Now that our film is locked, it's time to make some final adjustments. Color Correction for film and video is not as easy as one might think. It takes a keen eye, patience and most of all a total lack of color blindness. The obvious solution to color correcting any film would be to hire a color corrector. But since we have limited funding, Jeff and I will have to perform all of the correction. Which isn't a bad thing. I come from a family of artists, so I feel as though I can claim to know what the hell I'm doing. Even if I really have no clue whatsoever.
Tonight we calibrated our HD Monitors. A task that took over an hour and a half. First, we threw color bars onto the screen. For most people, color bars are the annoying image that appears on network television just after the end of a broadcast day. Usually right after the Star Spangled Banner and just before the arrival of the Poltergeists. Several things must be adjusted in order to have a perfectly calibrated monitor: Hue, Gamma, Contrast, Brightness.
We first called upon Jeff's friend Nate to help us adjust our Sony monitor. Nate served as our projectionist for the premier of "Continue" and knows his stuff. Once our monitor was calibrated, we calibrated the color bars on that monitor. These two calibrations are critical to the color correction process. It is impossible to correctly adjust color (including whites, mids and black levels) without a perfectly calibrated monitor. We are also sending a true 720p signal to the monitor, which means that all pixels are mapped 1:1. There is no zooming or upscaling. What you see on the monitor is true 720p.
Our next step will be to calibrate for a Standard Definition (SD) monitor. We will be sending our video signal to both HD and SD monitors to color correct for both. Why? Because some people will see this film on an HD screen and others will watch it on a non-HD (Analog) television set. We want everyone to be happy with the final image.
Once the HD and SD monitors are calibrated, Jeff and I will begin the painstaking process of color correcting each shot in our film.
Next: More color correction.
2 comments:
I recently created a series of still photographs that featured athletes with disabilities. They can be previewed at http://accessingarizona.com/2010/01/18/2010-calendar-available-for-fitness-center-supporters/.
I'd like to coordinate with you all about a possible viewing in Phx, AZ.
That would be great. By the way, the photos are amazing. Let's chat more.
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