Apr
On March 21, 22 and 23, 709 Media Room organized a color correction theory course taught by Luis Ochoa, colorist, Avid and DOP certified instructor.
The 12-hour course was divided into three mornings, during which we had the opportunity to learn all the theoretical concepts necessary to have a base from which to start. It is simply not enough to know a color correction system and learn all its tools to consider that you are already a “colorist”; you must have a series of technical and theoretical knowledge to understand why they work this way, how we get to this process and how we should finish it.
First of all, Luis explained what color correction is and how it usually works. If we have a 4K material, it is very likely that we will have to lower the resolution and work offline to be able to reproduce it in real time. The input and output of the material, and conforming, were among the most discussed topics, due to their great importance. But in order to understand this, it is necessary to know before from the types of telecine (which will affect the image in different ways depending on how they do it in the lab), if we do a DI (Digital Intermediate); to the types of codecs and formats used, if we are in digital.
In color correction systems, images are usually imported in DPX or CIN frame sequences. Luis explained why these are used and not others such as TIFF (which does not need to be compressed either), showing his ability as a teacher and supported at all times by reasoning, making it much easier to understand all the concepts.
Although it might seem that codecs correspond more to fields such as editing, in the course we went into a lot of detail on this subject. It is necessary to know them because, step by step in post-production, the material suffers constant quality losses, but if we know which codecs to use, we will be able to get the most out of our images. Sampling, compression, transfer rate, resolution, color depth, dynamic range, etc. were explained.
With the arrival of cameras such as RED, ARRI Alexa or Sony F65, one of the topics that could not be missing in the course, and even more if we are talking about color, is RAW. We explained the way cameras capture when we tell them to do it in RAW, as well as what RAW development or debayering consists of. And if we talk about this, we also have to talk about logarithmic and linear gamma curves, LUTs (1D or 3D; to compensate, convert or artistic to define certain looks) and the different color spaces.
When talking about color spaces, several questions arose, because if cameras can record in one or the other, computer monitors reproduce in RGB, but televisions in 709, what do I do if I do not have a professional monitor and want to correct my images? Luis gave several possible solutions and tips to solve this type of issues.
Of course, it is also essential that the monitor on which you are color correcting is properly calibrated. For this reason, the course taught how to calibrate a monitor manually using the adjustment bars.
Despite being a course aimed at the theoretical part, the last day we were able to apply the knowledge learned by seeing the practical part, and focusing mainly on the Apple Color software. Although there are many different systems for color correction, if we understand well all the tools in one of them (curves, balls, gamma control, etc.), it will not be very complicated to understand the rest (taking into account that each one works differently and may have more or less functions, but the important thing is to know the concepts). Apple Color is a very useful system to learn this, as it is not very complicated and is quite complete.
Step by step, as the Color windows are organized, Luis explained how to perform primary and secondary corrections, masks (applying them taking into account the cinematographer’s vision and the direction of the light), or modify the correction presets included in the system. In addition, he also showed us how to analyze the different scopes that exist, giving advice on which one to use at each moment of the correction.
After looking at Apple Color, we moved on to the other systems. We looked at Avid’s color corrector; Magic Bullet Looks, which has a slightly different way of applying corrections than the other systems, as it is based on when the “filters” would be applied in a production; and DaVinci Resolve, which is based on a nodal system.
Thus we completed the 12 hours, obtaining a very complete course to acquire a theoretical basis, completely necessary to be able to apply it to practice. In addition, due to the fact that the number of students per course is not very high, it is possible at all times to have a more personal contact with the teacher and be able to resolve more questions than if it were composed of a larger number of students.
Next May, on the 16th, 17th and 18th (in the morning), the same course is scheduled to take place, with Luis Ochoa as teacher again. If you are interested, you can see all the information here.
