EXPERIMENTING WITH COLOUR CORRECTING

Whilst finalising the picture cut to our film 'Home Away From Here' I have been thinking about the colour-correcting process that will take place afterwards. I have researched a wide range of colour-correcting software and am still contemplating on which one to use. I have looked into the following-

• Magic Bullet

• DaVinci Resolve (Lite)

• Color

• FCP7 

I have watched tutorials on all of the software listed above (bar from Colour) on ho to best create the 'film-look'. As it stands, the quality of our footage for the film is very dull, grey and 'flat'. There is no real element of depth to the shots and I am making it my task to create a visually striking, deep cinematic piece. The reasons to why our film looks this way may range from the camera(s) used, to the lenses used (and lenses not used). Myself and the director wish we had used a handful of prime lenses (for example the 50mm) to achieve a shallow depth of field, especially in the interior scenes where characters' body language, facial expressions, mannerisms etc are on a high. However saying this, it would change the whole feel and style of our film. From the start, Jordan wanted a minimalistic, dull mise-en-scene that reflects the main protagonist's life. 

The pictures below display the before and after results of colour-correcting in FCP7. The results are surprisingly effective as they are in their early stages of development. 

Scene 1, shot 1

Scene 1, shot 2

Scene 1, shot 3

Below are screenshots displaying how I achieved the results shown above -

To add the widescreen effect that gives the piece a cinematic and more professional look that is seen in many films today, I highlighted the videoclip in the timeline and selected 'Effects - Video Filters - Matte - Widescreen'

I then began the process of colour-correcting. Firstly, I duplicated the clip by selecting the original, holding down 'Shift & alt' and dragged the clip upwards to create a duplicate.

Secondly, I highlighted the two clips and applied the 'Colour Corrector 3-way' to each one.

(Effects - Colour Correction - Color Corrector 3-way)

Thirdly, I highlighted the top videoclip and reduced the saturation level bar to its lowest point. Afterwards, I right-clicked the clip and selected 'Composite Mode - Overlay' which left me with the two images and their current effects overlaid into one.

Lastly, I adjusted the levels according to the final effect I wanted to achieve. By reducing the saturation on the top clip, it meant the contrast levels were enhanced, giving me a richer, deeper picture with more detail.

Reducing the whites got rid of any over-exposed areas on the picture, apart from the sky which will need cleaning up in the future. I will research the most effective way to tone down the levels on an over-exposed white sky, as well as experimenting the '8-point garbage matte' option in FCP7 that allows me to crop a section of the frame and edit it.

By slightly increasing the black levels it gave me the contrast I wanted between the white and blacks. 

Currently, I am very pleased with what I have achieved in a short amount of time. Jordan and Joel are both very happy with the results and we    
all agree that the piece is beginning to look more of a professional standard.

Up until now I have never spent a considerable amount of time researching and performing colour-grading. Reflecting on what I have experienced over the last couple of weeks, I believe this is something that I will continue to enjoy and experiment with. I am also beginning to understand the amount of time and work that goes into colouring films, from both an amateur standard to a professional one.

The shots below display other colour-grading work I have undertook on our film so far.