In order to reflex the hedonistic and flamboyant times of the 1920s and the characters depicted in The Great Gatsby, a super saturated and excessive look for the film was desired. Costume and Production Designer Catherine Martin worked closely with the DI team on the look of the film. Those sessions stand out as a career highlight. She has an incredible eye. She was insistent on more and more colour separation. At the time my thoughts were “there is no more”! But sure enough, with each pass the depth of the image improved. You really felt as if could fall into the picture. Catherine Martin won two Oscars for the film. 

While grading, I am very focused on the task at hand and prefer to work without distractions. I don’t like to have music playing and I’m not much of a talker in the suite. I’m asking myself, -  Is this grade telling the story? How can I make it better? What’s the main focus? What needs to stand out? Can I improve the colour separation/colour contrast etc? Can I enhance the lighting anymore?

As our eyes are constantly re-calibrating I prefer to keep moving through the scenes

- Vanessa Taylor -

Simple grade stack

It’s easy for a timeline to become unmanageable on a high-end feature due to re-edits and the wait for final VFX; therefore, I stick to a simple grade stack at the start. I believe in keeping the images close to how they are shot and as close to their natural state as possible. All images reach a point at which they look their best. My aim is to find this point. 

I use edge gradients for shading and simple windows for pushing areas towards and away from the viewer. Later in the grade, I may do extra treatment for example using sharpen with a window to draw attention to certain aspects of the picture such as an actors eyes.

Flashback scenes

Catherine Martin showed me an amazing book of hand-tinted photographs to reference for the flashback scenes when Daisy and Gatsby first met. I researched early film stocks and worked with Richard Kirk at Filmlight to generate a bespoke LUT which emulated the panchromatic stock of the period. This gave me an interesting base by swinging the density of the colours around, particularly the red.

READ: Mitch Bogdanowicz about LUTs

After this, I set about making lots of shapes outlining objects and tracking them. I coloured the shapes to look like the kind of colours in the hand-tinted references. A little translucent and pastel. For example, for Daisy, I made the hair more golden, enhanced her blue eyes and tracked little pink kidney shapes onto her cheekbones. I also added some T800 scanned grain and mixed in an old fashioned flashing projector effect which I found online.

Moving through the scenes

Matching scenes is a fundamental part of grading and the reason I keep moving forward on my timeline. The film will eventually find its place and its natural flow. As our eyes are constantly re-calibrating I prefer to keep moving through the scenes. It’s important to keep comparing scenes and remain on task. I prefer to do global adjustments in the final days of a DI, usually adjusting brightness and contrast between the scenes. Looking at stills sequentially can be useful.

Stereo grading

The film was shot in 3D on RED Epic cameras using a split beam. One eyes image is captured through a mirror and is softer and less bright. First of all, you grade the 2D version using the hero (higher quality) eye as the base. The images from the second eye are then matched to the first and then the same grade is applied down-stream. Grading in stereo is difficult on the eyes as you are also checking and correcting convergence issues.

Technically you have a much lower light level to work with in Stereo projection and also a colour cast offset to correct from the glasses. For creative adjustments, just like in 2D, certain colours reach your eyes quicker. Red, for example, is closer in depth than cooler colours like greens and blues. This actually works well naturally as landscapes tend to have cooler tones so warmer skin tones will sit forward. With Gatsby’s riot of colours some tweaking was needed.

Stereo is wonderfully immersive. I think you are more easily able to trigger strong emotional responses from an audience in stereo than in 2D, the catch is the stereo has to be flawless. I’ve only ever seen perfect stereo projected in a professional environment or a well-run cinema. I live in the countryside so by the time it gets to my local picture house the quality is lost along with the magic and it can distract from the story. However, good colour control will help transcend projection issues.

Vanessa Taylor
IMDB

All images and clips copyright © Warner Bros. Pictures / SF Norge AS

I was brought on board when they started scouting. I spoke to the DP, Adam Arkapaw during the testing stages and he sent various looks that he liked and thought would work for the show. We also had some in-depth conversations about what he was looking for. One of the references we spoke of, was the movie "Seven". I didn't have any interaction with the director, Cary Fukunaga prior to him coming to NY to do post.

I always try to maintain some shape in my highlights

- Steven Bodner -

Grading Technique

True Detective was shot on Kodak negative, mostly 5219 and 5207, and color corrected on DaVinci Resolve. I chose not to use any LUTs for the show as we wanted to have the most flexibility and didn't want to fight any curves. We scanned all the negatives to 2K DPX frames which I then graded.

I work differently depending on the show, the look and feel they are going for. For this show both Cary and Adam wanted everything to be very real and organic. After sitting with both of them I found it faster to use printer points and basic Log controls to get the primary balance done.

READ: Dan Muscarella about Printer Lights

Once we had the primary balance where we wanted, I then watched it back with audio to see if the look matched the tone. I then used Linear controls to dig in and create some subtle differences in the separate areas of the image. As well as adjusting exposure and color temperature.

Matching shots

After I had what I felt was a good overall balance of color and brightness, I started paying attention to skin tones throughout. I was also looking if I needed to shade, vignette or pull anything out of the image.

Matching skin tones is a big part of making the scene look good. When you are watching these scenes, the object you are focused on from shot to shot is the actor's face and expression. If they are not matching from shot to shot, it's going to be very noticeable and quick for any one of us to point out. I didn't do much beauty work in color on this season. We did an occasional sharpening of eyes or softening of backgrounds but that was about it.

The most challenging scene was probably the one in episode 4. Cary and Adam did an amazing shot that lasted 6 minutes without a cut. They were going in and out of apartments, thru windows, in the light and dark. Cary had a very specific thought for how he wanted every turn to look. So needless to say we had a lot of color rides and tracking windows and dissolves throughout that scene.

I found it faster to use printer points and basic Log controls to get the primary balance done

- Steven Bodner -

Organic feel

Every scene is different. Whether it be the lighting, atmosphere, exposure or temperature. So my technique changes depending on what's needed.

I try to use windows more than keys. I feel like when you over use keys, it takes you away from the natural feel of what the DP actually captured. I think most people can feel when something is over keyed and too perfect. I prefer the organic feel myself. That's not to say I don't key and won't. Or that I didn't on this show. I definitely did. My preference is to get a good balance of color from the primary balance and then use shading and subtle windows or keys to just accentuate what the DP has done.

I also always try to maintain some shape in my highlights. I do everything in my power to not have a clipped white sky or highlights. This obviously depends on the scene and how it was shot. A softer highlight at times is nice. Again it's all personal preference and the feel of the scene.

Every colorist works a little different and there is no one way to get something done. We work in a very subjective field. It's all about helping the director and DP see their vision in the end.

This was an amazing series to be a part of. From the DP and director to the editors and post staff.

Steven Bodner

All images and clips copyright © HBO

Three stripe Technicolor

At first, David's idea was to give the movie a three stripe Technicolor look, but at the same time, feeling contemporary. My challenge was to fuse both worlds together and make it work. Michael began sending me stills from the dailies and I experimented with different looks on my Davinci Resolve system at home. Once the film was cut and ready for color, I sat in the large theater at Tunnel with Michael and David and we began to try out the Technicolor look. It was interesting, but not exactly right for the film. It was a little over-the-top and too extreme. We didn't want to call attention to the look, so after trying a few different looks, we came up with the one that was correct. A look that had a Technicolor-like feel, but was a little "off normal".

Once I get the skin right, everything else seems to fall into place

- Mark Todd Osborne -

Some directors will bring in a "look book" at the start of the film and that's a good way for me to quickly get inside the mind of the director and what he or she likes to see regarding color and contrast. This was not the case for It Follows. We discussed each scene and talked about what we were trying to accomplish in regards to the mood and tone and created a look that was appropriate scene by scene. It was a great experience and one that I hope to have again soon.

The film was shot with Alexa, and I really enjoyed Michael's framing and the variety of colors he used in his art direction and lighting. The movie has a "timeless" feeling, in that they used props from all eras (older TV sets, etc...). He gave me a great palette to work with and I got to further enhance the look, stylistically. I started creating a LUT that got us close to what was on the digital neg and from there, began the fine-tuned crafting of each image. I worked in the Log toolset in P3 space. I do work with printer lights quite often and It Follows was no exception.

Favorite shots

One of my favorite shots in the movie is when they go to this old, abandoned house and as they're walking up to it, our lead character, played by Maika Monroe, looks back and briefly stares at the camera to see what's behind her shoulder. That moment is such a beautiful image in the film and IS the film. When I first saw it, I said: "Guys, this is your poster!" Because that one single frame says it all. That sinking feeling you get when you think something is following you, but you cannot see it. 

I also like the scene where she is strapped to the wheelchair. This is the first scene that we began setting and creating our looks for the movie. It has that perfect blend of feeling both 1950s and contemporary at the same time.

Pool Sequence

In the end pool sequence, we gave it a very ominous, darkish-blue feeling to accentuate the horror that was taking place. It’s a layered process that involves first balancing out the scene as shot, with nice, rich skin tone. Then subtracting the red/adding the blue to get the right look without it looking like a wash or a tint. The trick is to keep the skin tone intact within that “look”, otherwise, it looks like you just threw a layer of blue over the whole scene. In life, you still see colors around you on a cloudy day. Those colors are just muted on the cloudy day, not as vibrant, but they don’t disappear completely.

Consistent shots

I do not color any movie the same as I colored the one before. Each movie moves and breathes differently and you have to attack it according to how it was lit, framed and exposed. Once we have the looks set for each scene of the movie, my job is to keep every shot consistent within those scenes and make sure that it flows smoothly, from the shot, keeping the viewer's attention on the story being told.

I always go through the entire movie to make sure that the saturation level we set at the beginning follows through until the last reel of the film. I also usually keep my whites clean unless there is a motivation to add color to them, such as sunlight coming in through a window. Then, of course, there might be a bit of a “sunny” feel to the white highlights.

I do work with printer lights quite often and It follows was no exception!

- Mark Todd Osborne -

Overall, every scene should look like it belongs to the same movie unless there's a reason to go outside of the world you've created in a particular scene or moment. That being said, it's just a matter of making sure all scenes look like they are from the same "world" that you have created. It's quite a shock to the audience if there is a shot or scene that suddenly looks "out of place" from the film they've been watching unless that is the director's desired intention. But, sometimes, there is a reason to have different saturation levels within different scenes.

Skin tones

For me, skin tone is the absolute most important thing in the frame. Once I get the skin right, everything else seems to fall into place. I generally like a warm, yellowish glow for most skin types. But since this film had a dark, ominous look to it, it was more appropriate to let skin tones go a little bit more "rosy" than I normally would. It did fit the atmosphere of the film.

As for skin tones, it should be there already in the digital neg once you’ve correctly balanced the image. If, for some reason, the skin tone is still not pleasing (like pale skin, or skin that’s too ruddy & red) that’s when I apply an HSL key to adjust accordingly to the light in the shot. There are many times I have to “soften” skin with a diffusion key or draw a shape around a blemish, then blend & track it in. I also find myself throwing on Power Windows as a spot light on just the face, in order to lift shadows in the eyes or bring them out a bit to separate them from the background.

Mark Todd Osborne

All images and clips copyright © 2016 Visit Films / Another World Entertainment

I only got involved with this film during the post-production process. I was assigned the project through my employee, Technicolor, in London and met the DP, David Tattershall a few weeks before we were due to grade. David had brought some images on his laptop that he took on the shoot. This gave me an early insight into what he wanted to do in the grade and we discussed the look we wanted to go for.

I personally enjoy playing with the different natural colours that this kind of production design gives us. Wonderful natural light, lavish costumes and gorgeous set designs gave us a lovely base to work from. Although this show was shot digital, my general technique was to aim for a classic film look. 

I’d rather set the tone of the shot using the skin and deal with any colour issues that arise around that separately

- Paul Ensby -

Grading technique

We graded from ARRIRAW Log files and added a proprietary LUT that I trimmed based on the latest Kodak film stock made. This became a favourite of mine and I subsequently used it on other projects. The contrast curve and saturation mirror 35mm film nicely.  

READ: Mitch Bogdanowicz about LUTs

I enjoy working with the filmic Log toolset. This way I keep the natural balance of colours throughout the shadows, mids and highlights on the first pass. My first pass is always kept very simple, using Log printer lights, saturation and subtle contrast tweaks. From there I review, take notes and prepare for the second pass which involves a lot more secondary work. Add to that, any kind of mix of hue, sat, curves, keying, windowing etc. whatever is needed, really. I try not to overcomplicate the grade unnecessarily but using windows can be incredibly helpful in making the image more interesting or lifting areas which otherwise would be lost.

Mostly, we tried to keep the general look rich and lush but obviously certain scenes lent themselves to be a colder or darker palette. I always try and ensure we have achieved the right balance throughout the beginning, middle, and end of the film in terms of colour and light. Often, we need to review the whole film a couple of times through the process to know we have achieved the correct overall feel.

Fantasy sequence

Only during the fantasy sequence in the final tragic scene did we introduce an unnatural colour scheme and defocused the edges of the image for effect. The reason was to tell the audience the scene was a ‘flash forward’ in time. Here, I would accentuate a particular colour whilst removing other colours from the palette – creating more of an unnatural wash – far different to anything else in the movie. The director was also looking to introduce more camera movement to a lot of scenes and in this final scene, we often introduced a subtle camera push in or out to make the shots a little more dramatic. This was a very important moment in the movie so we spent a lot of time making this scene just right.

Balcony scene

In the famous balcony scene at night, we were keeping a natural darkness whilst introducing power windows to help train the eye into the correct areas of the frame which is an important skill to master. A combination of cool moonlight and warm candlelight is always a nice look and this scene looks beautiful.

The first point of reference

We tried to keep natural flesh tones whilst saturating the overall colour to make the image shine. Skin tones are literally the first point of reference for every scene. I always try and keep these consistent and they are an excellent barometer of how the scene wants to naturally look like from the shoot. I start on the 'master' shot of each scene - grab a still and constantly reference to this to match skin and other colours.

I try not to mess too much with skin if I want to keep it natural looking. I’d rather set the tone of the shot using the skin and deal with any colour issues that arise around that separately. I’m also not a huge fan of keying but I use it when I have no other option. I’d rather get there using cleaner Log or sat curve controls. 

I enjoy the challenge of doing subtle beauty fixes around eyes using a window with slight blur or lifting contrast. Also, if a shot is soft I tend to avoid sharpening the whole image but just concentrate on the actual part of the image we want in focus. 

Paul Ensby

All images and clips copyright © 2016 Amber Entertainment

During pre-production, I remember DP, Philippe Le Sourd getting in touch with me regarding the best format to use on this commercial. He was shooting with the Alexa and wanted to know if they should shoot ProRes or ARRIRAW. I strongly suggested ARRIRAW considering the amount of post that was involved and also the greater details in highlights and lows. But at the time, the ARRIRAW was a lot more expensive to work with throughout production and post.

During the first session, we referenced a few spots that Fabien Baron had directed: Giorgio Armani 'Acqua Di Gio' and Calvin Klein 'Collection'. These references were used more as a warm up, as the Encounter spot was a new fragrance so we needed to have a new vision and look for this product.

The sweet spot is hard to get but by slowly adjusting the curve you'll find it

- Damien Van Der Cruyssen -

A visual treat

From the beginning, Fabien's vision was to make a scene that could have been taken from a movie. A visual treat more than a commercial. The color palette was found pretty quickly, and I think the palette is what makes it special. 

The main objective was to make a very moody and interesting look that was sensual and mysterious but not menacing or scary. It's a very dark spot and what I would call a silvery night. The amount of saturation is very low and the colors are very restricted, yet not monochromatic.

As per Fabien's vision, this should look like a sequence taken from a movie so the look had to be very unified and consistent throughout the spot. I usually use the snapshot function or wipe every shot with the master reference shot, to make sure they all stay consistent. It's important to always have a sort of double proof, so I use the hero beauty shot to match everything and then I use the surrounding shots to check the consistency.

Grading technique

I work mostly on Baselight, and I started the session without pre-balancing the shots. We established the look on a few shots and then matched it all. 

Sometimes I'll use the AlexaV3_ K1S1_Log to Rec709 LUT, but on this, I probably used a film grade or curve to get the Log to Rec709 stretch. The curve controls are insanely powerful, and when not using a LUT, this is where I do my main look. I also use curves at the back end when doing minor tweaks because it's more precise than the video grade or film grade. 

READ: Mitch Bogdanowicz about LUTs

To me separate passes are something from the past and the last resort

- Damien Van Der Creuyssen -

I think the level of darkness was the most challenging part of this job. The amount of contrast and black level were adjusted and changed so that it would play nicely on multiple platforms. We had four sessions where we went back and forth with the levels. Playing it safe and lifting the blacks was not a solution, and we certainly didn't want to lose details and have the picture completely buried.

Beauty

We wanted the skin tones very desaturated so it would fit very well with the dark grey night, and they were isolated in every shot to be matched as close as possible. I used a Lum to Lum S-curve, kept the blacks dark and stretched the gamma. The sweet spot is hard to get but by slowly adjusting the curve you'll find it.

I used the curve to clip the highlights at a low level using a luminance curve in both the background and the skin tone, which is the reason why it looks very silvery. But it's a controlled clipping so for some elements I added another layer unclipped to add a bit of shine. I think it fits the mood very well, but it's very unusual for an American beauty/fragrance brand. I also enhanced the contrast in her hair and lifted the skin tones a bit.

I only remember one exterior shot where we used a window and a few key frames, and that was because Fabien wanted to increase the headlights on a rock when the car arrives at the house.

On beauty work, we tend to over analyze and put windows everywhere. At the same time, I hate when clients walk in my room asking for three different passes before we've even graded the first shot. To me, separate passes are something from the past and the last resort. The picture will always look better in one pass.

Damien Van Der Cruyssen

All images and clips copyright © 2016 Baron + Baron

The director, Sean Thompson, wanted a warm sensual look for the spot, with a sense of gold permeating throughout. The colour reference that Sean had in mind for this was the desert fight scene from Kingdom of Heaven, directed by Ridley Scott. The challenge was to get all of the footage looking as though it was during the ‘magic hour’, when for example the opening of the commercial was shot at midday. Also, even though we went for a heavy golden look, I had to make sure it looked clean and sleek at the same time.

LUTs

The spot was shot on Alexa with anamorphic lenses, and graded on DaVinci Resolve. I sometimes use LUTs in my grade because that gives the picture more depth and make it look more cinematic, less digital. If utilising LUTs, I like to blend them through, so that I’m left with maybe only 5 or 10 percent of the intensity of the LUT. 

READ: Mitch Bogdanowicz about LUTs

I find that with all the digital cameras nowadays everything is very flat, especially the skin tones, so I'm using certain LUTs that help the skin tone (giving it more colour and volume).

Colour influences perception, sometimes in an obvious manner and sometimes in far subtler and unexpected ways

- Simona Cristea -

Set your levels right

One of the first rules when you train as a colourist is to set your levels right. When I first started grading, about 14 years ago when obviously we were working predominantly on film, the first step in a grade was 'Neg matching'. Meaning you would bring your neg's RGB levels to a correct point in the whites and blacks (with no crushing and no clipping). That would allow you to start with a balanced picture. An exception being when certain coloured filters or lights were used.

The same still applies today, only that when working with a digital picture rather than film, it can be trickier because sometimes the footage that we get is not straight from the camera and it might have been already compressed into a QT prores, therefore not having all the range to work with. This is why it is always important to provide your colourist with RAW files, allowing the maximum range within which to work.

When working on the RED or RAW files, etc, I sometimes use the camera settings option in Resolve to change the exposure or get more info in the blacks or highlights. Then, I use the primary colour corrector to set the levels right. And yes, it's very important to start the grade with a good balanced picture because it is the only way you can get the most out of the picture (and know what your limitations are as well).

The golden look

After I set my picture balance right, I start working on the look that the director and the DOP aim for. With this particular film ‘Legacy’, it was all about the golden sunset look. I like to work on the overall picture, and I find that this way the look is more natural, not so 'Instagram'. Having said that, on the Legacy film I selected the highlights and added a touch of warmth in them, as I was trying to recreate the warm late afternoon summer sun. I also used few subtle vignettes throughout, to make the picture look a bit more cosy and ad more depth.

I kept a good healthy contrast that complements the lovely anamorphic flares from the camera. To help enhance the cinematic look I also added a touch of grain in the picture. I find that it's always great to add some texture into the clean digital images.

In general, I use the vectors and qualifiers a lot, also lots of windows, the contrast and the amazing midtone detail both in the DaVinci Resolve primaries.

Skin tones

I like to start working towards a look in small steps, as I find it very important to keep good skin tones in my grades. With a golden look this can be a bit tricky, as in order to create it you need to find a fine balance of yellows and reds. 

I find that with a lot of digital cameras, skin can often look really grey and flat, so I like to add colour and some depth into the skin. I think that one of the most important things is to always having good skin tones and ensuring that they work with the rest of the picture. Basically if the picture is lit with a blue light, I think its fine to have cool skin tones, it looks natural. 

The briefs are different for different brands and types of films, from the translucid skins of high fashion models to the nice peachy skins of pampers babies. One colour that always creeps into the skin tones is green and I find that it is a very delicate balance of removing that and not making it look too magenta.

Colour influences perception, sometimes in an obvious manner and sometimes in far subtler and unexpected ways. Fundamentally, what we’re always contending with are levels of hue, saturation, lift, gamma and gain. The balance of these and their effect can on a subjective level be quite finite but there are some accepted and proven conventions to the psychology of colour, that as individuals all of us generally adhere to, in so much as eliciting similar emotional responses; bright & warm equals happy, cold equals sad.

Colour can be used to associate a positive or negative tone, make us hungry, encourage feelings of calmness or energy, etc. Clever advertising and marketing executives are of course aware of this.

When you’re an established colourist and working at a certain level, it’s all about the fine details. Nowadays with a plethora of apps and software available it’s not too tricky to add a funky look to a picture but in my opinion if a grade looks as though it was done on an app, there’s not much value to it.

I always try to stay true to what the cinematographer had in mind when he shot the film, and go from there. I would also say that it is very important to be interested in cinematography and photography in general. To continue to learn and be inspired.

The technical side is a large part of the craft, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the pipeline, which will give you confidence in handling any job. Social and communication skills are also very important.

Simona Cristea

All images and clips copyright © 2016 Cake Group / Dark Energy

Paul Thomas Anderson was getting closer to the final stage of his movie The Master, and the question of the DI came up. For how much he wanted to release the movie only in film form, the distributor needed the digital DCI for general distribution. Most of the theaters at that point where converting to digital projection and it was imperative for the distributor to fill the seats. 

I met Anderson during the final stages of the editing, did some VFX pulls (there are a grand total of three effects and two opticals in the movie) and we started to talk about how to approach the final DI. We wanted to work in real-time, and at that point in time we could work in 4K but the platform we had (Quantel Pablo) was not fast enough, so, we went on and built a full 4K Linux Resolve for this task.

The challenge

The challenge for us was to copy the 65mm answer print that he was timing in the lab. We have a room in FotoKem where we can screen the 5perf 65mm prints and I sat with Lab Timer Dan Muscarella to watch the prints go by during the part of the color timing. We did some research and calibrated the film emulation LUT to the 65mm contact print to better represent the final answer print, we did some tests with Dan and were ready to work. The 35mm was scanned from the original negative and the 65mm was scanned from the 65mm cut IP.  

The feel of a 1960s movie

For the look of the movie, I searched through images of films from the 50s and 60s, to see how the film emulsion was developed at that moment in history, and how the lenses were deforming the image. The set of lenses and cameras, if I remember correctly was the one used for Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey. The idea behind it was to have the audience feel like they were looking at a 1960s movie, not a 2000s movie that looked like the 60s. Most of it was done in camera, and we were very careful to preserve it during the digital process. I sat with Dan during the screening of the answer prints and he sat with me during the color timing. 

We did the color mostly with a logarithmic color correction, pre-matching the 65- and 35mm scans then got closer to the answer print and refined it with Dan and Paul Thomas Anderson in the room. We spent a few hours in the same scene adding and taking away printer points of corrections until the feel for the scene was about right. 

READ: Dan Muscarella about Printer Lights

The Master has a certain aura to it that you cannot describe but feel. It is a clever use of light and backlight that emphasizes the relationship between him and the disciple, and the color had to obey that statement.

The idea was to have the audience feel like they were looking at a 1960 movie, not a 2000 movie that looked like the ’60

- Walter Volpatto -

Technically, I used Log offset controls (or printerlights) for the most part, and just a touch of saturation and contrast to better blend some 35mm negative with some of the 65mm IP scenes. Although I used pretty much only logarithmic corrections, there was this one scene where the wall was a bit too close to the color of the subject. We isolated the wall and ever so slightly changed the color a bit. 

Paul Thomas Anderson is a fan of trying, playing and trying something just a bit different, and then playing again. He is very visual and he likes to see different options even if they are just a touch different from each other. 

We also have moments in the movie where a color tone plays a role in the psyche of the main character. If you think about the scene in the lab when he drinks the exposure chemicals, those are very strong colors and we went a bit further from the print on those occasions.

Skin tones

I needed to be really consistent throughout the movie about the skin color of all the three main actors, and we were going back and forth through the reels to constantly checking their coherency. I never use secondary correction for skin tones, as I’m under the assumption that the director of photography put a light in the set for a reason. And most of the time, that reason is to make the face of the subject to fall in a very specific place. So in my timing, I always want to go to the color of the skin tone we establish with the minimum amount of correction possible (more often than not it's just an Log offset) and see how the rest of the world plays. 

Even if I have to put a window there, I will still try to use a logarithmic offset or a white color balance to put it where I like it. I always feel that a secondary correction (or vector, whatever the machine calls it) will reduce the amount of subtle variations that exist in the natural skin, and make everything look a little too plastic to my eyes. Having said that, no power windows have been harmed in the making of this movie. 

I’m not a fan of looks, but I’m a huge fan of representing and capturing the reality as it is. Letting the audience be dragged into the movie's storytelling without being bombarded by stimulus. 65mm is a great format and I love digital cameras (Alexa is my favorite), but I find the large format are still a step above all. 

When the Blu-ray master coloring was done, I played the final DCP movie with Kostas, the Color Timer, and he sat with Paul Thomas Anderson again to give a slightly different interpretation for the Blu-ray. So they are somewhat the same and different at the same time. 

Walter Volpatto

All images and clips copyright © 2016 Annapurna Pictures

I came on board with the production in early 2014, and I met with George Miller, the director, and talked about what the look could be like. It was amazing to get such an open brief which was essentially "it should be saturated and graphic, and the night scenes should be blue". The main reason for this is quite interesting. George has been watching 30 years of other post-apocalyptic films and noticed that they all use the same bleached and de-saturated look. We knew we didn't want to make yet another film like that, so we had to find a way to make it saturated and rich.

The human brain focuses about 80% attention on a character's eyes, so we wanted make sure they were clear and vivid in every shot

- Eric Whipp -

The other aspect was to keep each frame as graphic as possible. When it came to the night scenes, we experimented with silvery looks and photo-realistic looks but found that the graphic rich blue night look was the best option for the film.

Grit in the image

I watched all the original films again before starting just to get some grounding of the series. The one thing I was very conscious of was to make sure there was some sort of "grit" to the image. We didn't want to make an overly plastic or fake looking saturated image, there needed to be some sort of rawness in the look as well. In general, one of the aspects of the look was to apply a lot of sharpness. We liked how it made the image look sharp and how it often brought out some grit in the image. Each shot was sharpened independently and often we sharpened just certain parts of the frame more than others to help draw attention to specific areas.

Because the film mostly takes place out on the desert road, we knew it could get visually boring very quickly. Which is again the reason for going with a rich colourful palette. Watching 2 hours of de-saturated desert tones would be dull. Once there was a rough cut of the film, we looked at the scenes and worked out how we could break up the visuals to create some variety in looks and also how to differentiate the landscapes and story points. Every time I worked on a shot, I kept saying to myself "make it look like a graphic novel".

The basic balance

The film was shot on the Arri Alexa in Raw. We used an LUT to convert the C-Log into P3 colour space, which also had a bit of a film emulation baked into it. We had someone from Deluxe provide several options for LUTs which we chose after testing. The Alexa camera has such great dynamic range which was amazing for a film like this, as I was very rarely struggling to find detail in a shot. With most of the shots we did a basic balance using printer lights first, then we jumped into video-style grading tools after that. I always worked under the LUT, but used traditional video tools such as lift, gamma, and gain. I also used some soft keys to add contrast to certain parts of the image which helped retain detail in extremes.

READ: Mitch Bogdanowicz about LUTs

Eye scan

Every shot in the film has been worked quite hard in the grade. George is big on what he's phrased "eye-scan". The audience should not have to search the frame to know what's important in the image. We would shape each shot so your eye knew where to look and you saw the important story points in any given frame. We used standard techniques like vignettes or shading parts of the frame down to draw your eye to what's important. The overall experience should be smooth and even though levels may be changing across cuts, the idea is that you shouldn't notice it.

For each look in the film, I made sure there was a connection between them. Whether it was a contrast level or a saturation level, the scenes needed to flow. Whenever I'd work on a scene, I'd always go back and watch the scenes with audio to make sure I wasn't missing anything important and that it flowed across the cut.

The looks and expressions of the actors

Like with any film, the main objective is to match the skin tones of the characters across the cuts. On a few occasions, we would help out an actor who might have had a pimple or something on that shoot day. The film was shot over 6 months, so it's quite normal to see blemishes appear across the cut. We simply tracked their face and smoothed out the skin to remove the acne.

We also spent a lot of time on the eyes of the characters. There's very little dialogue in the film, and a lot of the performances come from the looks and expressions of the actors. The human brain focuses about 80% attention on a character's eyes, so we wanted to make sure they were clear and vivid in every shot. I essentially rotoscoped every eyeball in the film and added contrast and sharpness to them. This made the eyes vivid and helped draw your attention to their performances.

The night scenes are 95% completely blue, so it obviously affects the skin tones as well. I kept 5% of the original colour in the scenes and occasionally we pushed a colour for story reasons such as some blood or a green plant.

Every time I worked on a shot, I kept saying to myself "make it look like a graphic novel"

- Eric Whipp -

Day-For-Night

One of the toughest parts of Fury Road for me was working out the right look for the Day-For-Night. The incredible Cinematographer, John Seale and VFX Supervisor, Andrew Jackson had worked out a technique of shooting 2 stops over-exposed on the day shoot. The theory behind this is quite simple. With an over-exposed image (without clipping highlights), we can expose the shot back down in the colour suite, grade the image to create the Night Blue look. Then we can selectively bring out any detail from the shadows that we wish, with virtually no noise. This enabled me to create very graphic contrasty images with detail exactly where I wanted it, and a fall off into shadows where I didn't want it. Almost every D4N shot was basically roto'd and had the sky replaced to create the look. It took a few months of fiddly work, but I think the look is different and graphic.

Challenge with the interior driving shots

One of the other trickier elements of the film was grading the interior driving shots. As you can imagine, shooting in the bright desert sun, if you expose for the dark interior of the car, then the background outside the window is severely over-exposed.

We wanted to always retain detail and saturation both inside the car and outside the car. This meant a lot of keying and detailed shape work to keep both sides of the exposure looking rich and saturated. For the most part, I approached shapes in 2 ways. The first was to use very soft shapes as a way to shade and shape the image. The second was to do very precise shapes which usually required a lot of tracking and roto'ing, such as eyeballs.

The redemption scene

There's a scene in the film called "redemption". It's a scene where Max comes up with a plan and presents it to the other characters. They all discuss the plan and decide to go ahead with it. However, it's a dangerous plan, and they don't know if it will work or not.

The one thing I was very conscious of was to make sure there was some sort of "grit" to the image

- Eric Whipp -

For this scene, we wanted to break away from the standard blue skies that we had seen in the other action scenes previously. Instead, we changed all the skies in the colour suite to a slightly stormy looking sky. The characters are lit in full sunlight, but there's a stormy environment behind them. The idea behind this was to create a mood where you're not sure if it's going to be a nice day or a bad weather day. Helping to create an emotion with the audience that compliments the story of whether the plan will work or not.

This meant that for every shot in the scene, we needed to replace the sky with a new stormy sky, one for each angle the camera faces. The ability to replace skies in Baselight is amazing. It's fast and interactive, so George is able to see instantly and can frame it how ever he wants, or switch it out at the drop of a hat. On a technical level, it meant that every sky needed to be tracked to the background of the shot and put behind the characters which required a lot of detail work, but it was worth it in the end.

VFX

If there's a tool on the Baselight, then chances are I used it on this film. Everything from keying, curves, printer lights, shapes, sharpening, lens flares, blurs etc. The grading stacks are quite large on this film. I also like to keep every change in its own layer so I can control it separately and disable it if necessary.

I also worked very closely with VFX on this film. There are actually a lot of VFX shots in the movie, from basic wire rig removal to CG backgrounds and of course the Toxic Storm.

We were able to get mattes with every VFX shot so I was able to control specific areas of the image that were comped. For example, if there's a green screen shot of Max and the background is comped it, then it is hugely beneficial to have the matte for Max so I can adjust him independently to the background. It saves a lot of time.

Eric Whipp

All images and clips copyright © 2016 Warner Bros. Pictures