Steven Crowley March 15, 2020 Share March 15, 2020 I was curious if anyone here has tried or looked at this course? https://waqasqazi.podia.com/freelance-colorist He also does videos here on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ_4tLOd-iu4zBDApQsZZTw The class is expensive, and I'm trying to discern if it would be beneficial to me. I'm still pretty new to all of this, and I'm hoping that one of the experts here could take a look and tell me if it looks legit or if it is just a lot of hype. There are some preview videos throughout the course link. I guess what I'm saying is i just don't know what I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites
Shawn Convey March 17, 2020 Share March 17, 2020 That does seem expensive, and his "over-salemans-ship" makes me nervous for sure. I personally would also like to find a very detailed online course to take... there are a lot of great courses for getting up and running, and the Lowpost courses are also great here, (which is why I joined) but it still would be great to have another outlet for real world techniques and problem solving workflows. So many courses are simple explainers as to what a "thing" does where I would really love to find something that gets to the heart of the matter. Not sure if this is any better but this guy Warren Eagle has some decent looking courses at FXPHD which is about 1/2 the cost of the link you posted. Let me know if you find something worth while! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites
Tom Evans March 17, 2020 Share March 17, 2020 57 minutes ago, Shawn Convey said: Not sure if this is any better but this guy Warren Eagle has some decent looking courses at FXPHD Some years ago I worked as an assistant in on of the Deluxe facilities in LA for a short period and I feel the fundamental techniques in the Lowepost professional course really represent how those colorists approached their shots from the ground up, and the theory is good too. You can do whatever is expected on a really high level the day you master those techniques and have trained your eyes to see what looks good. I paid for the bundle over at FXPHD to see if I have missed something useful and I have never been so disappointed. Someone should take their license for marketing their courses as secret / insider techniques, it's simply a scam. Nothing inside-ish about what that guy teach at all, and it's super pricey. Warren got experience with many indie films, seems like a great guy and knows the buttons very well, no doubt about that, but look at his reel. You don't want that guy to teach you how to create nice images. And he certainly doesn't. Sorry, but it's seriously bad. FXPHD is a place for quality courses and I love them, but the Warren Eagle lessons doesn't belong there. I know many experienced colorists feel the same way, but keep it to themselves as Warren is a big contributor to the colorist society by arranging events and things like that. I also watched Warrens beginner lessons even though I don't see myself as a beginner anymore and I would advice any newbie to stay away from them because it's important to develop good work habits and workflows from day one, or you will for sure struggle later in your career. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites
Shawn Convey March 18, 2020 Share March 18, 2020 16 hours ago, Tom Evans said: the Lowepost professional course really represent how those colorists approached their shots from the ground up, and the theory is good too. You can do whatever is expected on a really high level the day you master those techniques and have trained your eyes to see what looks good. Thanks for your candid and honest response Tom. I admittedly have not moved on to the Color Grading Tutorials here at Lowepost yet (still concerned more with editing with the new course here and with the BMD supplied manual and tutorials) but am now looking even more forward to digging in. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites
Sam Gilling March 18, 2020 Share March 18, 2020 The Waqas guy as a good eye but that's about the only good thing I can say, looks like snake-oil otherwise. Anyone who starts a conversation (or leads their website) with their billings isn't someone I'd particularly want to associate myself with. Drinks on him, though. While the 'advanced' course on Lowepost wasn't particularly advanced, in my opinion all of the case studies that were put out a couple of years ago are still the best resource for learning how to grade anywhere on the internet and wish the site would get back to publishing more of them as it's very rare to get that level of insight from other colourists working at that level, so I'd read through those and Mixing Light's archive. Once you learn the bones of Resolve though the best way to get better is just to practice; being a good colourist isn't knowing a bunch of crazily technical methodologies; it's about applying very basic concepts in an intuitive and effective way. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites
Thomas Singh March 18, 2020 Share March 18, 2020 (edited) 39 minutes ago, Sam Gilling said: While the 'advanced' course on Lowepost It's a professional course, they're not saying it's an advanced course even though there is some advanced techniques in there too. In my opinion it's exceptionally good. To be honest, I'm a bit tired of hearing people chasing 'advanced courses', it's not about finding the most complicated techniques and node structures. It's about teaching simple methods and workflows that is used every day by professional colorists (much like you say) and that's where I see Lowepost deliver gold compared to most of the others. Remember, it' been made tons of blockbusters and thousands of creative looks with the three main color channels and brightness controls, how much more do you really need to become a good colorist? Understanding the fundamentals and the basics of color theory will really get you a long way fast. I think I've been going through all the main beginner courses that are available and they tend to jump very early into all the new and fancy tools and secondaries, probably because they know new users like to fiddle around with them. They are also very version specific, meaning most of the time is used on the new tools and not so much on the craft itself. I also agree with you that the colorist stories are very good and I tend to go back and read now and then and I always pick up new things. Edited March 18, 2020 by Thomas Singh 3 Link to comment Share on other sites
Sam Gilling March 18, 2020 Share March 18, 2020 That's my mistake on the wording, I should've checked. Am hopeful for more content from Lowepost though, some BTS was posted a while back of interviews with very talented folks so would be great to see them released down the line. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites
Shawn Convey March 19, 2020 Share March 19, 2020 11 hours ago, Thomas Singh said: They are also very version specific, meaning most of the time is used on the new tools and not so much on the craft itself. That has always been on of my issues with these types of things... more about what the knobs do and less about workflows and real world problem solving... But as I mentioned I haven't really gotten my hands dirty with the color tuts here on Lowepost and will do so in the weeks to come! Link to comment Share on other sites
Dmitriy Kuznetsov March 19, 2020 Share March 19, 2020 On 3/16/2020 at 12:28 AM, Steven Crowley said: I was curious if anyone here has tried or looked at this course? https://waqasqazi.podia.com/freelance-colorist He also does videos here on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ_4tLOd-iu4zBDApQsZZTw The class is expensive, and I'm trying to discern if it would be beneficial to me. I'm still pretty new to all of this, and I'm hoping that one of the experts here could take a look and tell me if it looks legit or if it is just a lot of hype. There are some preview videos throughout the course link. I guess what I'm saying is i just don't know what I don't know. I would prefer to buy from him a class "How to earn money";) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites
Steven Crowley March 20, 2020 Author Share March 20, 2020 On 3/19/2020 at 10:12 AM, Dmitriy Kuznetsov said: I would prefer to buy from him a class "How to earn money";) Thanks for the input everyone. This pretty much sums up what I've been thinking. I'll save the money and put it towards a BMD Mini Panel 2 Link to comment Share on other sites
Jonny Elwyn May 15, 2020 Share May 15, 2020 Hi everyone Here are my thoughts on Waqas Qazi's course, along with some on LowePost, Mixing Light and Mad Max Colorist, Eric Whipp's Filmmaker U training course. https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/learn-colour-grading-from-professional-colorists/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites
KB Burnfield June 1, 2020 Share June 1, 2020 I just bought the course from Qazi and before I say more let me say I'm not done with the course and am only about half way through. Having said that this is my initial thoughts: So far it's all over the place. If you don't know Resolve pretty well already, forget it--- He promotes it as even for beginners and I don't think that's true. Qazi is not a teacher/trainer, that's obvious. It's more of 'watch me work' kind of workshop thing... but he's all over the place, as I said. It's not a structured progressive course, it's more of a jump in halfway and go from there. So far I've definitely learned some stuff but I've had to go outside the class and do a little research to figure out how that would work (such as using parallel nodes when refining skin tones) and why it works. I feel like I need to take everything he does and go learn why it did what it did so I can understand it and how I might use it elsewhere. I think he's a good colorist but I don't think he's a teacher. I look to courses I've taken that I've come away from feeling like I not only learned a lot but got my money's worth like Ripple Training's Core Davinci Resolve course. It's planned out and I feel like I got a solid understanding of the whole program and the basics I need to work well with the software. I consider them good teachers/trainers. My initial thought is this is more like an advanced workshop than a course. He does offer access to a facebook group and offers reviews of work as part of this course. Once again: I'm not done with the class but considering Qazi offers a 30 day money back guarantee I'll probably take advantage of it. I'd be happy to report back when I've completed it if anyone wants. Hope that made sense and was of some help. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites
Abdi mohamud October 24, 2020 Share October 24, 2020 i take qazi course he is good mentor even if you are beginner you can learn more and he has fb group where he give weekly challenge and correct them over 2k are joined trust me it is worth every penny to that course that's my honest review 1 Link to comment Share on other sites
Shawn Convey October 25, 2020 Share October 25, 2020 7 hours ago, Abdi mohamud said: he has fb group where he give weekly challenge and correct them over 2k are joined Is it a closed group only open to those who have purchased his course or is it open to all colorists? I can't seem to find the group on FB, could you attach a link? Link to comment Share on other sites
Ron Schieffer October 25, 2020 Share October 25, 2020 That guy isn't worth it imo. Too much bs and "cinematic"-phrases to grab attention. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites
Shawn Convey October 25, 2020 Share October 25, 2020 25 minutes ago, Ron Schieffer said: That guy isn't worth it imo. Too much bs and "cinematic"-phrases to grab attention. Yeah, I just watched his 1hr "webinar" and while I do like some of the ways he walks you through the grade the constant "salesmanship" and his "you have never seen this anywhere before" claims and his justifying his $700 course (ahem.. excuse me $697) by comparing it to a university degree price, or bootcamps etc... it is all more than overdone. I wish he was more down to earth less sales-pitchy didn't use the same mechanisms that a "cure all diet fad does" (ie fake webinar, for a limited time only discount, promising things that ONLY HE will share with you, pointing to his supposed income... all that crap) and as he has modeled himself after such click-bait sales pitch formats, it wouldn't surprise me if these people hyping him up in forums and on FB, YT and IG are "plants" working for him... Sorta a shame as I do think he can teach fairly well I just wish he had more respect for his audience and honestly himself while doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites
KB Burnfield October 25, 2020 Share October 25, 2020 I went through the initial sections of the course and it just wasn’t worth it— I asked for a refund and got it quickly and easily. There are nuggets in there but as I said in my initial review: he’s all over the place and he’s just not a teacher. IMO It’s more of a “watch me work” but not detail. In many situations I wanted to know “why are you doing that? What exactly does that do to the image/tonal range/etc?” And never got it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites
Luca Di Gioacchino October 25, 2020 Share October 25, 2020 (edited) He reminds me a lot of Denver Riddle, only with more enthusiasm, but with all of the same snake-oil salesman pitches. Having said that, good on him if he can make money that way. As an alternative, how about buying Alexis Van Hurkman's Color Correction Handbook, instead? It's waaaaay cheaper and more informative. Plus it comes with footage you can download and play around with. Lowepost is tops, too (goes without saying). Mixing Light, as well) it's paid content but worth every penny). I wish Lowepost would invite Van Hurkman to teach a course. He' s a great instructor. Edited October 25, 2020 by Luca Di Gioacchino 1 Link to comment Share on other sites
KB Burnfield October 25, 2020 Share October 25, 2020 (edited) I own that book and it’s brilliant but candidly, the days of book learning for video subjects as my first choice are long gone. It’s a reference tool for me. There is nothing like being able see and hear the teacher go through the steps and show you what they are talking about. I can learn more in an hour watching that in reading, trying and rereading the section. BUT teaching is a skill set in and of itself. Just because you’re a good colorist or whatever doesn’t mean you are a good teacher of that. Edited October 25, 2020 by KB Burnfield Link to comment Share on other sites
Luca Di Gioacchino October 26, 2020 Share October 26, 2020 Another name came to mind: Jason Bowdach. Great Resolve instructor. Also worth the price of admission. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites
Marc Wielage November 22, 2020 Share November 22, 2020 Ripple Training, MixingLight, and FXPHD are also all certified Blackmagic training classes, so there is that to consider as well. Link to comment Share on other sites
Gasa E Kenny November 22, 2020 Share November 22, 2020 Loweposts Case Studies alone are better than anything that costs you more than $60 Link to comment Share on other sites
