Behind The Curtain – Building An HDR Ready Show Look

Open Gate Low Contrast 35mm Style Look

As you know I LOVE grading digital images to look like film, more often than not that does involve heavier contrast, dirty levels of grain and things cranked up to 11. On a recent short film project I thought I’d go for something totally opposite.

Check out the final grade below.

Every Sport a Bowling Ball

Every Sport a Bowling Ball from Sam H. Buchanan on Vimeo.

We’ll be taking a look at building the show look for Every Sport a Bowling Ball a hilarious short film by DOP Tom German and Director Sam Buchanan.

I’m working in a fully color-managed TCam / E-Gamut timeline, think of this as similar to the DaVinci Wide Gamut working space but the Baseilght version.

I’m staying well away from any LUTs that have baked in-camera transforms these days so our look is going to be “HDR Ready” but also nice and filmic.

My goal was to add 35mm Kodak tones and texture to add a nostalgic warm look but also keep the shadows open, the image sharp and the colors natural.

In today’s Insight we’ll cover:

• Organization of my Show Look Layer In Baselight
• Adding Warmth, Density, and Interesting Saturation (lots of saturation)
• Adding a “Grit” layer that can be blended back to taste
• Adding A 4:3 matte as icing on the cake

Check out the video below to dive right in!

-Dan