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  • 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 :)

What resolution to color grade a feature

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Hugo Mac

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Hi Everyone,

We shot 4K raw red footage and we are preparing to color grade. We are talking to various post houses and hearing a few different things. Ultimately, we plan on delivering a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) to be projected in theaters as well as various tape and file deliverables.

Some of the post houses are recommending conforming the sequence at 4K and then creating a 1920X1080 DPX to color grade on a Davinci... is that the correct approach? By doing that are we seriously limiting the ability to grade the picture? What pitfalls should I be looking out for? I imagine coloring 2K material would be better, but cost is an issue. I know just enough about this to get in trouble. Any advice suggestions.

I appreciate your help.

Best
hugo
 
Hugo Mac said:
Hi Everyone,

We shot 4K raw red footage and we are preparing to color grade. We are talking to various post houses and hearing a few different things. Ultimately, we plan on delivering a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) to be projected in theaters as well as various tape and file deliverables.

Some of the post houses are recommending conforming the sequence at 4K and then creating a 1920X1080 DPX to color grade on a Davinci... is that the correct approach? By doing that are we seriously limiting the ability to grade the picture? What pitfalls should I be looking out for? I imagine coloring 2K material would be better, but cost is an issue. I know just enough about this to get in trouble. Any advice suggestions.

I appreciate your help.

Best
hugo
Click to expand...

Ideally, you grade from RAW R3D files and render 2K DPX in DCI resolution for DCP authoring:

2048 x 858 (scope)
1998 x 1080 (flat)
2048 x 1080 (full container)

Rendering to 1920 x 1080 DPX is less than ideal.

You CAN make a DCP with a 1920 x 1080 output and "pillar-box" it - but that is much less than ideal.
 
Welcome Hugo,

I assume that you hadn't chosen a post house and established an end to end pipeline during pre-production. Is there any particular reason why?
 
Hi Scott - that's a very good question. the short and most truthful answer is that we were inexperienced and naive.
 
Grading .r3d footage directly

Grading .r3d footage directly

Hugo Mac said:
Hi Everyone,

We shot 4K raw red footage and we are preparing to color grade. We are talking to various post houses and hearing a few different things. Ultimately, we plan on delivering a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) to be projected in theaters as well as various tape and file deliverables.

Some of the post houses are recommending conforming the sequence at 4K and then creating a 1920X1080 DPX to color grade on a Davinci... is that the correct approach? By doing that are we seriously limiting the ability to grade the picture? What pitfalls should I be looking out for? I imagine coloring 2K material would be better, but cost is an issue. I know just enough about this to get in trouble. Any advice suggestions.

I appreciate your help.

Best
hugo
Click to expand...

Hugo,

Where are you based?

Not sure why anyone would recommend the above approach to you .... the major benefit (seriously major) of shooting with the Red One or EPIC is to be able to grade the .r3d files directly ... there's absolutely no substitute for this!

Our recommendation would be to do a traditional offline to online workflow ... transcode your .r3d files to ProRes LT if you'r cutting on FCP or DNxHD36 if you're cutting on Avid ... edit your movie and when you've got locked picture send you FCP Project file or AVID Project along with all your .3rd camera files to your post-house ... the post-house will then conform your project to the .r3d files in FCP or MC and then send the XML or AAF directly to DaVinci Resolve ... do the color correction in Resolve 8.1 and then export out either 2k DPX files or ProRes4444 files .... you can then send the hard drive with those files on it off to the DCP company. Depending on who you use you may have to send the DCP house an HDCAM-SR tape ... depends on their pipeline.

We have three DaVinci colorists and we always grade the .r3d files directly and then render out whatever the client needs for final deliverables.

If you're in the Hollywood area, drop by and we'll show you the results ... always looks amazing assuming the DP has exposed Red1/EPIC correctly.

Neil
 
Hi Mark - Thanks for the advice - much appreciated.
 
Thanks Neil! I appreciate the input. I'll keep you posted.
 
Hi Neil -

We are based in Columbus, OH but we are doing our work in LA.
Where would VFX fit into this workflow? We have a few shots we need to get done.

Cheers
 
RED Resolve is the way to go!

RED Resolve is the way to go!

Hugo Mac said:
Hi Neil -

We are based in Columbus, OH but we are doing our work in LA.
Where would VFX fit into this workflow? We have a few shots we need to get done.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Hugo,

If you don't have a Post-production Supervisor on your show, suggest you start working closely with your post-house as soon as possible ... we're the last people to touch your project so the 'bucks stops here' ... I always recommend starting at the end and working your way backwards ... sounds to me, that you started at the beginning and are working your way forward, one step at a time .... not a good idea, my friend.

We're grading three different projects today on Resolve ... one of them is a RED MX feature with VFX shots .... we grade the .r3d files first and then send the VFX plates off to the VFX guys either as 10bit DPXs or 16bit TIFFs or PR4x4 depending on their pipeline ... when they've finished their stuff, we tweak the VFX shots back into the graded feature ... blends seamlessly.

For the VFX guys, you're going to have to decided whether you're delivering a 2k or HD finished project ... if you're near West Hollwyood, come by and see us and we'll show you the RED show we're grading in DaVinci Resolve .... RED workflow is very straightforward ... DaVinci Resolve is great tool for grading and finishing RED shows ... should be no problems.

Neil
 
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