[TaoColorist] Sunday Morning Reading (The Super Black Edition)

Published: Sun, 07/20/14

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The Tao Colorist

Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor 
for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sunday.

    Issue CCIV                                                                               A TaoOfColor.com Publication

Publisher: Pat Inhofer                                                            Managing Editor: Jim Wicks

From the Publisher

  • The official Twitter account for this newsletter has migrated to @taocolorist.
  • Please be sure to add that account to your Twitter stream!
  • See you next week.

Happy Grading!

The Craft

  • Color Sells - from color to cash it is no secret that brand color motivates consumers. What is the psychology behind it? (munsell.com)
  • A Grammar of Color - Nearly a 100 years ago A.H. Munsell wrote a book about color and suggestions for its use. Go back in time for a century old look at Hue, Value, and Chroma. (munsell.com)
  • Color Management - RED dives into color management for cinema and broadcast. This post is chock full of the key technologies and best practices for achieving more predictable and consistent color.  (red.com)

S P O N S O R E D   M E S S A G E

Tao of Color's Official LCD Reference Monitors

Flanders Scientific Broadcast Monitors

The CM series is an affordable line of color critical reference LCD & OLED monitors featuring 10bit panels, 12 bit, 4:4:4 and XYZ signal formats, 3D Calibration LUTs and 3D DIT LUTs ,  3G/ Dual-Link/ HD/ SD-SDI Inputs, 13 onboard scopes on all inputs and world class support.

All standard and starting at only $2,495.

Learn More About the FSI CM Series Monitors

The Tools

  • DaVinci Resolve 11 Public Beta 2 - just released. Includes support for Apple's new ProRes 444 XQ, FCPX XML 1.4, stability improvements and more. (blackmagicdesign.com)
  • [forum] Resolve and GPUs - Peter Chamberlain, DaVinci Resolve Product Manager, mentions the new recommendations for the number of GPUs supported on Mac and Windows. (blackmagicdesign.com)
  • [app] Manipulate your LUTs - a new app called Lattice lets you transfer, convert, and manipulate your LUTs. $99 US available for Mac.  (itunes.apple.com)
  • [pdf] Apple ProRes White Paper: Updated June 2014 - Apple released a new variant in the ProRes codec family last month. In the process, they updated their White Paper. If you have clients and work in ProRes, this is required reading. (apple.com)
  • What Is ProRes 444 XQ? - A summary of the White Paper as it relates to ProRes 444 XQ. And the difference between codecs and color spaces. (larryjordan.biz)
  • Adobe Premiere Pro CC: Masking and Tracking - "This One-Minute Video shows how to use Masking and Tracking in the 2014 release of Adobe Premiere Pro CC." (tv.adobe.com)
  • [podcast] Why Use A Color Test Card? - Interview with David Corley of DSC Labs. (tomparish.com)
  • [video] SpeedGrade CC 2014 New Features - (youtube.com via Marc Wielage)

The Business

  • Quick Chat: MPC New York's color grading team - good Q&A about running a color grading company. (postperspective.com via Marc Wielage)
  • [video] 4K Hi-Res Stills - one of the benefits of shooting 4K video is that you can pull 4K stills . Colorist Dado Valentic goes into detail about the advantages. Click through to   read more and watch the video. (news.doddleme.com)
  • [video] The History of our Business - how did Hollywood come to be? Buckle up for 2000 years of moving images in under 9 minutes. (youtube.com)
  • [podcast] Going Ape at the Movies - sit with Michael Seresin BSC as he discusses his new film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He discusses native 3-D digital production, challenges presented by the short prep, and matching the light and look of Vancouver and New Orleans. (theasc.com)
  • 4K Concerns - the 4K movement is facing challenges, not the least of which is  concerns by end users, otherwise known as consumers. New report details why consumers hesitate buying 4K TVs. The word 'availability' keeps popping up. (3dguy.tv)
  • High Tech Baseball - here in the U.S. baseball is the big American sport. Now Fox Sports is making it bigger - 4K bigger. Read about the most technologically advanced All-Star Game broadcast in history.  (sportsvideo.org)
  • Why Apple Really Cares About Your Privacy - "With every iteration of OS X, iOS, and iCloud, we see Apple increasing the privacy protections it provides its users. It has consistently enabled customers to protect their personal information from advertisers, governments, third-party developers, and even Apple itself." Very interesting read. (macworld.com)
  • Eat Your Heart Out, MGM Kitty - The story behind the 6 most common Logo IDs you've been seeing on the silver screen. (nytimes.com via @ryangallagher)

Friends & Family

MixingLight.com is a companion membership website to TaoOfColor.com. Want to read a story listed here but not a MixingLIght member? A free 24-hour test drive is available.

  • [video] Grading Master Clips In SpeedGrade and Premiere Pro - Quickly apply grades to Clips with the same source media. (mixinglight.com)
  • [video] Guaranteed Full Frame Rate Playback in DaVinci Resolve 11 - How to use the revised Render Cache function (and extend the life of your equipment). (mixinglight.com)
  • [video] Resolve 11: Softlight blending mode -  "What I love about this mode is it feels much more filmic than using the overlay blending mode. Almost like an S-Curve instead of a hard lift and gain adjustment." (mixinglight.com)

Outside 'The Box'

  • [video] Premiere Pro CC 2014 - editor Jonny Elwyn has put together a jam-packed post, covering the new features in Adobe's latest release. Jonny covers a lot of ground and there are scores of videos you'll want to watch. Our favorite: 26 simple tricks for faster editing. (jonnyelwyn.co.uk)
  • Adobe CC 2014 Icons - if you are running multiple versions of the same app it's hard to tell them all apart. Not anymore. Check out these icons for AE and Premiere Pro. Free download. (provideocoalition.com) Video tutorial on how to make them. (provideocoalition.com)
  • A New Way to Collaborate - a new platform for sharing works with clients is under development. The makers claim that 'Frame.io' picks up where Vimeo left off. Read the review. (nofilmschool.com) Learn more at frame.io, and sign up to be notified when they're ready to go.

Edumacate Yer'self

  • Blackmagic Design Day - Register to attend. Los Angeles, July 24th or New York City August 13th. Your humble Tao Newsletter editor will be manning the Resolve station in NYC. If you drop in, let me know you're a reader! (blackmagicdesign.com)
  • Autodesk Smoke: Introduction and Advanced Compositing - A new live training course from Manhattan Edit Workshop in New York City. (mewshop.com)

Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers
JL Cooper Eclipse: Software v2.9.9 | Updated February 24, 2013

Tangent Design: HUB v1.1.7 | Wave Firmware v1.12 | Updated July'ish 2014

Avid Artist Color: Mac v3.1.3 | Win v3.1.3 | Updated June 30, 2014
Sunday Morning Fun(nies)

  • How Plan 9 From Outer Space earned, and lost, the title: Worst Movie of All Time - (filmmakeriq.com)
  • 'Ghostbusters' Remastered - for its 30th Anniversary, the film has been remastered and will return to Theaters in August 2014. (laughingsquid.com)
  • How many people has quentin Tarantino killed (on film)? - This infographic has the death toll. (nofilmschool.com)
  • [video] Review: 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' - This review kind'a sums up my feeling on this sequel. I'm not sure how it got that 91 Tomatometer from critics. If you click through, watch your volume levels, not safe for work or kids. (theonion.com via @stevensantos)

Gear Heads

  • RAID: Everything You Need To Know - "Most people are familiar with the idea of using several hard disks in cooperation to achieve better reliability or higher performance. This article is about . . . how some of the traditional approaches . . . don't necessarily suit film and TV work, even though they're widely used." (redsharknews.com)
  • Panasonic TX-40AS640 LED Tv Review - Looks like a good one. (hdtvtest.co.uk)
  • [benchmark] Bus-Powered Thunderbolt Enclosure - "the performance of bus-powered Thunderbolt drives we tested in the past was not impressive. Let's see if that's changed with some of the newest models." (barefeats.com)

    Getting Ahead

    • The Competitive Edge - when you skimp on sleep, all of the coffee in the world won't make up the difference. Click through to find out why sleep can give you a competitive edge - and why you may be sleep deprived and not even know it. (dealbook.nytimes.com)
    • Awesome Coffee Meetings - speaking of coffee (see above item) - coffee meetings are a staple of business networking. Yet we still can all recall more than one that wasn't worth the time. Read 10 tips for an awesome coffee meeting. (99u.com)
    • How To Spend The First 10 Minutes Of Your Day - A strong presentation of basic productivity techniques you can start implementing, now. (blogs.hbr.org)

      Tweet of the Week

      I'll tell you what I like about FCP7. I keep getting older, but it stays the same version. 

        Are you tired of randomly applying color filters?

        Is it time to turn color correction into skill set?


        Remastering Mother Died:
        A Color Correction Home Study


        => Download a short film (shot on RED, 5K, 5:1)

        => Grade Along with TaoOfColor founder Patrick Inhofer

        => Send Patrick your work, he'll evaluate it as your Senior Colorist


        Click for full details

        Showcase

        • [video] Distance over Time - check out this inspirational story of a man who beat incredible odds to achieve extraordinary things. Love the color grade by Mark Meadows at the UK's Smoke and Mirrors. (vimeo.com)

        The Next Step Is a Doozy

        • The Fermi Paradox - If you've ever looked up at the stars and asked, "Where is everyone?" you're not alone. The Fermi Paradox offers up three possible explanations plus a range of alternative scenarios about why we've not heard a peep. (waitbutwhy.com)

        A Step Too Far?

        • Super Black - British scientists have created a new 'super black' coating that absorbs 99.96% of light. You can look right at it... and never see it. (newser.com)

        Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. 

        Happy Grading!
          
        6,650+ Stories Now Shared

        The Book Shelf
        • Color Correction Handbook, Updated - Alexis Van Hurkman has updated his Color Correction Handbook, which has set the standard for learning all things color correction. (amazon.com)
        • Color Correction Look Book - This is the second part of the Color Correction Handbook, exploring the creative techniques for over 200 different visual looks. A sort-of recipe book for colorists. (amazon.com
        • The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction - Read how a dozen different colorists grade the same footage with the same gear, differently. A fantastic approach to learning the craft of color grading by Steve Hullfish. (amazon.com)
        • Autodesk Smoke Essentials - Walk through grading a short sci-fi film (with downloadable ProRes4444 source material) while learning the ultimate online finishing app...  Autodesk Smoke. (amazon.com)
        • Color Grading with Avid and Symphony - Written for version 6. Fully applicable to version 7. I was a contributor. (amazon.com)
        • Adobe Speedgrade CC: Classroom in a Book - A solid book for a solid grading app. (amazon.com)
        • Digital Cinematography: Fundamentals, Tools, Techniques and Workflows - Don't let the title fool you. I'm only a third way through this book and its explanations of how digital images are recorded, sampled and viewed is essential knowledge for anyone who's craft intersects with digital images. Not light reading. But not filled with math either. I highly recommend this book. (amazon.com)
          Have a book you think should be in this list? Reply to this email and let me know!

          FCC Disclaimer: Links in this email to Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or ToolFarm.com are Affiliate links that help support the TaoOfColor.com. FSI and SpectraCal are paid sponsors and BlackMagic Design is a current client. We thank you for your support.

          Patrick Inhofer
          Published by:
          Patrick Inhofer: Photon-Wrangler, Fini.tv | TaoOfColor.com | MixingLight.com