Mailbag_Transistor_Banner

What Can DPs Do To Make Final Color Easier?

August 23, 2018

Pat, Robbie and Mixing Light Contributor Joey D'Anna discuss what can DPs and onset staff do to make the final color grade easier?


Series

From The MailBag Episode 56

What Decisions On Set Can Help Final Color?

We’ve all been there – you start to grade a project and after a few moments you ask yourself ‘why did they shoot it like that?’ Or maybe ‘what were they going for in this scene?’ Or more often than not ‘ arrrgh…why did they bake the monitoring LUT into the footage!’

It’s common that there is a lack of communication between production and post – especially for smaller projects.  However, most people want to be better at their jobs and make projects look the best they can.

We recently got an interesting question from member Karl who is a DoP (DP depending on your preference) who is curious how in his role as a DP and in general on-set staff can help final color but also curious how much of his onset decisions should get baked into the shots he’s capturing:

I’m primarily a DoP and would really like to know what more I can do to help the grading process whilst the production is still up and running. What kind of decisions should i make that would help the colorist? How much should I commit the look ‘In Camera’?”

Yes, There Are Lots of Things That Productions Can Do To Help Final Color!

Not surprisingly, we do get a lot of questions from DPs and other on-set professionals asking similar questions.  The truth is communication plays a big role in the success of nailing a look and getting the most out of final color, but there are quite a few technical issues that can help too – like not baking in on-set color decisions, shooting Raw etc.

In this episode, we’re joined by Mixing Light contributor Joey D’Anna who graciously filled in for Dan who took on 20 jobs and was a bit overwhelmed. Joey has some great ideas on this subject and it was a fun and lively discussion and should make for an interesting & entertaining listen.

Do You Want Team Mixing Light To Answer A Question?

Remember, if you have questions that you’d like to get an opinion on please use the contact form.

Your questions can be aesthetic, technical or even client related. We’d love to hear from you, and your question might make future episodes of From The MailBag.

Enjoy the MailBag!

-Robbie


Member Content

Sorry... the rest of this content is for members only. You'll need to login or Join Now to continue (we hope you do!).

Need more information about our memberships? Click to learn more.

Membership options
Member Login

Are you using our app? For the best experience, please login using the app's launch screen


1,000+ Tutorials to Explore

Get full access to our entire library of over 1,100+ color tutorials for an entire week!


Start Your Test Drive!
Loading...