Color Grading

Long Distance Snow Job

Mon, 06/12/2017 - 12:26 -- Nick Dager

For Nissan’s Return of the Snowman spot, visual effects specialists The Embassy in Vancouver banded together with post house Alter Ego in Toronto. The Embassy is well known for its photo-realistic, hard surface VFX work, from creating the digital Iron Man suits for all three films to building massive drop ship hangers for The Hunger Games trilogy. Having worked on countless commercials with Alter Ego, The Embassy made the decision to become part of the creative process for grading, to improve the efficiency and precision of their VFX work and present a consistent preview to their clients.

Why Color Workflows Matter

Fri, 06/09/2017 - 11:05 -- Sarah Priestnall

Designing a precise color workflow during pre-production can save motion picture projects time and money. The larger and more complex the project, the more the potential for savings. Digital imaging technician Francesco Giardello (Pan, Game of Thrones, Ben-Hur, Thor: The Dark World) can accurately be described as a pioneer in the use of the Academy Color Encoding System on-set. He recently designed a set-to-post color workflow using ACES for the movie Life, directed by Daniel Espinosa and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson and Ryan Reynolds. This space thriller from Sony tells the story of the crew aboard the International Space Station and what happens when they encounter extra-terrestrial life in the form of an organism they name Calvin. On Life, Giardello worked closely with cinematographer Seamus McGarvey ASC BSC. The main cameras used were Arri Alexa 65s although, according to Giardello, several other cameras were also utilized. I spoke with Giardello about the color workflow used on Lif

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SMPTE New York Considers Production Options for HDR and WCG

Wed, 05/31/2017 - 15:23 -- Nick Dager

The June meeting of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, New York region, will be devoted to discussions surrounding two essential topics facing the video industry today – the 2110 SMPTE production standard for video-over-IP and how to optimize video signals for wide color gamut and high dynamic range formats.

Making the Cut

Wed, 05/17/2017 - 12:47 -- Nick Dager

AlphaDogs has completed work on the documentary film John Lewis: Get In The Way, which tells the story of the courageous civil rights hero, congressional leader and human rights champion, whose unwavering fight for justice spans the past 50 years. In order for the documentary to air on PBS, Bill Woolery, offline editor, had the task of cutting the film down to 54 minutes, taking six minutes out of the original cut and handing off the cut down to AlphaDogs for finishing.

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Roundabout Posts Parrot Heads

Thu, 05/04/2017 - 16:52 -- Nick Dager

Post-production finishing for Parrott Heads, a new feature length documentary about dedicated fans of singer Jimmy Buffett, was completed recently at Roundabout Entertainment. The Burbank facility provided editorial conforming, color grading, sound mixing and DVD authoring services for the film, currently streaming on Amazon, iTunes and elsewhere.

Two Looks for 13 Reasons Why

Mon, 04/24/2017 - 14:18 -- Nick Dager

One of the most honest portraits of teenage life, 13 Reasons Why is a Netflix series based on the 2007 young adult novel by Jay Asher and adapted by Brian Yorkey. Academy Award winning writer/director Tom McCarthy worked with cinematographer Andrij Parekh (Show Me a Hero, Blue Valentine) with Panasonic VariCam 35 cinema cameras to capture a distinctive look for the first two episodes of the series.

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