[TaoColorist] Sunday Morning Reading (The Arri Amira Edition)

Published: Sun, 06/08/14

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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 CXCVIII                                                                           A TaoOfColor.com Publication

Publisher: Pat Inhofer                                                            Managing Editor: Jim Wicks

The Craft

  • [video] Room 666 - in 1982 Director Wim Wenders pulled 16 of cinema's greatest living directors into a hotel room while at the Cannes Film Festival. He asked them about the art form and the future of the film industry. Watch it online. A time capsule on the craft. (nofilmschool.com)
  • [video] The Sound of Maleficent - as you watch Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer Tim Nielsen talk about his work on Disney's Maleficent - don't think sound. Think color. Click through to see and hear how Nielsen paints with sound. (vimeo.com)
  • [video] The Rules of Film Noir - as a style, film noir is a league all its own. Go back in time to the 1940s courtesy the BBC and this nearly hour long documentary. (youtube.com)
  • [app] Harmony 2: A Color Palette Game For iOS - "a gameplay experience celebrating the beauty of color and music blended in perfect harmony." (borderleap.com)
  • [video] Color Grade Breakdown - Colorist, and friend of the Tao, Rob Bessette, does a very nice breakdown of a grade he did for a TV Commercial campaign, including a Look they tried but decided not to go to air with. (robbessette.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

  • [app] Amira Color Tool - if you work with ARRIRAW or ProRes, Arri's new Amira Color app is an awesome, easy to use tool for creating ASC CDL and LUTs for different looks you create. Free download after registration - scroll down to the heading 'AMIRA Color Tool'. (arri.com)
  • Using Amira Color Tool with [your app here] - Will the CDLs or LUTs produced by the Amira Color Tool work with your favorite image processing app? This blog post likely has your answer. (24p.com)
  • [video] Amira Color Tool: Introduction - ARRI's official screencasts to get you up to speed. (youtube.com)
  • [PDF] Amira Color by Numbers White Paper - "This document gives an insight to the color processing of an AMIRA and describes the creative options you can use when shooting with this camera." Link is a direct download. (arri.com)

  • [video] RED, ACES and AdobeRGB  - RED doesn't allow for ACES output from the SDK for third party apps, but there is a work around. Watch workflow specialist Cedric Lejeune show you how to do it in Flame. (vimeo.com)
  • [video] DP-7 Pro Field Monitor: Loading LUTs - learn how to create a grade and apply that look to the SmallHD DP7-Pro field monitor, while working on set.  (youtube.com)
  • [podcast] RemarkHQ: A Video Review and Approval System - Colorist Tom Parish takes time to interview the creators of RemarkHQ. (tomparish.com)
  • [video] Kline Instruments: Intro to Color Science - the how's and why's of video calibration—from Kline, manufacturers of high-end calibration gear. (youtube.com via @tparish)
  • Grading 'House of Cards' In 4K - shot on RED, graded in a Baselight 2, colorist Laura Jans-Fazio talks about her workflow and creative goals. (studiodaily.com via Marc Wielage)
  • [download] Film Grain, Light Leaks, Film Burns at 2K - Almost free. The cost is a Facebook 'Like'. (vision-color.com via Marc Wielage)
  • How To Cure Banding In DSLR Footage - One word: Dithering. (eoshd.com)
  • Get those Nice Bright MacOS Finder Label Colors Back - because I use them for organization and Apple took them away in the latest OS. A rundown of apps that'll help you accomplish that goal. (provideocoalition.com)
  • The BlackMagic Film Scanner - in this day of digital cinematography, why did Blackmagic Design choose to introduce a film scanner at NAB2014? (library.creativecow.net)

The Business

  • [video] Sundance 2014: State of the tech - put on a pot of coffee for this nearly hour long post production panel discussion. Click through to learn the 3 reasons why, today, some believe 4k doesn't make sense for an indie filmmaker. (vimeo.com)
  • Distributing Creativity - you've just completed your project, time to ship it. But how? Discover Cloud-based workflows trying to transform the way you work. (library.creativecow.net)
  • Building Online Audiences: Attract Traditional Investments - they say the Internet is the new Television. And the move is on to build an audience online. It turns out... the end result is the same as it's always been.  (streamdaily.tv)

S P O N S O R E D    M E S S A G E

Tao of Color's Official Calibration Software

Every Display Is Unique,
Why Aren't Your Test Patches?

NEW! CalMAN Studio's Dynamic Linearity CorrectionTM technology creates optimized test patches based on your display's unique Profile and 3D colorspace characteristics. 

Achieve more accurate calibrations without additional time.

Click to download a White Paper
documenting CalMAN Studio's DLC Advantage

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] Narrative Grading: Time of Day - "knowing what makes viewers subconsciously think of certain times of day is an essential skill. It can range from simple things like color temperature and brightness to complex things like using windows to create longer shadows and lens flares." (mixinglight.com)
  • [video] Making Blown-out Highlights Look Intentional - using lens flares to help eliminate that video'y look.  (mixinglight.com)

Outside 'The Box'

  • 10 Camera settings you don't use, but probably should - when we're not grading, many colorists step behind the camera to shoot still photography. What settings might you use that you're probably not? (photoventure.com)
  • [video] Review: Arri AMIRA - "The camera, advertised as a "documentary style" tool, is not affordable in the sense of entry level shooting, but it puts a very high quality imaging device into the hands of a whole new audience." Part 1 | Part 2
  • [video] Live Play 3 - wouldn't it be great if you could sort thousands of clips by day, scene, actor, and location? Or review on-set and dailies through the cloud? Live Play 3 was unveiled at Cine Gear Expo in L.A. (vimeo.com)

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

Tangent Design: HUB v1.1.6 | Wave Firmware v1.12 | Updated January'ish 2014

Avid Artist Color: Mac v3.1.2 | Win v3.1.2 | Updated March 3, 2014
Sunday Morning Fun(nies)

  • Architecture Animée - animated GIFs of a distinctly different kind. (laughingsquid.com)
  • Show and Tell: Guts Of Glory Boardgame - review of a Kickstarter board game about... eating in a post-apocalyptic world. (tested.com)

Weekend Warriors

  • How To Build a DIY Ring Light - using a bucket of fried chicken (nofilmschool.com)
  • Home Projector Review: Sony VPL-HW40ES - These guys really dig this sub-$4000 projector. (hdtvtest.co.uk)

Gear Heads

  • The 'New' MacPro: Design vs. Practicality - how 'pro' is the new Mac Pro? You'll know where this article is going at the first image… of the Apple Cube. (walterbiscardi.com)
  • NEC's Laser Projectors Certified as DCI Compliant - two different projectors both are certified for the Digital Cinema spec: "The NC1100L is the world's first compact Digital Cinema projector using blue Laser as a Light Source and is the ideal 2K digital cinema solution for smaller screens up to 36ft./11m (14ft.-L using a 1.8 gain screen)." (necdisplay.com via Charles Boileau)
  • Which to choose: The 2013 Mac Pro 6-Core with FirePro D500 or D700 GPUs? - (barefeats.com)
  • [review] FirmTek ThunderTek/PX2+2 Thunderbolt Storage Bundle - (barefeats.com)

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

New Kids on the Block

  • Peer to Peer - got an Apple TV? Got an iOS device? But no shared network connection? No problem. Check out the new feature in iOS 8 that lets iOS devices stream content to Apple TV without the need for a shared network connection. (macrumors.com)

    Getting Ahead

    • Best of friends - a chance meeting can change your life. That is what Writer/Producer Jon Boorstin discovered meeting DP Gordon Willis when both worked on The Parallax View. Click through to see why friendships are important in this business. (lareviewofbooks.org)
    • Forget me nots - ever meet someone and immediately forget their name? No worries, you're just like everyone else. Except for that guy... what's his name—over there… he's learned this cool memory trick and never forgets anyone's name. (fastcompany.com)
    • Sharpen your Mind - we know how much creatives LOVE to exercise. Not. But you should. Click through to learn how you can keep your mind sharp. We love number 6. Yeah, like that's ever going to happen. (huffingtonpost.com)

      The Next Step Ride Is A Doozy

      • [video] Just a goat riding a guy riding a bike -  the title just said it all. It'll only cost you 45 seconds of your life. No refunds! (youtube.com)

      A Step Too Far

      • [video] The sound of floppies - Simon and Garfunkel don't have to re-unite. Instead, you can listen to these floppy drives cover of one of the duo's most famous songs. Yes, we said floppy drives. Bizzaro. (youtube.com)

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

      Happy Grading!
        
      6,350+ 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