" The Machinist look "

[kyle hartman]

Going for a look similar to the Machinist..
Washed out darkness, a fluorescent-lit palette of blues, greens and grays. Sepia infected skin tones..
What would be the best in camera setting's to use with the red cam for this ?
Any lighting suggestions ?

 

[kyle hartman]

Anyone ? any suggestions

 

[Michael Romano]

Its always been my method to not futz with the metadata at all, it can lead you astray. That kind of grade comes of age in the post color correction. With that said, turn down the red gain and saturation. Pushing the tint to a positive value and a cooler white balance will start to get you there.

I think it best to still shoot in RAW with default settings and then experiment with this in REDAlert or the grading software of your choosing.

Checked out some frames from the film as well, pretty interesting look. Your lighting on set will have to be right for this as well. Use daylight but keep everything diffuse, harsh shadows will ruin the gloomy feeling you're going for. Save the direct light for a special moment as it will change the experience for the viewer.

Hope this helps!

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Kino toplights mostly, rarely other light sources. Then there's grading and a desaturation from hell

 

[Dan Hudgins]

Art direction

Art direction

Kino toplights mostly, rarely other light sources. Then there's grading and a desaturation from hell

I think it helps to get at least some of the look on the set, so the point about lighting is good, look at the film you want to emulate frame by frame and study the number and type of fixtures from the shadows in particular the nose shadows on the actors and the reflections in their eyes.

A LUT is not a clear substitute for good art driection, look at "Fiddler on the Roof (1971)" you will see that much of the "look" was carful choice of the color of the sets, props, and costumes. Today it would probably be done with a LUT but the result would look cheeper, its better to get what is in front of the camera close to what you want to end up with, you get a larger gambit of tones to work with later in grading that way, otherwise the LUT is remaping everything down to a small patette of similar tones so your brain "feels" less stimulated since there are fewer unique shades of color.

 

[Yousuf Abbasi]

increase blues (slightly increase greens), desaturate, and increase contrast; you may also need to adjust/decrease brightness as the film is shot pretty dark.

that should get you in the ballpark.

i think most of it can be done in post, but try to use flourescents in the shots whenever u can.

 

[donatello b]

combination of production choices and POST ..
POST CC is playing a huge roll into todays movie looks

here's a demo by Stu Maschwitz showing you how to CC to get different "looks" ( i think you'll find the machinist color fits into the examples) ..
he's demo's using magic bullet & colorista BUT you can do the same with any NLE CC ..
it's 36min long and well worth the view ...

http://vimeows.com/5298634

 

[Michael Romano]

the "look" was carful choice of the color of the sets, props, and costumes.

Dan said it right, the colors and hues you decides to use in wardrobe and overall production design will vastly effect the outcome. Look at films like Se7ven. There isn't a bright color anywhere around that thing, and thats not something done with a grade alone.

 

[Yousuf Abbasi]

:troll:

Dan said it right, the colors and hues you decides to use in wardrobe and overall production design will vastly effect the outcome. Look at films like Se7ven. There isn't a bright color anywhere around that thing, and thats not something done with a grade alone.

I agree. Conversely, look at Life Aquatic, Darjeeling, or any other Wes Anderson film and notice it would be pretty much impossible to get that colorful look without wardrobe and production design desicions.

But if you've already shot the feature, and want to achieve The Machinist look, post will get you in the ball park.

 

[Laramie]

Definitely color corrected with a green tint. And I feel like they added some grain in their. Whatever they did its very gritty.