On this interview with Joel Barsotti I decided to dig in with SpectraCal and ask some 'how to' questions regarding their AutoCal and AutoCube technology for display calibration. 

A curious question that comes up is can you trust software that calibrates a display for you?  There is an assumption that only a highly trained calibrator can do display calibration and it can only be done manually and it always takes many hours to do for every display. Scary stuff for the smaller shops who want to be sure their laptops, attached displays and reference displays are at or near the REC 709 standard.

So setting the stage here for those small post shops who are looking for a less complicated and less time consuming way to calibrate all of their displays I thought it would be worthwhile to learn more about AutoCal and AutoCube from the director of software development - Joel Barsotti.

Learning about Auto Calibration of Displays for Video Production with Joel Barsotti

Young and talented, Roxy Radulescu is representative of the new creative class emerging through the millennial generation. We talk about her motivation for investing her time and creativity into her constantly evolving website, MoviesInColor. As an interviewer I am curious to learn how she creates these color pallets. Listen in and find out. Duration 15:54.

You’ll want to visit her site, or better just add her Tumblr account, to gain a fuller understanding of her creativity. Fascinating work. It’s been an inspiration for me as a colorist. I share her hope that her work will inspire new filmmakers to experiment with different color palettes in telling their stories. A noble cause and one worth having in this new age of using digital media to impact the production quality of storytelling in films.

Exploring Color in Films with Roxy Radulescu of MoviesInColor.com

 In this interview Derek Smith provides a technical history of the evolution of display calibration software for attached monitors on PCs and MACs.   Derek covers in detail the older style monitor calibration techniques that use ICC, Direct Display Control and 1D LUTs (inside a computer graphics hardware) and how all three of these technologies are managed at the same time in Calman RGB to produce faster more accurate results.  At TomParish.com I’ve included a transcript of the entire conversation so you can go back and read Derek’s explanation of how Calman RGB works, why their approach is different and how it provides a significant improvement in accuracy and speed as well as vastly simplifying the user interface experience.

Let’s face it we don’t want to use these tools we just want to use our displays  knowing they are calibrated as close as possible to REC709 so we can get on with our creative uses of color, yes! Listen into to learn more.


A Deep Dive with Derek Smith on Calman RGB - An Evolutionary Change in Display Calibration

I had two goals with this podcast:

1. Have a one-on-one conversation with Charles Poynton about the future of display technology as we evolve from mastering HD to UHD, 4k and even 8k media.

2. Understand where display calibration technology stands with mastering displays (LCD and OLED in particular) and what is state of the art with calibration software.  A point I wanted to bring out was that mastering displays for high-end productions will always need calibration tools for mastering purposes, but how can a growing market of digital creatives leverage these tools to bring their iMacs and personal computers into close compliance with Rec.709 and and newer standards using ICC profiles?  The amount of content this community is mastering is huge, so can they use the same calibration tools?

From our conversation it was clear that Charles has a great deal to say about displays and display technologies because he's been an instigator of many display standards since the 1980s.   Charles really pours on the insights in this interview, so I'm delighted to be passing this along to my community of listeners.  I have included a transcript of the interview at www.tomparish.com

Display Technology and Display Calibration - What Changes in Mastering UHD, 4k and 8K Content

This podcast is a brief conversation with Patrick Inhofer about a collection of insights for color grading log-recorded files.  I also ask Patrick to talk about the MixingLight.com website and how that’s been coming along in the last year. I mention a number of times the insights I’ve learned from Alister Chapman an extremely creative DP from the UK who is known for being a storm chaser. He also takes small groups of photographers to Norway to record the Aurora Borelalis all in 4k.   You should hear the stories he tells about that experience.  And what discussion of grading log files would be complete without referencing Alexis Van Hurkman's Color Correction Handbook.

Insights in Grading Log-encoded Files with Patrick Inhofer

If you fancy yourself a digital creative, video editor, special effects person, colorist, producer, or filmmaker (or maybe all of these together), then sooner or later you come to the question – When should I purchase a reference display monitor? Why should I even bother? Bram Desmet, CEO of Flanders Scientific Inc., answers these questions along with some enlightening conversation around his insights in the rapidly changing area of display technology and display calibration trends for 2014.

If you have a professional emphasis to constantly improve your craft, then improving the quality of your post-production work is critical, and using a calibrated reference monitor is one of your keys to success. Even if most of what you do right now is create, edit, or color content for the web, there are compelling reasons to use a reference monitor.  Sooner or later you will be touching content destined for cable, broadcast, and theatre audiences. Your confidence in the color accuracy of your work is closely tied to the reputation you’re building. I hope you find this conversation helpful. I learned a lot myself.

When to Buy a Reference Monitor and Trends in Reference Display Technology for 2014

If you’re from the Los Angeles area you’ve likely heard of David and his company Avical.com located in Burbank because he is the go-to guy for high-end video post production professionals in that part of the country.  If I’m working at production or post house , and I need my most important monitors made as absolutely perfect as they can be made, I call Dave at Avical.  What a fascinating clientele he must have and oh the stories that could be told. Let’s see if we can eek a few of those out in our conversations about the state of the art of display calibration for the Hollywood media houses.

On a personal note I learned a great deal from Dave during the conversation. I'm keenly interested in display calibration and the impact it has on color correction and color grading.  The two key points I was most curious to learn was why does he use SpectraCal's Calman software for display calibration and how does he set gamma. And finally what are his views on the evolution of adoption of the BT.1886 standard in the post production industry. I got my answers! If you want to jump to that section start at 36 minutes and I highly recommend you listen in. There is a useful writeup on the topic here.

David has a fascinating job. I wonder if he gets a chance to see movies before we do?

A Day in the Life of a Hollywood Display Calibrator and the Tools He Uses

If you have an interest in learning about 4k video production equipment and visiting with a colorist to improve the production quality of your projects then I invite you to come this free event in the Austin Film Society screening room at 3pm and 5pm on March 3. 

The OmegaBroadcast Group is sponsoring this event for the local community and it’s free. Honestly this event it’s going to be a lot of fun because you get to see quite a bit of new 4k gear well before SXSW and NAB 2014 without having to travel out of town.

 In the screening room colorist Tom Parish will have example footage from various cameras used for low budget video projects shot locally and used for full length narratives submitted to Sundance and SXSW this year.  He'll be using Davinci Resolve 10 with a Tangent Wave. Tom will provide examples of how color is used in storytelling and explain why it is important to improving the production quality of any size project for 2014.  He will be available for general question and answers at the end of the session. 

After the grade / Q&A people are invited to go into the adjacent conference room to get their hands on HD and 4K cameras and on the color grading software running on the new Mac Pro and on an iMac with a Magma thunderbolt expansion chassis. 

Reservations: visit www.tomparish.com for details to sign up!

Vendors to include: Sony, BlackMagic (Davinci Resolve + Black Magic Cinema camera) and others to be posted here soon.

Session date: March 3

Session times: 3pm and 6pm.  Each color session will last appromixately and hour

Venue location:  Austin Film Society 1901 E 51st St, Austin, TX 78723 (512) 322-0145  

Event questions: OmegaBroadcast Group 512-628-0822 or Tom Parish (colorist) 512-782-4814

Austin: 4k Video Gear Show and Tell and Color Grading Demos in the AFS Room March 3

If you’re a colorist with an interest in color checking or calibrating all the displays in your studio — including your reference monitor, client displays, projectors, and periodically updating those  3D display correction LUTs — then you’re going to want to know that CalMAN 5.3 now provides a way to use DaVinci Resolve as a pattern generator. In fact, there is a dedicated version of CalMAN just for Resolve users.  When you use a WiFi connection with Calman 5.3 interfacing to Resolve, the patterns that Resolve generates come up on all the displays you have video connections to in your studio. Here’s a quick picture I took in my studio. It's not a beauty shot but you get the idea. Well you'll need to see this picture at tomparish.com).  I get a kind of smug satisfaction knowing I can put up the same pattern on all displays and then check or calibrate each one directly from  SpectraCal's CalMAN software anytime I want.

Calman - DaVinci Resolve Interface and New Display Technology Updates

I was going to use the following title "Michael Chen asks What Color Glasses would you like to wear Red Green or Blue" because Michael tells a revealing story in this show in working with clients to evoke them into seeing and thinking differently.

But before we get into Jedi Master Michael Chen's wisdom let me do a proper introduction.  Michael Chen who is an early pioneer of the field of TV display calibration.  In fact Michael helped create the original THX training courses for video calibration and remains one of the premier teachers in the world. You can find out more about Michael here.  I’m personally delighted to have an opportunity to learn more about the art and science of display calibration given especially given he’s been doing it for the last 20 years.

If you want to learn how to properly calibrate your TV you want to visit his website and learn from Michael’s generous collection of articles. He stays current and doesn’t hold any punches back when it comes to BS. I reviewed testimonials about his online display calibration course and I can see he’s one of the grandmaster teachers of display calibration based on all the feedback.

What I found most insightful in this interview was Michael’s perspectives on how to grow your business as a display calibrator. Michael and I also talks a lot about do it yourself DIY display calibration so join in the conversation and learn.  I hope you find this as useful as I have and you too will make a point of checking his site weekly to continue learning.  If you think you have all this figured out already let me encourage you to test yourself with Michael's "Calibration Knowledge Challenge". It's a humbling experience.

Insights from Jedi Master Michael Chen - Master Display Calibrator

This is Tom Parish and I’m here with WayTao from RemarkHQ and we’re here to talk about a rather cool tool for media creators that allows you annotate video, review and approve video with teams and stakeholders.

This product RemarkHQ,com got my attention late ly because I’ve been working in on a way to improve the approval process on ads and narrative films I’m working on with clients. There is alway a scene or clip or segment that seems require a lot of  back and forth to get it right.  Hurling Dropbox URL’s to large files back and forth with long emails where you manually type in the time code for each little issue is time consuming and often inaccurate.  People get confused writing down time codes

So the guys from RemarkHQ were in Austin and they gave me a call about doing a podcast.  I’m looking forward to using this with my clients. There is an iPad version also so you’ll want to be sure you try that out along with their free trial. The price model they are using seems very reasonable to me so  this could be a keeper. It’s simple and fast and does what I want it to do.

Questions

WayTao give us a quick overview of the product?

How did you come up with this product idea?

Who’s been using reviewing it and using ?

When you visited major studios what did you learn and then employ into your product design?

Tell us more about being host agnostic

A Video Review and Approval System that Has my Attention - RemarkHQ

Everyone is talking about 4k, right, but who can afford a 10-bit 4k monitor that will have reliable color accuracy? For most of us, our desires outstrip our pocketbooks.  Well, maybe there is a way ....

Even though we have MacPros now that easily manage 4k workflows, the real issue is the display, and anyone doing media work knows is how important it is to have a color-accurate monitor. So we make HD and 2k monitors work for us for now.

An extremely reasonable solution has emerged from HP through a close collaboration with SpectraCal and really a great number of high-profile animation and media production companies all over the world. Listen in to this show with Greg Staten, DreamColor Architect from HP, and Derek Smith, CTO at SpectraCal. We talk about HP’s new DreamColor  Z27x that is a 27”, 10-bit panel with 2560x1440 pixel resolution, BUT this baby supports 4k inputs and displays 4k images in a number of novel ways.

So how exactly DOES this panel support color accurate 4k video? What about multiple color gamuts and linearity issues and PRICE? Bottom line – is this panel the right answer for color-critical work, and why was it important I do this show now?

Short answer: I was excited when I heard about a display product architect from a well-known company – HP – who had collaborated closely with a display calibration company – SpectraCal – bringing the best of both worlds together for media producers. I've been looking forward to producing this show for weeks!

This kind of cross-company collaboration is valuable. HP desires to cut the price in half from the previous DreamColor and make certain the display accuracy of the panel hardware is dead-on accurate AND make the display 4k-capable – well, their design has the promise of being a winner.

Sure, in 2-3 years we'll see 4k panels come down in price and at least potentially linear in the way they handle RGB internally. But for now, there is an excellent solution from HP with very attractive pricing, special features for handling 4k, and an extremely simple way to maintain color accuracy using SpectraCal's CalMAN software that speaks directly with the DreamColor Z27x internal firmware. There is a lot to like about this product.

Listen to our conversation and find out more!

Tom


 

Why HP's DreamColor z27x could be your next monitor for HD and 4k media production

In this podcast I speak with David Corley CEO DSC Labs located in Ontario Canada about the history and use of color test charts. For more background on the show visit http://www.tomparish.com

Why You Should be Using a Color Test Card - Interview with David Corley CEO DSCLabs

I'm entering a new phase of exploring color in a deeper, more intentional manner. Working with color has always been a fascination, and I have come to realize that there is much more to learn beyond the technical nature of how to use DaVinci Resolve or any color-grading tool.

In this podcast with Art Schmehling, Business Manager for X-Rite/Pantone, I’m going farther along the path of the language of color. This interview is what I hoped for – an open conversation about color use and color awareness with the Munsell Color system as a basis and starting point for talking about color.  On my blog I provide a much more detailed write up about the podcast so be sure you visit there. what-exactly-is-the-munsell-color-system-and-why-should-i-care


What Exactly is the Munsell Color System and Why Should I Care?

Aleksandar is a New York-based visual artist. His work often crosses and re-crosses a thin line between art and design, and it ranges from deceptively simple to highly political. In 2010 his diverse body of work was collected and published in Aleksandar Maćašev / Book.

“Color is not essential, but very influential …
Color is ever changing, it is very relative and relational …”

Filmmaking  Why That Color? Why Not - Interview With Aleksandar Maćašev

Tom Parish interviews Emery wells Co-founder of www.Frame.IO.

Here is a question for the listeners - how’s it going - really - in sharing files with remote clients and teammates on your projects? Let me guess you use Dropbox to access to files or something Hightail or GoogleDrive. It’s a guessing game to see what the client is willing to use. Then you have Vimeo viewing files that need review or discussion, yes? Ok so where are the notes? How far back in my email what that last comment about changes which can spread out over days or weeks.

Alright you get the point. This whole process of collaborating with new prospect or a client is rube Goldberg collection of disparate tool. Learn how Frame.IO is approaching this differently and promise to have a much better online solution. I'm all about that.


Sharing Media with Clients. Frame.io Get’s it Right

Join 1047111me in a conversation with Eric Norrell, Product Manager for AJA, to talk about AJA's LUT-box. This new addition to the AJA family was released at NAB 2014, and later this year some significant updates were added. The AJA LUT-box provides an easy, inexpensive way to help with more precise color calibration of displays and look management in production and post workflows, and for handling camera matching on multi-camera shoots.

AJA LUT Box - Interview with Eric Norrell

Join in on our my conversation with Warren as we talk about the International Colorist Academey which he cofounded with Kevin Shaw  and the evolution of teaching colorist over the last few years.  We talk about how the attendees and the course work has changed over these last few years for this wanting to become colorists.

This was a fun and relaxing opportunity to speak with Warren about his experiences while he relaxing at home outside on his back pourch. I just wish I could have been there enjoying a beer with him. Well maybe next time.

Warren Eagles on the Evolution of Teaching Color Grading at ICA

In this episode of Color Talk we dig in deep with Kevin Shaw, Instructor from the International Colorist Academy, about his new class - Advanced Color Grading. We do not talk about the specifics of how you use Resolve or SpeedGrade or the Nucoda color grading system or Baselight. Instead we delve into Kevin’s particular approach to teaching color grading, which is less about the tools and more about the philosophy of how you think light and color.

Teaching Advanced Color Grading - a conversation with Kevin Shaw

Have you seen any of these movies -  Boyhood which is winning awards left and right.. Dazed and Confused, Fast Food Nation, A Scanner Darkly, Bernie?

In this interview I ask an award winning custom designer Kari Perkins who is from Austin Texas to explore with me what a colorist can learn from a costume designer and how that collaboration can impact the creative strength of a production.

Kari and I discuss the renewed importance of early collaborating in the filmmaking process on the use of color versus attempting to fixing color in post production (if at all in small budget films). It’s a team sport and it starts early if you want to really stretch your budget and maximize your creative efforts.

What can a colorist learn from a Costume Designer? Interview with Kari Perkins

In the next conversation of this mini-series on "What Can a Colorist Learn from a ...?" I speak with Ellie Ann Fenton, a Director of Photography in Los Angeles.

Lucky for me she was in Austin working on a film. She called asking if she could bring the scriptwriter, the editor, and others on the team over to the studio to see some test clips on the large screen. Needless to say, I was delighted.

We all met and talked about the feeling of the movie and how light and color will be used. This led to a technical conversation over what color space to shoot in with the Sony F55 and what LUTs to use. Then we did some testing with DaVinci Resolve. As the colorist for the project, I was thankful to have an opportunity to contribute early in the process as this will lead, I believe, to a more creative look because there will be fewer color correction issues.

During this interview Ellie and I discuss how the cost of digital filmmaking has dropped dramatically (even 4k productions are doable), so what is the secret to doing this well with tighter budgets? What makes one indie production stand out over others when all are using the same gear and software in post?

Surely it’s not just about more gear, or higher-resolution cameras, or finding cheaper actors or better scripts. Why not leverage the creative flow across the entire digital workflow production and post process, including inputs from distribution? How about expanding the creative uses of color and light in the process of telling stories? Bottom line – you want to spend less money fixing problems in digital filmmaking and get more emotional impact out of a budget all the way through the distribution step. Great gear without creative collaboration yields average, at best, results.  Average is over.

So listen in and let me know about your experiences around the collaboration process.


What can a Colorist Learn from a Director of Photography? Interview with Ellie Anne Fenton

Up next is a conversation with Andie Grace VP of Acquisitions and Head CheerLeder at Devolver Digital Films - a film distributor in San Francisco. Why a film distributor? Turns out they have similar problems that as a colorist in helping a filmmaker be more successful.

Part 1 What can a Colorist Learn from a Film Distributor? Andie Grace Devolver Digital Films

Think about it - what could  you learn from a distributor, really? For me it was a stretch.  if you're like me and you assume distributors are gatekeepers then it's difficult to get over the mind talk running in your head that a distributor is out to get you in some way. Or at best just someone you have to pay along the way.

Clearly this isn't the case but then there are those horror stories we've all heard over the years. Has this changed with the growing video on demand (VOD) marketplace evolving so quickly? You might be surprised what you learn from Linda Nelson of IndieRights.com during this 60 minutes of non-stop high-intensity flow of ideas to help you be more successful with your film. Learn more about this interview and color grading at www.TomParish.com

Part 2 What can a Colorist Learn from a Distributor - Linda Nelson IndieRights.com

 Ezra Venetos is a film producer in Austin Texas many of us know locally for his successful indie films.   I ask Ezra to talk about what makes him unique in his approach to producing films.   We discuss the central theme I've been exploring in this mini-series "have we unconsciously evolved ourselves into a bad habit of thinking production quality is related to how much 4k or 5k gear you budget to rent or own?  And more importantly what needs to change.


What can a Colorist learn from a Producer - a Conversation with Ezra Venetos

Up next is a conversation with Robb Jacobson about the lives of people who are affected, both by birth and by injury, both drastically and unknowingly with some form of color blindness.

Robb is a story producer and a filmmaker who is partially color blind.  One day it hit him - In our society, we cherish our visual field, but we also demand it to be understood uniformly. Policemen, firemen, pilots, army men, coast guard, railroad workers, electricians, astronauts, artists, and many more occupations won't allow for any inconsistency in color determination. Visit TomParish.com for more details.

Life without Color - Documentary by Robb Jacobson

Mark Magnuson Concepture CTO on BILDR

Kevin talks the issue every entrepreneur has of finding the value of their product idea and the challenge of demonstrating value to a client to create product tracking. How can you do this quickly?

Finding a Product Solution that Creates Value Quickly

While I was attending NAB 2013 I meet Rob Bessette a colorist from Boston demonstrating the new features for Resolve 10.  Like most other Resolve users I was excited to hear about all the new goodies coming but I was very curious what Rob would have to say after returning home to Resolve 9. What was that like after a week of using Resolve 10?

Background on Rob Bessette:

Rob is lead colorist at www.Finishboston.com for the last three years and began as a colorist 8 years ago.  He worked with a senior colorist for 5 years learning the tools of the trade. Rob mainly works on commercials but does indie features also and is starting to do some dailies work as well with all the footage being shot in Boston. Rob says he really enjoys the mix of creative work as well as the technical aspects - a 'real interesting blend'.  I can relate to that.

During this interview I'm mostly interested in Rob's experience in using Resolve 10 and the reactions he received during the week from the NAB crowd.  For those of you wanting all the nitty gritty details you can see this feature list and there is an excellent 20 minute video of Rob demoing Resolve 10 also available.


Rob Bessette's Experience as a Demo Meister on Resolve 10 at NAB 2013

If you want better looking video and a smoother ride for your colorist seriously consider listening to this podcast and getting one of the OneShot Color reference card from DSC or SMPTE. The creator of this unique card (Art Adams) talks about how to use it in your production and post workflow to improve the quality of your productions. This is what separates you from the pack of others out there shooting and competing for the same jobs.

'How' to Use the DSC Oneshot Color Reference Card to Improve the Quality of Your Video Productions

In this show I talk with Luhr Jensen the CEO, founder and creator of the Klein10a colorimeter that is herald as the fastest most accurate colorimeter on the market. It's also built like a tank to take tough punishment from those of us hauling around probes for calibration of  displays in studios and theaters.   Many thanks to Luhr for being willing to have a very personal and technical discussion of how this probe has come to be so popular and what he thinks is next in the evolution of display technology and display calibration needs.  Listen in for more!

Learning More About the King of Fast Accurate Colorimeter Probes for Display Calibration

The reality for the independent post-production house is we’re all Dropboxing (I guess it's a verb now) files back and forth to create or finish out a project, and the problem is that everybody's displays show slightly different colors. We’re all working on a different color interpretation of the files. Talk about confusion for the colorist who has the final task of making it all play together!

Up next is a discovery of how SpectraCal is bringing order to the hodge-podge of displays which have such differences in color calibration – in our studios, in our digital creative community, and used by our clients. We need more than just a single reference monitor; we need all of our displays to be more closely aligned. Most of us don't need perfection – just assurance we're close – and if we're way out then we need a way to get those displays adjusted.

The difficulty is figuring out quickly which displays need attention, and how to fix the problem so there is greater consistency or alignment of colors when working with graphics and videos.

To help us understand this better, I arranged a conversation with Derek Smith of SpectraCal, the leading developer of video calibration software.

This interview runs long; however, if you have an interest in this topic you will want to listen to everything Derek Smith says. I sure did.

Questions

– Derek, you are one of those rare people who have the creative and competitive drive to solve some very difficult problems dealing with display technologies and the challenge of color calibration. What was your inspiration for creating SpectraCal? And give us a brief summary of where CalMAN 5 is these days.

– What are your observations of changes in the display technology – consumer and professional – over the last 10 years?

– What kind of trends are you seeing in the video production industry these days – particularly the needs of smaller, independent digital creatives?

– What is SpectraCal doing to make it easier for video post-production groups to calibrate all of their displays?

– What changes do you think will occur in the next 12-24 months in display technology?

– What about the 4k trend? What sort of new challenges are there with the coming 4k displays?

– One of the new developments for DaVinci Resolve coming soon is the ability to add DCP renders for theatrical releases. This will mean a huge increase in indie films available in theaters. Though most colorists work with a color reference display, how does one calibrate a theater projector? This is more of a geek question.


Color Calibration for all Displays in your Studio with Derek Smith, SpectraCal

All about Color from a technical and artistic perspective for media creators and storytellers. Tom Parish is a colorist in Austin Texas.
www.TomParish.com
512-784-4814 Austin Texas

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