🎨 Colorist Newsletter #479

Published: Sun, 04/18/21

Issue CDLXXIX: The Machine Learning (2) Edition
The Tao of Color Grading Newsletter
Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sundays.
The Craft
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.
"If you’ve been following the global HDR ecosystem the past few years you’ll be aware there are quite a few standards for HDR video. You may be shocked then to learn we’re about to see the advent of yet another standard."

(video) The original language of this webinar is Spanish, so please make sure to enable English subtitles on YouTube: "Renowned Spanish filmmakers discussed post-production workflow deployed on Amazon’s feature film “Unfortunate Stories”, focussing on ACES, HDR and creative flexibility during the pandemic."

(video) "A panel of experts reveals the secrets behind the hugely popular social video app—and what media technologists need to know about the world of short-form video."

(video) "Clever use of color can create harmony or drama in your images. Check out this great video to learn more about ways you can combine color in your photography. "

"When CinemaCon opens its doors in Caesars Palace during the last week of August, it will be 22 months since ShowEast 2019 . . . you wait 22 months for a convention and then several come along at once. And by several, I mean no less than nine in the space of 16 weeks."

If you think cinema exhibitors are just going to roll over and let streaming take their place in movie-lovers minds, then this story suggests otherwise.

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The Tools
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. 

(video) "Dolby created a worldwide tour across 9 cities to demonstrate the capabilities of the tools and conducted a survey of over 550 people to see how the Dolby Vision derived SDR stood up against the 'hand graded' original SDR version on 10 clips from Hollywood Studio content (both live action and animation). This presentation will explain the methodology of the survey and share the findings."

"There are several options and resources for you to learn how to create your content in Dolby Vision." This includes both self-guided training (for free) and live online training with a Dolby Instructor. Once certified, individuals will be listed on Dolby's website.

(video) "DaVinci Wide Gamut was newly added to Color Management in DaVinci Resolve 17. While it offers additional options for Colorists, there are some issues when combining it with Fusion. " Indeed! I've run into this problem first hand and is one of the reasons I feel like Fusion has been mostly overlooked by the Resolve team the past two release cycles.

(video) From colorist Cullen Kelly: "ACES is a powerful tool to incorporate into color grading workflows, but like any tool worth using, it requires proper knowledge and technique. in part 1 of this series, we're looking at what ACES is, and what it has to offer."

Click through for the details on this free Zoom webinar.

"We were unable to find complete documentation on which H.264/5 variants have hardware decoding support in DaVinci Resolve Studio, so we decided to do our own testing to find out. If you want to test your own system, we also have instructions and media download in the Run this Test on your System (Windows) section."

What I found most interesting was the explanation of machine learning nodes.

Mike Seymore digs deep on the new features: "Autodesk has updated Flame with powerful new machine learning (ML) features and a more tightly integrated toolset, with enhanced support for remote review sessions."

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Pushing Photons
These stories are from MixingLight.com's membership Library of color grading articles, tutorials, and podcasts (Tao Of Color is co-Owner). Do you want to read a story listed here but not a member? Sign up for a free 7-Day Test Drive.​​​ There's also color correction Practice Projects for purchase.

Also,
Mixing Light continues running its 'Work From Home' permanent discounted pricing offer as our industry is still trying to find its footing after the year-long lockdowns.

(video) "Learn to measure audio/video sync issues with a smartphone, and compensate in DaVinci Resolve using Fairlight's B-Chain."

(video) "Learn how to massively expand the functionality of Premiere's Lumetri panel by custom-mapping multiple disparate controls with an external control surface."

(video) "Learn to use DaVinci Resolve's Fusion page to build custom, reusable transitions to work inside a node-based ACES pipeline."

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Gear Heads
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.

"The difference between the older and newer models is that they feature an all-new backlight. According to Flanders Scientific, this provides two significant measurable performance improvements: Maximum color gamut is now 96% of P3 compared to Rec709 maximum of previous models; Better black levels thanks to a 30%+ increase in contrast ratio." Click through for more details.

"Telestream is offering a new cloud-native, API-driven, cloud-agnostic media processing and transcoding service called Telestream Cloud Transform. They also have a new family of Prism waveform monitors..."

"Apple has adjusted the marketing of its high-end Pro Display XDR in the UK following complaints to the country's Advertising Standards Authority that it was misleading customers." What's misleading about their current claim? Click through if you really want to find out! Of course, marketing in the US is the same as it ever was.

"Sony has announced the release of two native 4K SXRD home theater projectors, resulting in a near-complete refresh of its line since September 2020 that includes a new flagship and updates to four out of five pre-existing long-throw 4K models."

Click through for the full details.

Sunday Fun(nies)
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.

(video) "instead of fumbling for your remote to beat the “Play Next Episode” timer, here’s how to turn off autoplay for good." Yes!

 
Th- th- th- that's all folks! I'll see you next Sunday.
Patrick Inhofer, Editor-In-Chief