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Post #1260964

Author
hairy_hen
Parent topic
4k77 - shot by shot color grading (a WIP)
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1260964/action/topic#1260964
Date created
22-Dec-2018, 1:57 PM

Yes, I know. I’m in favor of a warm look for the movie, because that’s what the prints looked like. You’ll recall that when people tried to take the yellow out of the cantina scene, I argued against doing that, because it was obviously put there on purpose, and getting rid of it would defeat the intentions of those who made the film in the first place. But in your more recent screenshots, a good deal more blue and green have been removed from the image than appears justifiable. It makes everything look strangely lifeless.

It is important to be wary of overcorrecting. It is inevitable that when trying to reverse a problem with a source, it will always end up going too far in the opposite direction at first. Everyone was always trying to take the blue out of the DVD/Bluray versions – and then when unfaded film sources finally became available, it turns out the movies tended to be a lot more blue than anyone realized. And I couldn’t tell you the number of times I’ve worked on audio sources with excessive high end, and found myself turning the treble down to try to balance them, only to overdo it and end up with a muffled and muddy sounding result. It is only after taking a step back and listening again later with fresh ears that I could hear how I’d messed it up in the opposite way, and then find a balance in between the extremes.

I believe you’re on the right track with the warm look and the overall color scheme, but I would advise caution so that you don’t overdo it. An image can appear warm without having cooler colors taken out of it so extremely. Be careful that you don’t make the picture appear lifeless in the name of chasing accuracy, that’s all I’m saying.

Editing to add: I keep forgetting that the shots you’re posting are Bluray-sourced, and not from the film print. The general crappiness of that source may be enough to explain why they look ‘off’ to me, and applying similar colors to the print source directly will probably be better. But my advice about overcorrecting is valid in pretty much all situations.