MLS Store

Case study - Deep dive into my workflow through exciting projects

Project pitch

Five 15’ spots, directly broadcasted in soccer stadiums.
Creative brief :

« Color wise, open to you adding your magic.
Want it to feel cinematic but not overly stylized as we need to keep the colors
fairly accurate since the team colors are important. »

Our eye accommodates very quickly to an image : one of my first steps always consists in performing a technical conversion from log to rec709 to be able to visualize what was seen on set. Looking at the rec709 version, you might think it’s already a great improvement from the log version, and yet… it’s only when you begin to push your image to its limits that you’ll be able to know how far you can bring your grade, as Rec709 is never intended to be the final result, but rather a base for us, colorists. That’s exactly our role : to take the rec709 version and make it look even better. I always keep a straight rec709 version as a reference when building my creative grade to make sure I’m preserving the original intent.

Rule of thumb for a commercial grade :
cinematic,
colorful
and punchy

Commercial grades have to stand out and immediately grab attention : this is why you’ll often see very bold, contrasty and poppy looks when watching an ad. The colorist has to adapt to each project and determine who/what’s the main focus : in this case, our « hero » would be the team’s jerseys, and it is precisely these that I must put emphasis on. Grading for your subject and thinking of colorgrading as a way of sculpting your image ensure you don’t loose sight of what’s important, as you have to set priorities before you even start turning the first knob.

It’s easy to get tunnel visioned and spend time in meaningless details when working on a grade, so I always try to determine priorities and separate what’s important from what’s secondary. Each image is like a raw bloc that I then sculpt, starting from my foundation and then refining things. I like to work subtractively and take away elements instead of adding things on top of each other : this way I can focus on putting emphasis on the main product, building my exposure, contrast and balance around it, and then addressing anything else.

These spots were shot with a RED camera, which offers great footage quality and a sharp image that perfectly serves the purpose of commercial grades. Once my color management is set, I start building my look dev on the macro level, by creating a custom tone curve which will embody the look DNA when it comes to contrast. I like to test it out on a variety of shots and make sure it translates well across all of them, and if not, make any necessary adjustments until I’m happy with the contrast. For this project, I also created a custom palette by playing with hue and saturation shifts, so that the palette would also be applied across all shots. Some very subtle grain has been added to give more texture to the image.

Then comes color correction where I go through each individual shot to adjust exposure and balance, and if needed, make small contrast changes to compensate for any lens flare affecting the image and flattening my contrast.

A fully equipped remote grading suite for all-across the world collaborations

Each client is different : some prefer being involved at each stage of the process and be part of the creative look design, while others would rather let me work my magic on their images and only be contacted for approvals. Whatever the situation, I always adapt to each client’s preferences and try to understand their needs to provide them with the best possible collaborative experience.

My grading suite allows for any client to work with me, whether they’re based two steps away from me or at the other edge of the world. My equipment and reliable transfer solutions guarantee belief in my own process that then translates to my clients as they can feel my own confidence and be more prone to entrusting me with their next project.
For this project, I created a lookbook sent to client for approval of one of the looks. Upon approval, I was then able to move forward in absolute autonomy until I’ve reached V1, which was then transferred to the client and immediately approved.

« I am a fan of Cinematic Ektachrome.
We usually add a subtle grain and sharpening to these spots.
Nothing wild.
It should not feel like we’re trying to recreate a real film stock look.
Thanks again for working on this so quickly! »

Always keep exploring and let each new project be a way of putting in practice what you’ve learned

Each project I’m handed is an occasion to put into practice what I’ve recently learned. As an extremely curious person, I’m always searching for new things to explore, new techniques or new tools to test out within Da Vinci Resolve.
For this project, I chose to use the HSV color model as another way to think about saturation, which is the way film prints used to work : the more a color is saturated, the darker it gets. Following this rule, a color cannot be bright and very saturated at the same time. This ensures we get the sense of a deep, intense color by getting away from the « digital saturation » feel.

Here, the use of this technique really helps put emphasis on the jerseys and guide the viewer’s eye to the product in a very organic way, without relying on cheap or visible techniques. For each situation I try to find the most direct, broad and least time-consuming method as it is often what is going to provide the best results.

« Thanks for the hustle on this ! All the videos are approved, final and uploaded to broadcast. »

Empire Green Creative, prestataire pour MLS Store