Day 8
Over the past year I have been trying, without success to figure out
how to use a calibrated monitor to display video coming out of the
computer, as I color correct. Today we had a color correction class for
Final Cut Pro, something that was arranged outside of the program,
based on specific requests from our class. I think that speaks volumes
about how flexible and generous the school and the instructors are
towards meeting the needs of students.
Anyway, I'm going to create a screen cast, post it on YouTube and you can link to it to see how it's done.
The unfortunate thing is that you can' display HD footage through an SD
monitor. So there you are, I have HD footage and I can't monitor my
color correction, I have to go solely by the scopes, the Waveform or
RGB Parade monitor, VectorScope and Histogram. Of course the trick is making sure you're viewing your results on a calibrated monitor.
Of course, that's not nothing, it
counts for 90% of the way home, but that last 10% is the difference
between a vacant stare and a smile.
I've used a monitor for color correction on SD footage shot for a
Practicum film back in May. (Show 91) It made
a big difference, not only in terms of quality, but also in building my
confidence in my own color correction technique.
Howard Phillips, a frequent instructor screened my latest revision and
gave me a very good critique. There's so little time, so every
intelligent comment is greatly appreciated. The big problem is that I'm
making the same point over and over again. I couldn't see it myself,
but once the scales were removed from my eyes it was embarrassing how
obvious it was. That's half the value of having others review your
film. And getting that input before you're too attached to the cut is
the other half.
