Alright all you production geeks! Check out this video from Jake Barber (a.k.a. jakusb) about color correction. Very informative and well done. Thanks jakusb for taking the time to do this for the Rootclip users!
Jake also took some time to answer some questions. We are really trying to make a Rootclip a place for knowledge sharing and education as much as it's a place for fun and awesomeness. Here is the interview I had with Mr. Barber:
Rootclip: How long have you been working with film/video?
Jake: I got into it a little over a year ago, since then I've had torrid love affair with it.
Rootclip: What sort of things have inspired you in your video work? What are you drawn to?
Jake: What first inspired me to get into film/video was Andrew Kramer's work. It blew me away at what could be achieved with home equipment, a little time, and of course a super awesome program called Adobe After Effects. And what I'm really drawn to is Editing. I love it, lots. I plan to specialize in it at college and eventually get out there doing just that.
Rootclip: Did you actually go to school to learn anything that you know about film or video editing, or are you self-taught?
Jake: I am completely self taught. I took a desktop publishing class last year and ended up teaching the class. I live in a very small town in the middle of nowhere, so there are very few opportunities for things like film classes. The beauty of the internet though, is that there's so much information available on any subject right at your finger tips.
Rootclip: Let me ask you a bit about your latest submission to Rootclip. What kind of equipment did you use when you created "The Experiment"?
Jake: It was shot with my Canon GL2 and my RODE videomic, and then edited together with Sony Vegas 8 and Adobe After Effects.
Rootclip: Lets talk about your actors? The crew in your video looked pretty comfortable. Were they professionals?
Jake: Ha! Not quite. The guys from the Chance Encounter series were friends of mine that I was helping to make a movie for their English class, and they agreed to help me out. "The Experiment" was a last minute decision, so I didn't have much time to find actors, so I used myself and another kid from my class.
Rootclip: Well, thanks for taking the time to do this quick interview with us, Jake. Can we expect to see more from you in the future?
Jake: Psh, no way =P
Comments
Cool! Thank you Jake. That was interesting to see how someone else is doing his cc. Since I don't have an AE copy, I do my cc in Photoshop with the batch function. That works pretty well for me but I see how much faster it'll go with AE! ;) Something I always do when colorcorrecting (besides doing the levels) is adding a layer and fill it with the color I want to have my overall look in and then screen it over my footage. Darkgreen, blue and orange are working great. You can then play with the opacity of the colored layer.
Bravo! I'm rocking the same presets.
You're absolutely right, every piece of footage you see in tv and movies (with the exception of AFV) is color corrected. And to JayTaylor's comment about it being "more real" without it. We're not creating reality.
Driving to work and eating lunch at McDonald's is reality. That's boring. I hardly run into any giant man eating ants in my day to day life, I've never even seen a man tortured with foot tickling in my basement, so I rely on filmmakers to bring me these valuable experiences. And color correction and color timing is essential in setting mood and tone. We're artists, and we should master our tools.
Anyhoo, impressive job Jake! I like that you used a lot of tools that are available in non-linear editing software as well. So the folks that don't have ae can use your advice. I'm looking forward to the follow-up you mentioned. ;)
Jeez Jake, I can't believe that you didn't mention me in your interview as an inspiration ...
Excellent tut on color correction!
There was actually about a paragraph love note to you in there david, but they said they didn't want to encourage you coming to the site, so it got cut...
See, I knew it! You are all trying to push me out.
Actually, I wish I had more time to spend here. Things have been nutzo busy at work (And yes, I am employed.) I'm not sure how these guys do it with the multiple projects that they have to juggle, and RootClip responsibilities to boot.
In reference to "and to Jay Taylor's comment"
At this level of film making the LAST thing any of us should worry about is color correcting. It just upset me that the only thing any of you had to say to the man was insults, and nothing that actually helps his filming. above STYLE and CONTENT nothing else MATTERS! ugh!!!!. You think your an "artists"!!! Les are you serious! Do you even know the definition of art!? I can't help it that you find your life boring. If you can't find enjoyment in eating food, then you've got some soul searching to do. I've never seen a man with a magical briefcase! Pathetic.
Anyhoo, My point was why don't we focus as a community on the basic necessities of making "art". Worry about the color correcting later. focus on what matters. You make me so upset. You completely trashed that guy and his clip was way better than half the clips that make it on this site.
Please Les, tell me honestly, do you consider yourself an artist? you are an auteur? The clips you have posted on this site justify you calling yourself an artist?
@ David
We do it very carefully.
Jay? Dude, I wasn't trying to be malicious. I was just making a case for CC. Dang man, that was hardcore! I do actually consider myself an artist, and I consider you one as well.
I enjoy food and life, I was just making an (apparently misunderstood) point about how filmmaking is an escape from reality. It wasn't meant to be personal. Sorry it came off that way.
I'm sorry Les, it felt personal. I gotta little rattled up. More towards everyone than just you.
I just feel like you guys (general visiting population) miss on the important stuff. I feel like that damn commercial "where's the beef!". I want to see peoples juicy personalities through their work. Cinema is about the visual aesthetics. Have you ever watched a Hitchcock without the sound on? The talent that comes on here never get helpful feedback, and it just boiled my blood when that guy did a good job and all the regulars trashed him.
I don't consider myself an artist in the world of film. I think it takes more than a few clips on the internet to earn such a title, it would be a disgrace to those who are artists to think otherwise.
I think there are different levels of artists, us still being amateur, but nonetheless still artists.
I agree with you Jay in that its annoying the number of "useless" comments that are out there, but I also felt like a lot of the films for the UTK competition looked more like required class videos rather than something created from true passion. It looked good, I'm not denying that, but I just felt like there was a certain level of effort ignored.
And why not color correct at this level? True style and content are important, but most of the submitters are using lower end digital cameras that produce fairly average looking video. Why not make this video look a little better and do a greater job of setting your mood? Its like saying that lighting isn't that important at this level. Its true, you can get away fine without doing any extra lighting to your set, but if you do, it'll look that much better.
Video can be as simpler or complex as you want it to be, it just depends on how much effort you want to put into it. There are no absolutes, just what you have the capacity and energy to do.
My problem is I can't afford a $500 program like Sony Vegas Pro or a $1000 program like Adobe After Effects to edit my videos. I have to rely on free or low cost editing programs like cough cough Windows Media Player or ULead VideoStudio...
@Lasthome Thats understandable, and it happens. If you don't have access to strong NLE's, put more effort into your cinematography, sets, physical effects, and lighting. A lot of the submitters here on RootClip are college film students though, and since most colleges have at least a station or two with After Effects on it, I figured it was a worthy tutorial.
@Lasthome Bittorrent, my friend.
Whoa, how'd I miss all this banter? In the war on color correction, mine axe is lent to the 'for' side.