Day: March 18, 2018

This scene features a lot of people showing a lot of skin. At first, it was difficult using the qualifier to select the skin from most of the people but by selecting new areas and using the feather tool I seem to have selected every piece of skin shown (Fig 1). I then went out and tried to match the skin colour to the skin tone indicator within the Vectorscope (Fig 1). This was done by using the colour wheels. Once this had been done I then sent to colour grade the rest of the scene. As it was at a party and outside I presumed it to be summer, with that in mind I decided to make the black colours darker and then redder. This was to make the other colours stand out more and for it looks more hot and summery.

I then decided if I could match the skin tones even if I change it to a prominently red scene to a more green one. This just made the scene look like it was part of a Twilight film.

I feel looking back I’ve made the skin too red. Because the blacks are a lot darker it could be possible the skin stands out a lot more than it should.

Figure 1

Below are links to two of the tutorials I followed:

I also used tutors in workshops to help understand skin tones.

Above is a before and after of some RAW footage I had found of Venice. In this clip, I wanted to test if I could change the colour to make it look more like it was at sunset. I made the pastel coloured buildings redder/pinkier. I changed the colour of the sky using the ‘window’ tab, Masking around the buildings and the sky and then tracking it to the footage. Then using the qualifier I tried to give the water a similar colour for a reflective look. Its far from perfect but doing that has given me the use of tools I hadn’t before.  In the end, I include stills representing the different nodes I used to get this look.

I think next time I need to make the footage a lot cooler. The pastel colours look a little too harsh.

I was due to shoot the short film on the 20th-21st of March, however, a few days before I had a number of people drop out of assisting me to do this so instead I cancelled the film until further notice. As the film was supposed to be the main artefact I’ve had to re-analyse this project so I can still get something filmed while still focusing on editing and colour-grading. The new plan is to:

– Create a showreel containing RAW footage found online.
– Create a much shorter film ranging from 2-3mins long instead of the 10-12 i was aiming for.