Grading Alexa

[Virgil Edward]

Hi! I'm a junior colorist working here in the Philippines, working for almost 2 years. I would love to know how you guys color grade your alexa footage. Looking at the Oscar's nominated films, most of it were shot using Alexa Mini, XT, and 65, and it looks damn amazing. My grades with the alexa looks subpar compared to these films, is it the contrast, the lighting, the workflow, the production design, etc. 

Here is my workflow:

I balance out the image first,then grade it, and lastly client's and director's nitpicks. Still, I feel like it looks video-y, compared to what I see in foreign films and commercials. Thanks! 

[Sam Gilling]

You're trying to do too much, don't force a bleach bypass into what looks like a food/beauty spot. 

Maybe the heavy-yellow was part of the creative direction but it's pretty strong and you don't have any colour separation in the image, especially with skin tones blending into the wood panelling (which is partly down to the location). 

This is just a curves layer under the Arri LUT in Photoshop, you'd probably want to go in with a secondary to fix the colour of the clay pots (like you did with your grade) but focus on getting a correct balance first. The films nominated at the Oscars may have had much bigger budgets than whatever was allocated to this spot, but if your initial balance is off then none of your grades are going to get that far, no matter how many nodes you throw at them. 

Edited February 19, 2018 by Sam Gilling

[Virgil Edward]

1 minute ago, Sam Gilling said:

You're trying to do too much, don't force a bleach bypass into what looks like a food/beauty spot. 

Maybe the heavy-yellow was part of the creative direction but it's pretty strong and you don't have any colour separation in the image, especially with skin tones blending into the wood panelling (which is partly down to the location). 

This is just a curves layer under the Arri LUT in Photoshop, you'd probably want to go in with a secondary to fix the colour of the clay pots (like you did with your grade) but focus on getting a correct balance first. The films nominated at the Oscars may have had much bigger budgets than whatever was allocated to this spot, but if your primary initial is off then none of your grades are going to get too far, no matter how many nodes you throw at them. 

Wow! This looks so nice, this was all done using primaries under a LOG-C to Rec709 lut? 

[Virgil Edward]

6 minutes ago, Sam Gilling said:

You're trying to do too much, don't force a bleach bypass into what looks like a food/beauty spot. 

Maybe the heavy-yellow was part of the creative direction but it's pretty strong and you don't have any colour separation in the image, especially with skin tones blending into the wood panelling (which is partly down to the location). 

This is just a curves layer under the Arri LUT in Photoshop, you'd probably want to go in with a secondary to fix the colour of the clay pots (like you did with your grade) but focus on getting a correct balance first. The films nominated at the Oscars may have had much bigger budgets than whatever was allocated to this spot, but if your primary initial is off then none of your grades are going to get too far, no matter how many nodes you throw at them. 

You are right, I actually tried the same thing and it looks a lot better. Thank you so much

[Tim Nauamnn]

Really interesting Thread.

My Version (2-3 minute work):

1.Node: Contrast/Pivot and Offset

2. Node: Balance with LGG

3. Node: Vignette