's a couple of small sample images with a quick desaturated "film look" and grain added as reference images.

Note that the original 4.5K images are clean as a whistle, these are just to show how you can make it look like film.

More to come once I've edited the film together!

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Jeetu Chawla]

Impressed!

Impressed!

Desperately saving for my MX upgrade... I so want it now :smash:

Cheers!

 

[DCC Erickson]

Nice reflection in the first shot! Adds another emotional layer.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Here's a couple of small sample images with a quick desaturated "film look" and grain added as reference images.

Note that the original 4.5K images are clean as a whistle, these are just to show how you can make it look like film.

Paul thanks for sharing.

Unfortunately I don't get what you are trying to communicate.

I think you want to show us a treatment you've applied for "film look."

The problem is that I am looking at "after" images without a "before" to compare to. So its hard to make sense of what you may or may not have done.

I'd like to see where you started from so I can see what you didn't like, and how you changed it.

 

[Brian Timmons]

Nice images Paul.
That is a rather "filmic" grade.

Yeah I'm quite surprised by MX performance particularly in the highlights.
Really seems to behave a bit more like film when bright areas go white.
I sometimes feel amazed that I'm regularly shooting on tech like this.

I can't say enough about the Birger mount with the Impero.
It's an amazing combo that works beautifully on the RED.
Consistent i-data would make it perfect.

Look forward to seeing the edit.

Brian Timmons
britim-media

 

[Paul Leeming]

Paul thanks for sharing.

Unfortunately I don't get what you are trying to communicate.

I think you want to show us a treatment you've applied for "film look."

The problem is that I am looking at "after" images without a "before" to compare to. So its hard to make sense of what you may or may not have done.

I'd like to see where you started from so I can see what you didn't like, and how you changed it.

Yes, fair call. Here they are, straight from RedCine-X and shrunk to 25% for ease of viewing here.

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Jaime Vallés]

Excellent shots! The grading you did on them is top notch, and a vast improvement over the originals, IMO. It's amazing how a few adjustments can affect the emotional tone of an image. Thanks for posting!

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Yes, fair call. Here they are, straight from RedCine-X and shrunk to 25% for ease of viewing here.

...

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

Cheers,

Paul

Thank you for posting the before images.

I like the grade.

I think its a bit overdone... I wish you had kept detail in the shadows. Its too crushed now for my tastes. I would have said the same for the highlights, but I see they were blown in the originals.

My question is what makes that a "film like" grade?

What I see is a grade that sets a new white balance, pushes the shadows down, raises the highlights, alters the gamma and desaturates slightly, plus the grain. (I haven't thrown it into a CC tool of any sort... I'm just guessing.)

I don't think that's the default look of well exposed film negative. Its certainly a look that's popular now... but film productions create that look in color correction or DI.

So, why is that film like in your mind?

 

[Julian Fort]

Love the grian! Nice work!

 

[Paul Leeming]

Thank you for posting the before images.

I like the grade.

I think its a bit overdone... I wish you had kept detail in the shadows. Its too crushed now for my tastes. I would have said the same for the highlights, but I see they were blown in the originals.

My question is what makes that a "film like" grade?

What I see is a grade that sets a new white balance, pushes the shadows down, raises the highlights, alters the gamma and desaturates slightly, plus the grain. (I haven't thrown it into a CC tool of any sort... I'm just guessing.)

I don't think that's the default look of well exposed film negative. Its certainly a look that's popular now... but film productions create that look in color correction or DI.

So, why is that film like in your mind?

Actually, the original is not blown anywhere. I know it's hard to see on most monitors but here's the original pulled way down to show the sky detail is all intact:

I never blow the RAW image when I shoot (besides say practical lights in shot) because it can all be used in post in the grade and with Mysterium-X having such lovely shadow detail it's a cinch to bring it up if needed without introducing lots of noise.

LOVE this new sensor! I mean look at the image above. I've captured all the cloud layers, her reflection in the window, even her wisps of hair! This is the benefit of exposing to the right, but NOT clipping the RAW. This shot was done at T4, ND0.6, ISO800. The ability to pull back the highlight detail if you wish, but still retain amazing shadow detail, is without parallel. But it relies on understanding the sensor, how it works, and using the full limits of the technology to best advantage. This is the smooth highlight roll-off in action. We're actually more limited by our monitors these days in what we can display and see.

Also the blacks in my example grades are JUST clipping a little bit. If you view it on a calibrated monitor you will see all the dark detail of the jackets etc is still there. On an LCD monitor try viewing it off-angle to cheat the black levels up, then you'll see it.

As far as why it looks like film, I think it's more that it's a look that seems to mimic older films (after colour timing) with their grain and colour structure. It's purely a look I was testing. Probably the final film will have a different look once I'm finished editing it.

HTH

Paul

 

[Yaz Torii]

mmm these captures are making me want RED even more!
Nice color correction, Paul!

 

[andrewhake]

Great post, great info, and fantastic look to these shots! That last image you posted is incredible. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

NIce Paul, and I do like the grading, I tend to like much mote the saturated and Vibrant images, also like a lot the HDR (not over the top) look, and heavy on th clarity too

Great work..

 

[Frank Weeks]

I like what you have done with the grading Paul. The canon lenses performed beautifully.

With the additional frames you provided I can't help but wonder what the addition of HDR will do in the future. The detail in the sky is clear. The possibilities are very exciting.

Very nice work.

 

[Richard Foster]

Thanks for sharing Paul. It looks very good - and an excellent example of correctly exposing for DR.

 

[Paul Leeming]

Thanks all for the comments.

The project is in a bit of limbo right now due to other factors unfortunately, but nonetheless I hope one day to be able to show the finished thing. No idea when that will be though....

The images definitely show how much latitude the M-X holds when exposed properly!

Cheers from Tokyo,

Paul

 

[Michael Markowski]

The images look great, and I have to say that I'm intrigued to see the completed film. Any update to the status on this?

-mike