POST
CRAFT GRADING
VANESSA TAYLOR Freelance
Gunpowder Milkshake, The Northman, Anne, The Protégé, Misbehaviour, Jolt, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, Honour, Life, Worzel Gummidge, The Cockfields, Love and Hate Crime, Armstrong, The White Princess
I try to get involved as early as possible. Recently I worked on set for a few weeks generating LUT’s during prep which was a treat. A danger with misleading dailies is a serious condition known as temp-itis. Productions become familiar with the offline look and it can be hard to move away from it. DPs will often shoot with some headroom so having a LUT that sits the image where intended early on is desirable.
Usually, I advise on the look before shooting begins. I will generate LUTs with the DP. I get involved in lens, camera and sometimes make-up and wardrobe tests. We will usually continue to tweak the LUTs right up to, and sometimes beyond, the start of the shoot. I’m delighted to be working on a period drama with Ari Wegner ACS again at Dirty Looks London. We are exploring a DFD workflow (Digital Film Digital). It’s so fascinating seeing the results from different labs and stocks.
I like to balance first and get a feel for where the pictures can go. The more visual references, such as mood boards,
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the better. I may have only watched the offline and have limited view of the creatives’ vision when the grade starts. While jumping around the project setting style frames, I like to hear the DP and director talk about their intention for a scene and any issues they had while shooting. Start with broad brush strokes and work down to fine details.
I really believe an image has a sweet spot. A place where you can get the most out of it. I watch a lot of films. I use colour theory to spot opportunities to enhance separation and look out for it in set and costume design. I feel there is a missed opportunity to collaborate here. Production designer Cristina Casali once came to the grade, and it was fascinating and very helpful!
I mainly work on feature films, I’m interested to see our workflows evolve. Streamers are pushing for primary delivery to be HDR, but filmmakers like to see their project in a cinematic environment so currently I’m still grading projection first. I was lucky to grade The Northman for Goldcrest at Dolby in their beautiful cinema.
It’s incredible to work with that level of detail and screen size. Hopefully a similar setup will emerge as standard.
There is no need to use the whole range with HDR! Less is definitely more. Use the extra range to punch a story point. I work regularly with Nu Boyana grading action films. Pushing the specular highlights on gunfire and explosions helps give a more immersive experience.
A background in still photography and VFX plus years of working ridiculous hours certainly helped me. It’s definitely a craft that takes time to learn. Training the eyes to notice subtle nuanced shifts in colours to maintain continuity is a skill. I look back at work I did only a few years ago and can see ways I could improve it now. Colourists are always learning the craft as well as keeping up with the never-ending changes in technology, this keeps what looks like quite a repetitive role from the outside very interesting. You also need to be a diplomat with good negotiation skills!
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