Asa Shoul

Hi Mark, very interesting about the luminance on domestic sets not being limited to 100nits. Our head of tech mentioned that he's heard from consumers that because you can adjust contrast and brightness on domestic TVs in SDR but not when set to HDR mode, the HDR can appear duller than the SDR grade. I was recently sent examples of 4 feature films from a major studio in both SDR and HDR and was shocked at how far they are pushing the HDR. Rather than simply matching the SDR and using the extra headroom for the highlights they were brightening the whole image so that highlights were around 80-90% of the 1000nits. Even night scenes were pushed extremely bright. What's your grading platform? Many thanks, Asa

Hi Bruno, yes I also has the impression that the image should look close to the rec709 with more room for highlights. Couple of things:- Firstly when grading Ex_Machina for theatrical and rec709 I didn't go close to peak white in most situations. Like House of Cards I like a moody interior and rarely push into the top quarter of brightness unless looking into the sun. Rob Hardy has all practicals on dimmers so again interior lights aren't too bright. Secondly my head of Tech has had reports that as viewers often increase the contrast on their tv in rec709 but this might not be an option in HDR mode so if we've matched the rec709 for HDR it might actually look duller. What I'd like to do is the HDR first and see if the DP embraces the larger colour gamut and brightness. Although this will make the rec709 pass more disappointing. Asa

Yes going from Baselight scenes so can adjust everything. And you're so right that whilst we can have more highlight detail it can be rather distracting so I don't see us taking off too many shapes or keys just because technically we don't need them in HDR. In fact I've windowed a few more lights because they started to ping out too much.

Very interesting Andy. Wish I could have been there. So I started an HDR pass of Ex Machina yesterday. Nice if the distributor to ask us, (Brooklyn and Victor Frankenstein were graded elsewhere and as far as I understand started from scratch). I started by matching the rec709 on the HDR Sony 300 but then felt that there was little point in someone buying an HDR version if it looked exactly the same, after all HDR TVs can be set to rec709. So I increased the gain to add some pop. I think you're correct that the HDR will become be the primary grade but this will only make the rec709 pass more frustrating. Thanks, Asa

Hi Nicolas, well he's obviously excited about it but not sure he sheds any light on his approach to grading in HDR.

Hi all, thought I'd get the ball rolling with this one. So, HDR, who's grading in HDR? What are you viewing on, (monitors and domestic)?How similar is it to your rec709 pass? what are client reactions and expectations? Thanks, Asa

Beautiful work Eric. Totally agree that far too many post apocalyptic films go for the desaturated look. Recently watched this projected in my garden and its a stunning piece of work.