Color correcting a documentary film made mostly with Flips
Posted by DocumentaryTech on March 7, 2010 · 2 Comments
Craig Mieritz at Circle of Confusion had the task of color correcting a documentary about kids with cancer, in which the kids were given Flip camcorders to document their lives. He has a couple of posts at his blog that discuss this.
“If you think an image from a $2500 DSLR is thin,” he says, “imagine some of the images from a $150 camera shot by non-professionals solely in ambient light.”
Stu Maschwitz at ProLost speaks of “Memory Colors,” and Craig takes the same approach as in first looking at flesh tones and hoping the rest will follow. He calls it “Naturalistic.”
When I say naturalistic, I mean making his flesh look as good as possible while still retaining the overall feeling that it was shot under fluorescent lighting as opposed to trying to make it look like it was lit on a Hollywood set.
In the end, you get what you can get, but the larger point is that if you get the skin tones right, the other color problems will be less an irritant. The more we see run-and-gun docs, and the more docmakers try crowdsourcing exercises as Craig describes here, the more you give up perfection for story. Some call it “Garbage In, Garbage Out, but he notes that the nature of shooting does not allow for perfect locations or lighting.
He says,
Here is what I probably would recommend in a situation like this, a documentary film with a lot of difficult footage: select a couple of good looking shots (post correction) which repeat themselves in the timeline to which the same corrections can be applied. These really nice looking shots will serve as the visual baseline for your piece. You then spend less time (and money) correcting the rest of the shots. As long as you have that baseline of good looking shots, your audience will be forgiving of the other shots interspersed between them especially if they are verite.
I feel like my job is done well if, when people watch a film, they don’t notice what I’ve done and stay absorbed in the world created by all those who pass before me in the process.
Hi-
I appreciate your passing on my thoughts about the process of color correcting that documentary. Let me further clarify a few points:
When I say Naturalistic, I was speaking about fulfilling the feel of that film, verite. Typically, but not always, documentarians want their films to look good, but recognizable as real-world locations. It may also involve enhancing subtly the image to draw the viewers eye to what is important in the frame. However, documentary filmmaking is changing: more and more filmmakers are looking for a stylized, narrative type look. In the end, the colorist’s job is to try to give the director what they want from their film. Maybe Naturalistic isn’t the best word to use, but I think it is close. The final look may not end up as the location was shot, there is always an element of interpretation. Perhaps t I do subscribe somewhat to the memory color idea: as the author states, there are certain key things that you want to nail in an image (flesh, grass, etc) and the rest can slide a little (assuming you don’t have a giant budget).
I agree that, after adjusting the contrast, flesh tones are key. That’s something to remember when you are shooting as well. The human face often tells the story, often more powerfully than words.
The Garbage In, Garbage Out reference, in the end underlines the fact that there is no easy path to powerful filmmaking. You pay, either in money, equipment, creativity, time, etc. to make a powerful film. Keep your priorities straight from the beginning as to what is important and manage your time, effort and money to stay true to those priorities.
My suggestions are geared to helping low-budget documentary filmmakers get the most bang for their buck. Something else that is essential: your colorist communicates clearly with you.
Craig
Many thanks for the clarification on this. Color correction is one of those aspects that daunt people who otherwise feel comfortable with NLEs such as Final Cut, and your site is really a resource!