Text 9293, 87 rader
Skriven 2006-10-12 20:19:08 av Shabaz
Ärende: Re: Further B5:TLT update from jms
==========================================
From: "Shabaz" <shabaz.x@gmail.com>

Amy Guskin wrote:
> >> On Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:21:01 -0400, Chris Patterson wrote
> (in article <chris_s_patterson-577BDF.16210112102006@individual.net>):
>
> > In article <1160674061.368062.166480@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com>,
> >  "Shabaz" <shabaz.x@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> To make a bit of a tangential aside, about something I'm pretty sure
> >> I'm one of the few that cares about it; I'm personally kind of curious
> >> what will be done with the colour grading.
> >
> > Hey, Shabaz -- Can you explain what you mean by color grading? Is that
> > the effect that is used a lot on BSG to saturate/modify the colors of
> > the landscape in the exterior shots, in order to make the same basic
> > locations look like the different colony planets?
> >
> > If so, I gotta disagree -- I'm getting kind of tired of that effect. It
> > hurts my eyes. It makes me think my TV is dying.  <<
>
> I'm with you, Chris.  With a good story, and a decent budget for professional
> filming, I don't think you need gimmicks like that.  And certainly not when
> other similar shows are (over)using them!
>
> For a _real_ abuse of that technique, see Battlefield Earth.  Now
> everything's blue!  Now everything's yellow!  Blue!  Yellow!
>
> >> Besides, I think if it were used on B5:TLT, it would make it look *less*
> > distinctive among today's SF television, not *more*. <<
>
> Word.
>
> Amy

Maybe I wasn't expressing myself clearly enough, but colour grading is
no less a "gimmick technique" than good lighting, or good set design
is. It is used on just about everything (including original B5), if
only to give things a consistent look in terms of colour, saturation,
brightness, etc.

It's just a tool, and digital grading in particular is an incredibly
versatile and useful tool. I was merely expressing my curiousity and
wishes about how they would use the tool. If they would use it wasn't
really my question, since I'm almost certain they will.

And I've only seen maybe 4 episodes so far of BSG (have the first
season on DVD, but haven't really sat down with it yet), but I
personally think a lot of what I've seen of it is shot beautifully. I
know they really oversaturate the post-nuclear Caprica scenes, and
really bring out the yellows, which indeed is probably done as part of
a digital colour grading process, but the way they use it makes story
sense, and the over saturation never struck me as a gimmick. But to
give a less extreme example, they do a good job giving certain scenes a
really nice cold look on the battlestar. Now, this is mostly done by
lighting, but they might've punched up the blue a bit in those scenes,
slightly muted some other colours, and give a really nice polished look
to certain shots. Or punch up certain colours a bit in other shots to
make them look a lot warmer.

However, using BSG as a reason for why my wish for experimentation with
the grading shouldn't be granted, is a bit like saying a wish about
experimentation with the camera work shouldn't be granted because of
BSG sometimes annoying use of shaky camera work. It's just one use of
the camera; the camera itself is merely a tool and can be used in many
different ways to give many equally distinctive looks.

It's a tool that can be as subtle or as a over the top as you want it
to be. What I was getting at with "heavy handed" was that instead of
merely using it to get various shots in one scene looking consistent in
colour temparature, saturation level, brightness, etc., it is used to
pro-actively add a certain look to a scene. And the more modern digital
grading allows a more targeted way of grading now, that can create
looks as specific as you want them to do be.

Finally, to use a counter example of really good digital grading, look
at Lord of the Rings. It's a triumph of grading. The super lush greens
that have been brought out in the Shire, the slightly dulled colours
you encounter in Rivendell, the slow muting of colour as the characters
enter the lands of Men. It was done lovingly, with an artistic eye, and
an eye for what works or enhances the narrative, and it works.

-Shabaz


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