The critical area of color correction looks poised to be one of the most discussed and debated segments of postproduction. Technological advancements are prompting some to debunk the traditional notion of color correction, and rethink such fundamentals as toolset, workflow and business opportunities. Some of these subjects will likely yield varying views and heated debate now and in the coming years.
On the technological front, developing software-based color correction tools from companies such as Discreet, Nucoda and Silicon Color are causing colorists to look beyond technology from longtime leading companies such as da Vinci and Pandora. In the commercial sector, some companies are also beginning to examine color correction tools offered in finishing systems, such as Quantel’s iQ and eQ systems, Discreet’s Inferno or Avid’s Nitris. As a whole, the industry is moving toward more data-centric workflows. And with these developments, producers have more flexibility and creative options than ever before.
As workflow changes, the business side of the equation becomes altered as well. The feature industry is moving toward color correction—typically handled by color timers in a film lab—in the digital realm, using HD, 2k and 4k data, as part of the digital intermediate (DI) process. A DI is typically defined in the feature arena as a project that started on film, went through an intermediate color grading and mastering phase in the digital realm, and was outputted to film for release. Of course in the commercial space, the final output to film is dependent on whether the given spot is intended for a theatrical release; if for broadcast alone, the output may come in various formats of digital deliverables.
A growing number of colorists are getting their feet wet in the emerging DI space—sometimes they are referred to as digital intermediate colorists or digital color graders. Additionally, a new technical role has emerged, the digital intermediate technician (DIT). Many luminaries believe that makers of trailers and commercials are not far behind in adopting the new process. And some post facilities have already started to embrace new workflows.
"We’re in the last stage of the old workflow: offline, film to tape, online, color correction and finishing," predicts colorist Chris Ryan of Nice Shoes, New York. "There’s a much more efficient way to work. We’re doing a lot of commercials where we scan the footage ahead of time with [Thomson’s Grass Valley] Specter; it is pre-loaded [before the client arrives] and we work off the cut. That can save time and … the colorist is spending more time thinking creatively." Ryan adds that having the material on one server enables the sharing of files; therefore, multiple artists can work on the same project simultaneously.
As for creative roles, Ryan believes that there will always be the specialists, and there will also be what he calls "super users"—artists who can successfully execute multiple creative tasks. He observes that the relationship between colorist and DP has already started to change in the feature world. "I see the colorist as being another person on the director of photography’s crew—a digital gaffer. The DP is coming up with the look, and he or she can use color tools as [he or she] would use lighting tools.
"In the next few years, colorists are going to have to learn to get involved in more aspects of the job," Ryan concludes. "The technology is all coming together."
DI at CO3
The opportunities introduced by the DI process have already prompted changes at bicoastal Company 3, relates president/colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld. "When the ad industry went through the recession, the strike, the war, 9/11 and everything else, I made a conscious decision for our company to start diversifying more rapidly than we originally projected," he shares. "We felt with downturn in one market, we could make it up in another. It seemed a natural progression, to do color correction for features or television because those markets were really interested in tapping into our market for new directors.
"Digital intermediates are expanding opportunities, coupled with services such as HD dailies and previews," adds Sonnenfeld. "You are setting the look from the beginning of the project. And there are software-based color correction systems that give us more flexibility."
But there is a learning curve. "There is a whole different mindset to working with film," Sonnenfeld relates. "It has a different color space [when] projected on the big screen. There are different nuances of color, brightness and contrast that are specific to film, as opposed to video on a glass monitor. You have to get your hand—eyes—around that. There are a variety of things—look up tables that transfer video info to film information. … A facility has to develop with engineers and colorists so you can push the film harder and harder. I feel all of those things are really changing."
The DI process is already finding its way into commercialmaking. For example, Sonnenfeld recently served as colorist on Chevrolet’s "Car Carrier," which was color corrected in 2k for both TV and cinema distribution, and at press time was scheduled to air during the Super Bowl. The spot, via Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich., was directed by Michael Bay of The Institute for Development of Advanced Perceptual Awareness, Santa Monica.
Contemplating Compositing
When asked specifically about the concept of doing some color correction in the compositing realm, Larry Chernoff, co-founder of consulting firm Chernoff Touber Associates, Beverly Hills, Calif., and former chairman of Ascent Media Creative Services, Santa Monica, offers, "As the commercial community becomes more aware of the data-centric workflow—which means simply that film will be transferred and stored as binary data using an IT topology as opposed to a video one—then color correction at the stage of compositing becomes more practical and potentially more powerful. Historically, the problem has been that when working with multiple picture layers, one layer doesn’t necessarily match up with the succeeding layer. So managing color correction inside a compositing platform that has a color toolset is probably a good idea. Now having said that, whether the color correction is done by a compositor or a colorist within that environment should be determined by the director and producer, and the talent of the individual artist."
"Now here’s the argument on the other side," he continues. "As you move toward data-centricity, you are going to have new color correction workstations that will indeed have the ability to color multiple layers of picture in a preview composite. Therefore, the colorist, even before he hands off the material to the compositor, will have the opportunity to color balance everything with some degree of certainly. There are some exciting new technologies on the horizon that facilitate that."
New Thinking
Jerry Steele, president/CEO of Santa Monica-based Steele VFX, is already changing the workflow, using his Quantel eQ system, with the Qcolor module for color correction capabilities. "We are asking clients, at the time of the dailies transfer, to do two streams out of the color correction environment, one colored and one flat. Then we online the spot using the flat pass, and we color correct once it is finished. You are only in the end color correcting thirty seconds of footage—and you are color correcting [the spot] as a whole, rather than scene by scene and take by take. It makes sense to establish the look at the beginning. We are using the look that the colorist created. No one is trying to say a colorist’s job is redundant; it’s a very specific talent. … We are streamlining the process, not taking anyone out of the loop.
"It’s a gain for the client," Steele continues. "They just spend the time [color correcting] in dailies, and not doing it twice. Telecine is expensive. We’re trying to make it faster and smoother for everyone … using [the colorists’] color as a reference on where to start, and doing final color correction in eQ. In 2004, I have faith the Quantel systems eQ and iQ are totally going to revolutionize the way this process is done due to the expanded capabilities of the machine." A recent example is Pontiac’s "Guy/Girl," via Chemistri, Troy, Mich. Jeffery Plansker of bicoastal Anonymous Content directed the spot; Neil Shapiro was DP.
In addition to using the eQ for visual effects work, including rig removal, compositing, sky replacements and shot stabilization, Steele performed extensive amounts of tape-to-tape color correction on eQ, which permitted his team to color correct as part of the finishing process. The Steele artists colored multiple passes of individual car shots to separately adjust the look of glass and sheet metal features—as well as the surrounding environments—and later combined those elements into pristine beauty shots.
"[Quantel’s eQ] gives us an enormous amount of flexibility, and clients are excited about it because it gives them many more options to modify the look of the commercial later and later in the process," Steele comments. "Since we’re no longer dependent upon the scene-to-scene telecine stage, and we’re color correcting in a completely nonlinear, layer-based environment, we now have the ability to influence the entire look and feel of a project in post with the quality and tools that agencies expect."
A Merger?
"I think the colorist category is going to disappear," relates Larry Bridges, CEO of Red Car, with offices in New York, Chicago, Santa Monica, San Francisco, Dallas, San Antonio and Buenos Aires. "But it will not go away. I think it will merge into what we now know as compositing. And I think compositing is going to be called something else. It will be kind of the same [task] with a different name, possibly ‘look creation.’ I think colorists should declare themselves ‘look creators,’ like a DP.
"It’s time to debunk the notion of color correction," continues Bridges, who is also a director and cinematographer. "Color correction implies that there is something wrong, that they are correcting. I’m looking to a world where there is nothing but look creation potential. That’s why I think color correction is over. For filmmakers, the best place to do final color correction is during the point that we know as compositing; you have flexibility to change color and make other choices. Compositors that know their way around color are going to be called upon to create the look, borrowing a lot of the equity of the DP. The creation is also in the cinematography. … The notion of the cinematographer’s secret sauce has to happen all the way along. It comes together at the end. With the tools we now have, they are readily available and cheap on the desktop."
Sonnenfeld says the notion of color correction in the compositing space is "not creatively productive." He adds, "Why go to someone who’s not experienced in that? You go to an artist because of what they bring to the picture. … We are known as colorists because we have a specific skill that is requested by people coming back to us. Why would you go to a technician who knows how to push the button … but doesn’t have that skill set? That is somebody trying to sell a service. I think that’s when companies get into trouble and put out inferior products. And there are capable people doing that."
Conversely, "colorists don’t want to take up weeks of their time conforming a movie. You want someone good at that," Sonnenfeld adds. Software-based color correction tools tend to be slower to work with. "If [software-based tools] were competitive with da Vinci, it would cost more," he says, noting, "Over the years, we’ve all had to learn upgrades to new software. But whatever system it is, you need the colorist’s eye to operate it."
