With the emergence of new digital cameras and post processes, color management is a high priority in the cinematography and postproduction communities. This was evident at the recent National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas, and it is obvious as reflected in the initiatives for testing new color management methods.
David Stump, ASC–who chairs the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Technology Committee’s camera subcommittee–has already given a test drive to a number of different tools and techniques. He is trying out yet another process on location during production on his latest feature, an indie titled Killer Pad, directed by Robert Englund.
Stump is shooting in North Hollywood, using two of Thomson’s Grass Valley Viper cameras in “Filmstream” (an unprocessed) mode and recording the full range of camera information to S.two digital recorders. He is renting the technology from The Camera House, North Hollywood, with whom Stump is working to develop this new color management pipeline.
On set, the production has an Assimilate Scratch DI software system running on a laptop, which is operated by the production’s on set color management artist Joe DiGennaro, who is a cinematographer with a background in color timing. DiGennaro takes stills from early takes of each scene, and uses Scratch to do basic color correct and create a basic Look Up Table (LUT). For a starting point, he created some generic LUTs prior to production, so that they could be created as quickly as possible during production.
The LUTs are delivered on a Flash drive to the S.two system, which is applied to the images as they go out to the on set monitors, so that Stump and the production team can get a closer representation of the Viper images while on set. The LUT is also emailed to The Camera House, which is using the information to create HD dailies and to begin editing, on Apple’s Final Cut Pro. And the LUT will be used as a benchmark for final color correction.
DiGennaro explained that he is only doing a basic color correction, using lift, gamma and gain, but “it’s going to save tons of time in postproduction because we’ve already reached a baseline color correction.”
“I’m happy with the confidence it gives me in [viewing] the images on set, which will give me the ability to take more chances in the way we shoot the picture,” related Stump. The director of photography was also pleased that the technique does not require them to alter any of the original camera footage, nor did it hold up production. “Our biggest issue is monitor calibration through the chain,” he reported, noting that this is something that requires attention.
Citing related color management systems such as the ASC’s evolving Color Decision List (CDL), Stump suggested that this workflow could benefit from incorporating other color management developments. He related, “I think ultimately all these technologies will talk to each other and the LUTs will be ubiquitously meaningful.”
Looking further out, Stump said, “The next phase is getting meaningful metadata between facilities; that has a long way to go. Issues of interchangeability and meaningful metadata are still in their infancy, but people are seeing that it needs to happen– This kind of [color management] workflow brings awareness to the notion.”
