| Issue DXL: The Artificial Edition |
| The Color Grading Newsletter |
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News, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sundays. Curated by a professional color grader.
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We've arrived at the last Color Grading Newsletter of 2022!
The Tao Treasurer and I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas, joyful holidays, and a Happy New Year!
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Happy Grading! I'll see you again on Sunday, January 8, 2023.
Sincerely,
Patrick Inhofer
Publisher/Colorist
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Featuring the work of creative craftsmen, the theory of color, and industry news. Learn practical workflows, useful theories, and actionable insights from existing (and emerging) leaders and teachers in our industry.
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Frequent Newsletter contributor Marc Weilage writes in: "Hey, Patrick. Not all the reviews of Avatar: The Way of Water are positive. This [review] says the following about the 48fps HFR motion scenes ... I still think it’s well worth seeing, and the color by Tashi Trieu is amazing".
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Marc Weilage also writes in: "Interesting story about how the new Apple TV movie Emancipation is not exactly B&W, but actually has subtle moments of color …It’s a unique, stylized look for sure. Compelling story."
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"We challenged the people at Kodak Photochem to make this work for us,” Nolan said. “And they stepped up. For the first time ever, we were able to shoot an IMAX film in black and white. And the results were thrilling and extraordinary. As soon as Hoyte and I saw the first tests come in, we just knew that this was a format that we were immediately in love with” More details and a Behind The Scenes video embed are at the click.
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The entertainment beat isn't this Newsletter's thing. But, there are some interesting industry tidbits in here.
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"Recently, we added another powerful tool to our arsenal: neural networks for video downscaling. In this tech blog, we describe how we improved Netflix video quality with neural networks, the challenges we faced and what lies ahead."
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Too bad railing against the term 'AI' doesn't pay a salary. In the meantime, this is a good roundup of available Machine Learning tools.
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(podcast) "Lori H. Schwartz and HP’s Barbara Marshall dive into the technology that creatives will need in order to make the metaverse possible." There's also a good text summary of the discussion on this page.
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From image monitoring and quality control to reference-level color grading, our DM Series of monitors has a powerful solution for every workflow.
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Our craft keeps changing. And growing. Learn about updates to your favorite software. Discover new tools to help you work faster or more creatively. Build your toolchest with new techniques and approaches.
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(video) On the fxphd channel: "Warren Eagles shows the improvement of the Magic Mask in Resolve 18. Its auto isolation and speed performance have both improved and he is now reaching for it in client sessions."
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(video) "The new Voice Isolation feature uses machine learning to remove anything from a click/track that isn’t a human voice. The Dialogue Leveler helps balance the volume across an entire clip or track, without needing to manually set levels or use a compressor."
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(video0 "New SKY REPLACEMENT effect in DaVinci Resolve 18.1 new features is an easy way to create and generate your own Sky Replacement FX."
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"MD5 verification algorithms have a 300MB/s limitation, that’s why XXHash came along because it scales with RAM speed. What Hedge has done behind the scenes is to make it at least 20% faster for all types of direct-attached storage."
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" MASV Plus is a custom pricing plan for your organization. If your team moves hundreds of terabytes to petabytes of data, contact us todayand tailor MASV to your enterprise workflow."
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"Adobe has launched ‘Camera to Cloud’ (Beta) for RED V-Raptor cameras, which means you can shoot 8K RAW straight to the cloud with no additional hardware." Well, except for a gigabit fiber connection. But if you upload the ProRes proxies, then you only need cable modem speeds. More details in the story.
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"AWS CDI is a network technology that enables the transport of uncompressed video, up to 12-bit 4K UHD with audio, between applications running on AWS. The high-performance and ultra-low latency of AWS CDI means that independent software vendors and AWS partners, such Colorfront and Autodesk Flame, can implement and maximize the performance of their products on AWS, and offer reliable workflow services for the efficient origination and post-production of content in the
cloud."
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| Learn more at MacSales.com |
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(video) This one is free, in front of the paywall: "Colorist Joey D’Anna gives an extended review of DaVinci Resolve for iPad Beta, how it differs from the desktop, and what it may excel at."
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(video) "Colorist Cullen Kelly explores his favorite uses of the Sat vs. Lum curve in Resolve and best practices for consistently great results."
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(video) "In Part 2 of this series, colorist Patrick Inhofer follows up on his project breakdown of the animated short film 'Chosen Witness'. He shows you how he enabled complex Fusion comps to achieve real-time, interactive color grading. This Insight is in front of the paywall for the next few weeks. Please do share it around!"
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Stay updated on the latest hardware that's shipping - because the craft of color grading isn't just about software. Plus, keep an eye on future equipment trends and hardware odds-and-ends.
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Here's to sending a little holiday cheer to our Sponsor: "Deals on Mac & PC Docks, Thunderbolt, External Drives, refurbished Macs, Apple accessories, and more! Shop online today."
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(video) "Can you use the Stream Deck Plus for video editing in Premiere Pro, FCPX & Avid Media Composer? If you own a Stream Deck should you upgrade? Click for answers!" Article plus embedded video.
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"Robert mainly works on productions for big streaming platforms and has assembled quite an impressive setup along the way. It now includes a studio DIT cart, a smaller location DIT cart, a micro DIT cart, and a data wrangling cart. Keep reading for a detailed walkthrough of all the bits and pieces!"
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At $3K U.S., this Ultra Short Throw (UST) projector looks like a great value. BUT, "To have the most accurate calibration of this unit a spectroradiometer with a minimum sensitivity of 4 nanometers or less really should be used, as anything less will yield slightly-off results when making adjustments."
If their post-calibration impressions are correct, it's not up for client viewing in a grading suite. I'm linking to it here because it shows just how far along this tech has come as the price points keep dropping.
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Collecting gift-giving ideas for the colorist or filmmaking professional during the 2022 holiday season. Do you have a fun gift idea to share? Please email the link to [email protected].
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Perfect for the color-lover in your life this holiday season: "Unlike traditional puzzles with only one colour state, the Aeternus Aenigma has two distinct colour states that change depending on the viewing angle."
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If you're looking for something different to bring to a holiday party this year: "The Washington Post ... dubbed its chocolate sauerkraut confection “Don’t Ask Cake” because 'people who eat it can’t guess what the secret ingredient is—and don’t want to believe it when they find out.' "
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Another holiday party idea: "Bourbon Balls offer up a powerful punch while packaged in a small bite. These no-bake treats are a favored gift and a perfect nibble for parties. Get the recipe for Bourbon Balls when you need a treat or festive food gift."
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Random thoughts, tidbits, and fun stuff that caught my attention this week. Maybe it's color grading related. Maybe not. Ya got'ta read to the end of the Newsletter to find out.
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This does sound like fun: "Volumetric video company Arcturus has released several updates for its HoloSuite platform, including a new beta feature developed to connect volumetric video clips and seamlessly blend them together. With this ability, content creators can populate full virtual production scenes with real people, build live-action branching narratives with no gaps and offer original experiences for the metaverse using people instead of CG avatars."
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Not funny. But the question is fun (and increasingly necessary) to consider. One interesting point in this article, "While advancing AI can approximate passion and intelligence, empathy and judgement are derived from sensory input that machines are not capable of experiencing ... in humans, if passion is not balanced with empathy – and if intelligence is not balanced with judgement – anti-social behaviour is probable. It is empathy and judgement that
make us human, and which are hard to replicate through algorithms."
Anti-social AI? WOPR, anyone?
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(video) Another Baumgartner restoration, starting with the 'white point' of the painting: "It takes a special project to tempt a conservator or craftsperson back into the uncomfortable space of not knowing exactly how to resolve a problem, of needing to stretch themselves beyond comfort, in a word; to grow. But here we are, diving headfirst into another quagmire full of hope and optimism."
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| Th- th- th- that's all folks! I'll see you next year! |
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