Star Wars Episode II: March of the Separatists (Released)(v2 a WIP) — Page 4

I think it’s time to discuss the color grading for my Episode II edit, as I think it’s in need of a boost! The last one wasn’t bad, per se. But comparing the color grading of this edit with the other Star Wars edits I’ve done, it’s beginning to stick out like a sore thumb. The color grade that is currently released is somewhere in one of my hundreds of USB flash drives, so I’m gonna be lazy instead and leave the link to my Episode II trailer, which features the same color grade:

https://youtu.be/4QuAjuR_ttc

In the trailer, you’ll notice that the grade is extremely yellow, and overly desaturated. This was my sad attempt to give Episode II a more cinematic look. Fortunately, I’ve gotten to that point where I’m close to perfecting the cinematic look that I want (If I haven’t perfected it already). I think v2’s color grading is gonna be a real nice change from v1. While I can’t get screencaps for v1, I can get screencaps for the blu-ray, so I will be comparing my latest grade with the blu-ray instead. If you want to compare v1, go watch the trailer in the link up above. It’ll give you enough of an idea.

Here’s my 2011 blu-ray:

…And here’s my latest grade:

Much like v3.5 of my Episode I edit, Episode II is also getting both the S-Curve treatment as well as the orange look. And I think it’s even more appropriate for Episode II because it’s such a warm movie, especially when we get to Tattooine and Geonosis. I’ll let the screencaps speak for themselves. You can check them out in the spoiler tag below:

Eyepainter, your regrades are all getting really nice. You’ve got a real talent for this. Are they each a single universal regrade that you apply to the entire film, or are you doing it scene by scene?

Yeah, that looks great right from jump. Big improvement!

EddieDean said:

Eyepainter, your regrades are all getting really nice. You’ve got a real talent for this. Are they each a single universal regrade that you apply to the entire film, or are you doing it scene by scene?

Most of the time, I do it universally. Once in a blue moon, however, continuity does become a problem and I’ll fix the issue by clip. I had one continuity issue at the end of Anakin and Padme’s droid factory infiltration where the blues conflicted with the reds due to my own changes on the breaking of Anakin’s lightsaber. I went into clip mode and changed the blue tint to red, fixing the continuity error.

Other than that, the grade is on the whole timeline.

Still getting my voice back, so I decided to fool around with the color grading for Episode II again! After completing Episode I, I decided to see if Episode II’s newest grade could be improved using the same grading ideas I got from Episode I. I’m not sure if this is an improvement or not, especially since I and II were both shot differently. Episode I was shot mostly on 35mm film (I think), while Episode II was a digital shoot from start to finish! So what might’ve worked for Episode I may not work so well on Episode II. I’m just putting that up, since I have no idea if this is an improvement or a step backward.

Here’s the current grade:

Here’s my readjusted grade:

Lemme know your thoughts! The rest is under the spoiler tag below!

Making one last hurrah with the color grading. Seeing if I can push the grade just another step forward. Here’s the grade as it currently stands:

Here’s the readjustment:

The rest can be found in the spoiler tag below! Let me know what you think!

That’s better across the board.

I went to the Skywalker homestead back in 2009 when on holiday in Tunisia, and your grade is much more accurate to how it actually was. The walls are white paint, not off-white. Picture.

EddieDean said:

That’s better across the board.

I went to the Skywalker homestead back in 2009 when on holiday in Tunisia, and your grade is much more accurate to how it actually was. The walls are white paint, not off-white. Picture.

Wow! I didn’t expect to get the walls right, but that’s remarkable! I think that’s a good sign that I don’t need to play around with the color grading anymore.

I’m gonna work on the subtitles and sound editing next, and once those are done, I think v2 will be ready for release!

Doing some more tinkering with the color grading in preparation for my submission to fanedit.org! Here’s the progress I’ve made so far. Let me know what you think and if there’s anything that might be in need of improvement:

Wow. I’ve been gone a while!

Before I continue, I have an announcement to make. I just got accepted at an online baking school and I will be attending classes tomorrow! 🥳

This is part of the reason I’ve been quiet here lately, and why my responses and replies might get a little slow for the next year or so. I’m learning how to make delicious pastries! My apologies if classes cause any inconveniences, but I think all of you will understand why.

Now, back on topic!

After listening to NotTheDri0ds comment on the contrast, I decided to go back to the color grading on Episode II yet again, and try the same techniques I used for my Episode I v3.5 edit to see if it works again. I had problems with the image looking rather flat, but then I found out I forgot to set the gamma to 2.4, and now it looks so much better. What are your thoughts on this grade? Is it an improvement, or does it need some more work?

Congrats on the classes! Especially something that gets you away from the computer (at least kinda)!

I think they look good!

Sorry Eyepainter, I really mean this constructively and respectfully, but I personally feel like these new grades are too radical - both these examples and your Ep1 movie which I recently watched. I think they’re super saturated and quite flat, and the grain is too strong. For me, it feels like we’re really deviating from the usual look of SW, as best exemplified by the OT/ST/Mandalorian/Andor. Definitely not trying to be rude there as I really appreciate your efforts, but if it were me I’d focus on your lovely VFX changes and dial down a lot of the grading changes.

EddieDean said:

Sorry Eyepainter, I really mean this constructively and respectfully, but I personally feel like these new grades are too radical - both these examples and your Ep1 movie which I recently watched. I think they’re super saturated and quite flat, and the grain is too strong. For me, it feels like we’re really deviating from the usual look of SW, as best exemplified by the OT/ST/Mandalorian/Andor. Definitely not trying to be rude there as I really appreciate your efforts, but if it were me I’d focus on your lovely VFX changes and dial down a lot of the grading changes.

Harsh words, but I’m listening. I should note that the “lovely” VFX changes you mentioned are the grades you’re criticizing, but your point has been made. I think I mentioned earlier that I read Jeff Bartsch’s book “Edit Better,” and pretty much all the adjustments he makes are in simple dials such as saturation, contrast, offset, midtones, and shadows. I’ve entertained trying out this method, but never really did because it requires skill to get a pleasing result. However, Episode II might make for a nice first demonstration on this. I’ll see if I can cook something up with it when I’m not cooking something up in the kitchen.

Alright, here’s what I’ve cooked up. I’m not sure if the results are great, but it is a start. Let me know your thoughts!

Artan42 said:

I think I like it. AotC is a better film for the symbolism than it is for the story and the colour grading helps with that.

Glad to hear you like it, Artan! 😊

I know I said I was done with the color grading, but I have one more idea. I decided to play around with the Fusion features in DaVinci Resolve and see how they worked, and as it turns out, there’s a film grain effect on there. Naturally, I couldn’t resist. Plus, the film grain is customizable too. I was able to increase the size of the grain by about 25% to accommodate the film being shot in Super 35. I was also able to change the x and y sizes, so that the grain looks like anamorphic grain, too! The only downside is that the grain is easy to see. I had to reduce the strength down to roughly 0.35/5.00 in most clips. Even then, there’s a possibility that it’s too noticeable. I have uploaded this sample clip of the opening to give everyone an example of what the film grain looks like so far. Keep in mind that this feature is customizable, and I’m able to change the size, strength, roughness, and offset of the grain, so none of this is final. I recommend watching the video in 1080p for best results.

https://vimeo.com/791789909

I don’t know if I’ve softened up to the film grain feature on Resolve, but just for kicks, I decided to go ahead and reset the film grain back to the default settings. The only setting I decided to change, however, is the x/y grain axis to stretch it horizontally 2 to 1, giving the grain an anamorphic look. I feel that I didn’t give readers a fair idea of what the film grain looks like because of how low the setting was in the previous test. This new test shows a pretty rough estimate of what counts as “normal” to DaVinci Resolve. The results do look very grainy, and perhaps it suffers from too much compression. However, this second test does a good job of silencing those who complain about Episode II looking too clean, and I like the much dirtier aesthetic shown here. However, I’ll leave it to the rest of you to decide which one is better. For the most accurate results, I strongly recommend watching them both in 1080p, since that’s the closest to what the original file looks like at present.

Here’s the new test I’ve been entertaining:

https://vimeo.com/806533493

…And here’s the previous test.

https://vimeo.com/791789909

Let me know which one you like best.

NotTheDri0ds said:

I personally prefer the previous version. The noise on the newest one feels a bit too overbearing imo.

Very well then. I hoped it would make the film look grittier, but looking back, it suffers from looking like compression artifacts instead of grain. I’ll see if there’s another possibility out there (Perhaps a better export setting than GoPro Cineform, for example), but for now, I’ll just take it back to what it was before. Thanks for the input, Dri0ds.

Doing one last hurrah on the film grain, and if this doesn’t work, I’ll just stop fidgeting around with it altogether. On my version of Resolve, there is an offset setting that, when adjusted to the lowest settings, makes the grain visible only in the bright (or white) levels of the image and almost completely invisible in the dark (or black) levels of the image. This adds more realism to the grain, as it’s never really noticed in the darkest parts of the image. I’ve decided to demonstrate how it looks by testing out two scenes. The first test is the same one as the last three: The decoy assassination scene. However, because this scene is mostly bright, I decided to throw in a more dimly-lit scene as well to show just how close to grain-free the darker scenes are. Hence test 2 is the scene where Anakin and Obi-Wan are acting as bodyguards while Padme sleeps. As usual, I recommend watching both tests in 1080p for best results:

Film grain test part 4:
https://vimeo.com/809649643

Film grain test part 5:
https://vimeo.com/809652165

Feel free to let me know your thoughts.