With Me, Without Me (aka. Color Correction: Before & After)

As promised, today we have a small sampling of before and after screen shots showing the difference that color correction makes, turning the video look into, well, cinema.

Before

 

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Merry Christmas!

 For many people, this time of year is one of rest and relaxation. A time to step back from the cares of work for a time, to take a break from the grind, but not us. Others may shirk duty, but we soldier on! In all seriousness, vacation pretty much equates “free to work on the movie.” That being the case, we have called in two of our actors for a little ADR, recorded a short cutaway scene, and done yet more color correction. Pretty much everything from scene 100-116 has been color corrected, and the hunt is still on for assorted sound effects. All in all, a productive week, in spite of a hiccup or two.

God bless all, and Merry Christmas!

Another Week, Another War

 Well, well… Here we are again. Another week has come with all its challenges. This week finds me neck deep in the process of color correcting the final fight scene. Since it had white balance issues to begin with it seemed like the logical place to start. Below you can see a small sampling of the work thus far. Enjoy! 

Everybody Fire!

Hero's moment

"..."

Timing is Everything, Catspaw

 Two points if you know where this title came from. This has been the point and purpose of the week, working out and refining the timing on the action scenes. Nothing is more painfully obvious to the viewer than a poorly timed or sluggish fight scene. One of the funny side effects of a real fight versus a choreographed one is that, in the real thing, time seems to slow. In a mock or choreographed one you are so intent on hitting your cues just so that time feels like it is passing faster than it actually is. This leads to a common reaction amongst the stunt guys when reviewing their work. “Why’d you make us so slow?” (Note here that it is assumed that the cameraman is to blame.) The trick therefore is to a) get them to enact their scene with as much energy as possible, and b) make the subtlest adjustments possible in post to smooth out the slow bits. If you simply speed up the footage the end product will look a lot like the fistfights from the old B westerns. What is needed is either a clean cut between two actions or a smooth speed ramp, depending on the situation. Also, if the pacing doesn’t feel right, cut, cut, cut! This is where the original run time of 87:40 will take its hardest hit.

 In other news, the first scene has been screened and reviewed, with a couple adjustments being recommended. The overall first impression has been positive, now to make sure it stays that way through the rest of the run.

Good Progress, Bad Business, and Nice Hair

These past two weeks have been both trying and rewarding. We have, minus some minor tweaks, finished the very first scene of Othersight, music included. We are already adding sound effects to scenes in the eighty plus area. And we’ve been collecting sound effects for a list which required 120 different varieties of sound effects.

However, we’ve also had to deal with special effects not working like we’d hoped, good sound effects being hard to find and a much needed green screen with a ten day max assembly then shipping promise, not showing up 28 days after ordering.  

All in all, it’s been an interesting ride.

Directors note:

There is a point of levity, however. The sound edit today revolves around the scene where we discovered that Cole Pigman has perfect hair. In theory we were trying to make him look like he’d just evaded a SWAT team. But whatever we did, we couldn’t make his hair lose its perfectly sculpted form. At long last we managed some semblance of disorder and shot quick, but half way through his hair worked itself back to its accustomed form and we had to repeat the process all over again. Ah, the joys of a day on the set.  

Giving Thanks

 With Thanksgiving fast approaching, it is appropriate that we all stop and do just that. Myself more than most. I am thankful that God gave me a creative ability that is always growing. I thank Him that I have friends that jumped headlong into this project, many performing above and beyond the call of duty. I am thankful for my family, who bore the brunt of the crewing duties and put up with my long hours on set, and now in front of the computer. There are many, many, more specific thanks, but they fall within the “big three.” Lastly, I am thankful for this chance to grow. I am a very different man from who I was, say, two years ago. Less fear, less uncertainty, more confidence in who I’m called to be, and in the One who did the calling. All in all, a net gain.

Happy Thanksgiving.

(Written by Director Jon Brewer)