Color-correcting a stage production

I have a video of a stage production that I am going to start editing soon. It was shot on a run-of-the-mill camcorder about 10 years ago, and it was in auto mode, so the contrast and color are not great. Because it is a stage production, it was taped in a dark theater with stage lighting, so there is a lot of black around the main action.
I don't know a lot about color correction but want to learn. Any suggestions on where to start? Mostly what should be blacks look pretty gray, and I know I can't work miracles on it, but I'd like to improve it as much as possible as it is an archive of a performance from my youth.

FCEs colour corrector is in Browser>Effects>Video Filters>Color Corection>Color Corrector.
Run the filter over the Sequence after all editing is done.
You will have to fiddle with the parameters yourself.
Or, there is a Magic Wand in there that you can use on a known white object and it corrects automatically.
Al

Similar Messages

Color correction technique

After editing my project and publishing to a DVD , I've been a liitle disappointed in the color saturation of my final project when viewed on my TV. The video just appears a little flat.
Can someone guide me through a good color correction process that might help with this.
What role do the color bars play in calibration ?
Just as an FYI I don't have a broadcast monitor..I guess I could use a TV ?

It is possible that there could be nothing wrong with your FCE produced DVD.
Could it be that the colour settings on your TV are poor compared with your computer monitor?
Have you tried the DVD on other (possibly better) TVs?
How does your DVD compare with the normal TV programmes? It should be of a similar quality. If it is not then maybe there is some fault in your technique, either in the filming or post production stage etc.
Ian.
PS. Have you tried boosting the Contrast and Saturation on your TV?

Color Correction Novice rounding home stretch w/ a Q

Hi,
So far, I've received some valuable advice & tips for my 1st attempts at color correction, esp since my production falls outside the normal applications. The help has been great!
I went thru my production and did scene by scene corrections, which lost most of its intimidation with enough practice. I still havent tackled the Keyframe approach to having corrections shift during the course of a scene - I'm hoping to escape without having to do that.
Heres my question -
I did all the corrections, with a calibrated external monitor, and then had the program render all the video effects. Then I chose "print to video". When the program ran, the colors were a little different overall than what I had set in the program (less orange, more pink) and in a few scenes (orig underexposed, but corrected in the process), the color shifted more radically, esp in the shadow / black values which fell greenish.
I didnt see any of this as I was correcting, and the signal path was the same when I printed to dvd, same monitor w/ no calibration changes.
Is this normal? Maybe these shifts happen more discreetly in reg productions, mine is a live stage shoot with a lot of red light.
Thanks for all the help, & Happy New Year
Duane
G5 tower Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Hi,
Thanks for all the info, I'm starting to look at ways of sending what I have to people who need to see it. The project will likely still require some tweaking so this isnt a final mastering step by any means. Just looking for something that looks as good as what I see on the monitor after rendering.
Its looking like (from the lasts posts) that 'out thru firewire -> dvd recorder' isnt the best choice & if I can keep it in the computer & flow it directly to its burner, the opportunities for problems can be minimalized.
I tried exporting to quicktime, that resulted in an FCP Quicktime file that took 3 hrs to create & was almost 13 gig. (program is 50 min) so it looked great but was too huge to put onto a disk.
If anyone has guidance in this area, I'd appreciate it. I'm gonna poke around in those options & then likely post a further question seperately on this subject. I want to get it onto a dv disc via toast 6 (I see Quicktime w/ Compression is an option so I'm gonna explore that)
Thank you all again for the correction help, in that 13 gig version, it looked really great (no green in shadow artifacts ! )
Regards,
Duane
G5 tower Mac OS X (10.4.2)
G5 tower Mac OS X (10.4.2)
G5 tower Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Color Correction in Final Cut Express HD

I'm editing a stage production of A Midsummer Nights Dream that was shot on two different cameras. The set is very bright and vivid, and i have read and re-read the FCE Help page on the color correction topic. I have corrected my master shots (wides). What i want to know is how i can adjust the colors of my close-ups:
1. the subject (Bottom in this case) is lit in a blue light (moon light).
2. the set (the woods) are lit by a bright green light.
What I want to do is match the colors to the master, but if i adjust to match the blue light on Bottom, the background loses its bright green. Likewise, if i try and make the green brighter to match the master shot, Bottom turns green too.
The help file mentions Limit Effect, but doesn't expand on it. Bear in mind i'm an 18 year old student, i pretty much need to be spoon-fed a solution!
Any help would be very very gratefully recieved, as i'm a bit pushed for time and trying to finish it this weekend (A-levels are looming...)
Thanks in advance,
James.
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6) 17", 2.0GHz, 1Gb RAM

Limit effect is not going to help you in this case. You really need to control the overall image and get a balance between the wide and the CU. Color match Bottom's skin tone so it appears correct to you. Leave some of the blue cast to not lose the moonlight effect. Then color match the wide shot so that it has the same look as the corrected CU.

Color Correction Monitor

I know this question has come up before, but after reading some posts I thought I'd see if anyone had any feedback on this monitor.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/469728-REG/JVCDT_V24L1DU_DTV24L1DU_24_MultiFormat.html
It's the JVC DT-V24L1DU 24" Multi-Format LCD Monitor with 1080p Native Resolution and HD-SDI.
I've got a Kona LHe card with HD-SDI I/O.
Could I do critical color correction with that setup? I'm not at the stage where my color correction is critical yet, but I don't want to be re-buying anything if I don't have to.
Any suggestions?
Lawrence

This isn't an area of color correction per-say but involves general engineering of all the different video signals and how to mix them up and travel back and forth and what not.
Generally speaking, HD video is in a completely different color space than Analog/Digital video. itu-709 vs. itu-601. How are those conversions handled? Is the device you're using accurate? It's just one of the many bains of video engineers that care.
I've heard but not been able to confirm that some JVC hdv cams are in the itu-601 spec which if true would totally throw off how FCP handles color space conversion and the nearest I can tell that it does this is simply through frame size.
How are you monitoring currently? Aside from this monitor, what interface is spitting that video out of your computer? Currently at my house, I use an Aja Kona LHe that spits out component analog to my PVM-14M4U. When I am working with itu-709 video, is that on-the-fly video downconversion completely accurate? Without external scopes I couldn't tell you but I'm relying on the the trustworthiness and reputation of Aja products. I've installed and use many of their products in various facilities and I know them to be of excellent reputation.
As far as your colors being far off, you tell me? Who's your viewing audience, what sort of display are they watching, how's that signal getting there?
I'm hoping some of the more learned folks here can correct or corroborate any of the info I've related this morning.
Good luck, the water gets deeper and much colder very quickly the more you know.

What to do about bright spots before color correcting

I have a video of the Lion King show from the Animal Kingdom at Disney World. I shot it on HDV using a tripod, although I occasionally zoomed or panned the camera. This is not an important project, just one I would like to finally get done seeing as how I have had the footage since 2006. Procrastination is a bit of a problem for me as you might infer from that. The export might be my first Blu-Ray export, but more likely it will just end up on Vimeo.
The problem with spotlights is probably familiar to many of you so I thought I would ask for some advice before I even begin. My initial thought was to use a gradient matte over the top 1/3 or 1/2 of the frame at times to dim the spotlights before using an adustment layer to color correct each section. A vignette so to speak that would help focus attention on stage. Or, perhaps a large collection of little circular gradient mattes over each of the brighter spotlights (using AE)
I am not planning on zooming in to the video in Premiere Pro. The shots are the shots and they are staying that way as far as I can tell, unless something really screams for that and I can get away with it. There are quite a few changes in lighting. I attached three examples of what I will be dealing with.
What I would really like to know is how other people would go about this. I haven't researched Speedgrade yet, mainly because I think I might be able to handle this in Premiere Pro and After Effects. Although it may be the perfect opportunity to learn Speedgrade. I have a subscription to the Creative Cloud, so any Adobe product is fair game. I am not planning on buying any third party tools. This is just a hobby project, and I can not justify any additional expense for it.
I don't want to over do the correction. The yellow and blue tints are really there, but I would like to reduce the tint so that just the hint of yellow or blue is visible. I have a feeling that I am going to have to spend some time adjusting curves to deal with some of the dimmer lighting like the last image. Or, is there a set of magic parameters I can change to keep this simple and get close to my goal without a huge effort.
There will be no cutting other than what might be needed at points where colors change dramatically. I would really like to see everything keyframed so all changes are smooth if that makes sense technically. The video is 00;31;31;02 in duration. This is going to be a pretty big project for having zero cuts. The longest I have ever done without a cut as far as I can remember.
Here are three sample frames. Any and all suggestions are welcome. How would you start?

Oh, I know about the Disney issues. I just like to use my Roku to watch HD videos from Vimeo on my HDTV. It depends on the footage. If it has to be pristine, then Vimeo might not be the best choice, but for most of my footage, it is good enough. Most of the people I show my vacation videos to are friends and family so I just keep the video private and nobody bothers me about it. So far at least

I want to Learn Color Correction

Users,
I want to learn how to do Color Correction professionally. So am looking for books and tutorials that would take me from the beginner stages to the advanced stages.
What is the purpose for the different tools & terminologies and stuff like that.Any help give would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Jamaine

Im not sure.. but I think Jeff had some really good book he recommended...a while ago...
ahhh. found it.. was shooternz and jeff... ( i save this stuff ! )
color grading - from shooternz
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321713117
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240810783
=========
color correction book
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Technique-Digital-Color-Correction/dp/0240809904
from ref jeff bellune

Color correction challenge, PP5.5 Mac, ProRes to WMV

I'm eager to complete my transition from FC Studio to Production Premium CS5.5, but I'm challenged to ensure consistent color in my ProRes to WMV workflow. Any advice would be appreciated.
My shooting gear: EX1R, w and w/o Nanoflash
Editing gear: 2008 MacPro (3.1), OSX 10.6.7, 10 GB RAM, ATI Raedon 4870
Workflow (FCP): Acquire footage, edit native (XD CAM EX/XDCAM HD22), render sequence to ProRes 422, transcode via Quicktime 7 Pro/Flip for Mac to produce WMV files for my PC clients.
Workflow CS5.5 (intended:) Acquire footage, edit native (XDCAM HD 422 via Nanoflash), output sequence to ProRes, transcode to WMV via Quicktime 7 Pro/Flip for Mac HD. After I put a "trial" sequence together in PP5.5, I adjust footage with 3-way color corrector. Here's where the fun starts:
Process: I attempt to create a "master file" from the sequence, using AME with output set for Pro Res. The next intended step would be to open the file in Quicktime Pro 7, then encode via Flip for Mac to produce a smaller WMV file for my clients.
Outcome (1) The results look as though color correction was bypassed completely. After much trial and error, I discovered that when I encoded using ProRes 4444, color corrections were preserved. Yet when I transcoded from 4444 to wmv, (2) the resulting files appeared to have no color correction. No good.
I'm stumped! I thought I was on to something when I noticed the "preset" for outputting XDCAM HD422 was not set for "progressive," but it appears to make no difference.
Sidebar: I experience the same issue regardless of use of XDCAM EX or XDCAM HD422 files. With the latter, I've edited clips in MOV and MXF format. Same outcome.
Until I get this workflow issue sorted out, I'm stalled in completing my transition to PP. I'd like to have acquired gobs more RAM and an Nvidia Quadro 4800 card already, but I need to know that I've fixed this issue first.
Any suggestions most welcome.
Sincerely,
Tom
Raleigh, NC

I finally figured it out! If there are any other FCP to PP traitors out there like me in Mac land, here's a workflow that results in WMVs matching the color corrections created in your PP sequence:
1) Edit native. In my case, I'm working with "XDCAM HD 422," the result of linking a Nanoflash set for 100 mbps/long gop to my EX1R. Both FCP and PP "read" them as 50 mbps files.
2) Export media to AME, checking the box, "Match Sequence Settings." With little delay, this produces a file with an mpeg extension (the mpeg-2 codec). In Quicktime player, this yields silent footage with no audio. Bummer. End of story, I thought.
3) But this time, I brought that same "black" file into Apple Compressor. Using the Flip For Mac plug in, I exported to one of my "regular" settings, 2-pass, VBR, 640x360. The result: a perfect color match with my color corrected PP sequence.
I'm sure there are alternatives to bringing a file that won't play in Quicktime into Compressor. I'll try Quicktime Pro and Streamclip next. But the point -- I think -- is to not bother with any more intermediate formats/files than one has to.
Sighs of relief here.
Tom

Monitor color correction

no matter how i try to calibrate my monitor it seems off. different each time. the color correction utility isn't doing it for me. so i'm using an acer al2416w. i don't know if that matters at all. but what are some good products to do some real color correcting. it's important as i do graphics and have spent over a grand on being ready to do color correction for final cut. maybe i should be posting this in that forum. any ideas?

When you say you do graphics, I assume you mean print work? If so, there are hardware color calibrators such as Gretag MacBeth's Eye-One Display 2 or Pantone's huey and huey pro.
I have not used either of these products

Color Correction for DVD and online

I have a 13" SD TV hooked up to my mac working as a color correction monitor for FCE.
My question is: Should I always color correct using the TV monitor vs looking at the Canvas in FCE? What I'm seeing is the picture in the canvas is darker and more saturated then the view of the TV monitor. Is it best to trust the TV monitor vs the canvas? And should it make any difference if the final project is going to DVD vs online? I'm assuming the ending product (mov file) should look the same if the mov file is viewed from a computer vs on a TV from a DVD. In a nut shell, once the clip is color corrected using the ext monitor, should I be good to go no matter where the file ends up?
Thoughts?
Thanks so much

Hi
I would take some photos with color miss match eg blue tint (Blå-Stick in Swedish)
and with other known color anomalities.
Put them in TimeLine and playback. View TV - corrected or as bad as from start.
I use a color corrected CRT-broad-cast monitor but prior to this a small TV and
this one did a good job.
Yours Bengt W

Color correction novice back with a problem/question.

Hi,
I have been working on color correction for an edit of a live 2 camera shoot concert. Edits are almost all final. I dug into correcting color between the 2 cameras & after some practice got good results.
Tho, I noticed that corrections looked slightly different after rendering them, and again slightly different after exporting to full uncompressed quicktime video.
Saturation levels shifted (less), & some shots showed slightly different color balance. This is a unique shoot because the stage was fully lit in red light & red can be one of the most difficult colors in video (in my experience).
So I eventually started that vicious cycle of correcting not by eye but by anticipating what was needed to get a desired result after rendering & exporting... each time it was lengthy renders & exports before seeing the results.
So I had several versions of the project saved w/ different renderings, etc. All of this is stored on a 250 gig 2nd internal drive which I bought & installed just for editing. All files & edit lists etc were kept there.
So I'm trying to look at different versions after having to put the project aside for a couple of weeks, and every version I open shows me a list of render files that it says it can't find. I've just been choosing to re-render.
(I'm wondering if a routine session of running disk warrior on my drives could have contributed to this?? Thats the only thing I can think of, other than the OSX upgrade to 10.4.4, which also included a quicktime upgrade.)
I'm new at this so I'm trying to figure out if this disappearance of render files is normal? In one version I chose 'search computer for render files' or something to that effect & I watched it go thru my drives one after another & when it got to the 2nd internal drive (where all the render files should be), it spent about 1/10th the time that it spent searching other drives. It really jumped in & out of that drive really quickly.
Its not all the render files that are missing, I looked in the render folder & some have older dates, while a section of them are from tonite when I re-rendered. Then more with the older date.
Anybody have any advice?
Thanks for your help
Duane
G5 tower Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hi,
I have been working on color correction for an edit of a live 2 camera shoot concert. Edits are almost all final. I dug into correcting color between the 2 cameras & after some practice got good results.
Tho, I noticed that corrections looked slightly different after rendering them, and again slightly different after exporting to full uncompressed quicktime video.
Saturation levels shifted (less), & some shots showed slightly different color balance. This is a unique shoot because the stage was fully lit in red light & red can be one of the most difficult colors in video (in my experience).
So I eventually started that vicious cycle of correcting not by eye but by anticipating what was needed to get a desired result after rendering & exporting... each time it was lengthy renders & exports before seeing the results.
So I had several versions of the project saved w/ different renderings, etc. All of this is stored on a 250 gig 2nd internal drive which I bought & installed just for editing. All files & edit lists etc were kept there.
So I'm trying to look at different versions after having to put the project aside for a couple of weeks, and every version I open shows me a list of render files that it says it can't find. I've just been choosing to re-render.
(I'm wondering if a routine session of running disk warrior on my drives could have contributed to this?? Thats the only thing I can think of, other than the OSX upgrade to 10.4.4, which also included a quicktime upgrade.)
I'm new at this so I'm trying to figure out if this disappearance of render files is normal? In one version I chose 'search computer for render files' or something to that effect & I watched it go thru my drives one after another & when it got to the 2nd internal drive (where all the render files should be), it spent about 1/10th the time that it spent searching other drives. It really jumped in & out of that drive really quickly.
Its not all the render files that are missing, I looked in the render folder & some have older dates, while a section of them are from tonite when I re-rendered. Then more with the older date.
Anybody have any advice?
Thanks for your help
Duane
G5 tower Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Sony PVM 20N5U=Broadcast Color Correction Monitor?

Hello, folks. Posted this on the "Getting started with video production on a Mac" forum, but no responses . . . so I'm trying here.
I have a Sony 14M2U that IS indeed a professional grade broadcast monitor that can be used for color correction. However, I was recently given a Sony PVM 20N5U and I'm wondering if this one can also be used for broadcast standard/professional color correction. I looked online, but couldn't find any specific information on whether it was or not.
Any help resolving this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks much in advance,
Javier

the n5u is a very sweet monitor and quite versatile. Beats the cr*p out of most of the lcd monitors out there. These are no longer in production, so check carefully the hours on the tube and the general condition.

Color correction doesnt come through well on DVD project on TV

I burned my short film onto a DVD and played it back on a SD television. The film has many color grading tweaks and I noticed that they barely come through on the TV. Definitely not representative of what i have ont he timeline. Any clue as to why this is?

cfg_2451 wrote:
VidNoob wrote:
I burned my short film onto a DVD and played it back on a SD television. The film has many color grading tweaks and I noticed that they barely come through on the TV. Definitely not representative of what i have ont he timeline. Any clue as to why this is?
Does your monitor show you the Rec.709 colorspace? And is it fully calibrated?
If not, you're not getting WYSIWYG, so there's no way you can know what the output is going to look like without burning a DVD and playing it. Then you can iterate, making changes in PPro and burning more DVDs, until you get what you want.
Very few computer monitors can show you Rec.709. To get that, you need either a production monitor, or a fully calibrated HDTV (look for one that's easy to calibrate (supports ISFccc Calibration Mode). If you use a TV, you need to make sure you're getting the proper signal to it also, but PPro using the NVIDIA graphics boards can do this without extra hardware (driving the HDMI port). If you set the driver up correctly.
But if you don't have a production monitor, or a calibrated HDTV, you're really just shooting in the dark when it comes to color correction and especially color grading. Not what you want to hear I know. But that's the current state of the art.
I'm pretty certain it doesnt show the rec.709 colorspace. My monitor isnt even widescreen. I actually had no idea about the rec.709 space until just now when you mentioned it. I am a vidnoob hence the screen name
I have a geforce 560TI card. Do you know if I can buy a cable that goes from the card to maybe an S video adapter I can plug into the TV to then color correct my project on the TV when doing things intended for TV playback? There's a DVI port on the back of my graphics card and my TV has an S video female port.

Color correction, muzzle flares and smoke questions

A couple of days ago I directed an action sequence called 'Silent takedown' using Premiere CS5 and After Effects. The goal was to do a very fast paced editing style but still within the realm of 'classic' action films from '90 like Face/Off and Mission Impossible 2. I've got some question regarding visual effects done in After effects. Tell me if you thought they were good or bad. Also the color correction was done in AE and PP. Does the overall movie look good?
Here's a full link again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O62_hYOmlaY
Thanks for watchin'

Well, aside from it being quite disturbing to have a team of 14 year olds turning everyone to blood soup it's got some great camera work.
Your first mistake might have been thinking there's anything worth copying in mission impossible 2. Sorry, had to be said.
Todd's right. The clouds of blood is comical. Maybe tone that down? Right now it just looks like a string of video copilot tutorials one after another. You need to hide effects, and make them feel seamless.
Ask yourselves what are you trying to showcase. If it's post production, you have to tweak those effects and make them look classy. There are shots where bullet holes are appearing in glass and there's little breakage, and no reaction from the actors. You can't just glue in effects. If the actors don't react, you can't use the shot, or it should be changed so you don't notice. Add a shake etc.
If it's editing, then that has to be solid too.
You've got time shifting all over the place without it being stylistic. For example, the guys who walk up off the top are shown in a wide shot that you re-use for the security cam. They enter, put their masks on, walks softly up to the guards and take them out, but then we are inside and the scarface guy is watching action that happened minutes ago on the monitor. If you're going to jump around in time, you need to find a stylistic way to do that. Why not bring the scarface guy's scenes into the lead up, show the monitor, (drop that long shot at the top) to introduce the guys sneaking up. This introduced tension (will scarface notice???) gives you an idea of who the guards are watching out for and drops that opening super wide of the two kids going up against the wall. That shot doesn't work because when you show them super-wide, you get a feeling for how exposed they are and what a terrible job they're doing of "sneaking" up. But it works as security cam footage...
Another example is when you have one of your agents say "good morning gentlemen. He says something strange to men who are in masks and they give him enough time to put a gun to his head and pull the trigger in spite of the face that they're holding their own guns. Then you have the camera exposure flash cuts to the other agent sneaking up...
If you want to make this effect work, you need to use editing to explain why the second guard didn't reflexively shoot the first agent. have the agent say, "good morning gentleman" and start the action of raising the gun. Then flash cut to the other agent sneaking up, then back the the first agent shooting, then back to the second guard being shot. Then all of a sudden you have a frenetic action scene. Right now the pacing feels slow and unrealistic.
The effects go off the rails a bit at the end. The muzzle flashes don't aim in the right direction, and the particle smoke becomes very obviously added in post. One shot in particular is a dude walking through a black smoke cloud from behind a van. Loose that smoke in the second to jump cuts. And if oyu're going to have a smoky enclosed space. you have to add atmosphere in other shots.
If you're not going to use practical effects for the gunshots, you need to cut away. Having a guy explode with particles and stock footage will always be "funny" without having some squibs on set. I know it makes it harder and more complicated, but you have to have the whole package, or it'll always just look like kids messing around and...
... oop, my render is done.

Color Correction for movie theaters

I am currently editing a commercial that will be played in a couple of local movie theaters before the movie previews. I am in no way a professional and I'm kind of a Color newbie. I am working on a Mid 2009 15" MacBook Pro with HDV 1080i60 footage. The MBP's display is great and I'm happy with what I've done with my footage but I'm sure the color will look different in the theaters. I was wondering if anyone had some advice on how to color my footage differently for theaters.
I have referenced my color corrected footage on my 22" Dynex TV and it definitely looks a little darker and "warmer", so I'm a little afraid of giving my clips too much of a warm tone (which is the tone I'm going for). I'm also thinking about connecting to a projector to get another reference there.
Let me know what you guys think.
THANKS!
P.S. I have a technical contact number from the theater that I can call if it might help to ask them about it.

Are you delivering a video tape format like HDCAM SR/D5, supplying a QT file or printing back to film.
If its either of the first two methods the main thing is to preview your edit on a properly calibrated (the correct color space and gamma curve etc) monitor or preferably a projector in a suitable grading environment. If it looks good there then it should be ok to go - if the theatre has a properly calibrated set up as well.
As mentioned already you also may want to take into account the environment its likely to be screened in e.g brightness etc and adjust the grade accordingly, as peoples eyes will interpret the visual material differently under different conditions. Though in reality obviously you cant take into account every circumstance it may be shown in - the best thing to do is make sure it looks correct under optimal conditions using correctly calibrated gear.
If you are printing back to film - take care. Going to a film out out is an extremely sensitive and complicated process.
For a start you should really know what stock you are printing back to? You should find this out and obtain a LUT (look Up table) that will emulate this stock on your grading monitor so you know exactly what the final product will look like.
What process are you using to go to film?
I would contact a local post house and ask to speak to their Digital Intermediate specialist.
Good luck
JB

Color-correcting a stage production

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for