u/Igradarsaurus

Did you know you can skip learning how to correctly balance, match and grade any shot just by using Film Emulation? Just crank up that halation and green tint to your skies and you’ll be well on your way to being the next YouTuber plugin affiliate with zero IMDb credentials whatsoever!

In all seriousness, I’d like to say that it’s not often you actually get to use Film emulation on your projects - so for those of you who are looking to get into color grading, learn how to do the basics first and I promise you, the film emulation skills will come. Learn how to grade log - pick your poison, be it ACES, RCM or just lift and gain in rec709 scene. You’ll settle on a workflow that feels right for you eventually.

Learn how to deal with rec709 footage on your timeline or unknown log footage and to be able to match them in a scene. Develop a sense of taste - this will come over time, but you’ll get a good sense even by looking at references on Shotdeck. You’ll notice that even the most pushed looks keep the skin looking good. If you don’t grade around the skin and the subject looks bad, then you are doing it wrong.

Film emulation is a fairly advanced technique to get right - as a colorist myself I’ve seen dozens and dozens of ‘How do I achieve this Film Look’ threads here - most of them are not color grading questions but rather technical support on someone else’s 3rd party creation. They show a fundamental lack of understanding with the basic grading techniques that are necessary before you even start with look development. If you can’t balance a shot correctly, you cannot expect to achieve specific ‘looks’, never mind the honest fact that 99percent of the look is achieved by the lighting and set design anyway.

A good grade should fall into place and not distract from the photography that was shot. It should support the story or the subject and not veer too far off course.

Learn the basics first. If you’re struggling with the basics, there are many of us here who are willing to help you out with specific advice. When you come here instead just to ask about how to use someone else’s plugin, or even plug your own, you will probably not find the help you’re looking for.

From a grumpy, 30 something colorist.

Dumb question but I thought maybe it might be explained better by people here. What is the main cause of the housing crisis in Ireland?

We have people working and earning money and they want to purchase a home (or rent). We have raw materials. We have builders. Why can’t we build more houses? Why can’t we make extra floors on existing properties to add more apartments?

Do we have a lack of money? Is it issues with planning permission? What is the main roadblock preventing more living spaces from being made? Is it really all that complicated to solve? Can one political party simply fix it when they take office?

I love you.

Is it just me or are the black levels raised on many of the commercials that play on the Channel 4 app? Two of mine looked way more raised in the black levels than how I graded them - yet they looked completely normal when I saw them on other broadcast stations/apps - matching in fact my flanders.

It’s strange because the actual tv shows on the Channel 4 app look normal - but adverts during the commercials, including sometimes trailers for shows look like they’re tagged wrong.