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Sep022009
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Slugline. Simple, elegant screenwriting.
Red Giant Color Suite, with Magic Bullet Looks 2.5 and Colorista II
Needables
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Sony Alpha a7S Compact Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera -
Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH4KBODY 16.05MP Digital Single Lens Mirrorless Camera with 4K Cinematic Video (Body Only) -
TASCAM DR-100mkII 2-Channel Portable Digital Recorder -
The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap (Peachpit)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 12:09PM;)
;)
Reader Comments (44)
Hum looks really. Can't wait to see more of it :)
Nice colors. I guess it's a product that gives footage that green-blue color? Would be nice. :)
Mojo's gonna get me some tail! w00t!!1!
I'm guessing removes color cast, and put on a nice vignette? Or it's the name of the characters! Either way, I'm interested!
Mojo ist what makes her kiss him :) see Austin Powers for further reference
So Mojo is using Magic Bullet?
You're such a tease.
Stu already showed us how to get the Green Blue look at http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/videos/redgianttv-video.php?id=23
Don't know what is Mojo, but I did it with four layers in Photoshop:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vicnaum/656337.html
Mojo makes me happy.
I got my mojo working and that all I need to know ;-)
Not to be critical but both look bad . Is anyone else tired of the industrial grey/blue look dominating.
I look forward for more info!!
Matt, you're not the only one. This "look" is getting increasingly overused, and just looks kind of silly on digital sources. Especially the way-overdone skin tone preservation, looks megafake. If a plugin comes out that does this automatically, then god save us and the resulting heaps of stuff on vimeo
I was able to get that look too with Vegas using the freeware Aav6cc plugin (boosting red, reducing cyan), Color Corrector (lows towards blue, mids a bit vertically below its central point, and high towards yellow-red), and the No85 Magic Bullet template blended 25% with the original image (using the free Magic Bullet unaccelerated version that used to come for free with Vegas).
I know people think this look is over used. But if you do any kind of wedding video stuff, that is what people want. And I am here to please these clients. So anything that would allow me to automate or improve my color correction workflow is a big plus, no matter how cliché it can be!
And as Stu pointed out in his "Blockbuster Film Look" video, this is what the biggest movies in the theater look like. That sounds like key to help make your footage look more like a Hollywood FILM than video. Assuming you can shoot well to begin with.
I'm not a fan of push-button anything, but is it really news that you created this look in Photoshop or Vegas? I dont think the point of this post will be that it CAN be done, but with the ease of which it can.
Use it or dont use it, like it or dont like it. I, myself, think that this look will define and DATE this decade in filmmaking. I dont like anything that dates a film. But it happens.
And whether you like the look or not, you cant honestly look at those two samples and say that the second looks "more like video" than the first.
Sounds like a new software product from Red Giant. Here's what I care about: price point.
I'll be watching.
I just hope it comes with some more of Stu's lecture video's. I greatly enjoyed the last.
The can burn their marketing into my brain all they want if they are providing that kind of to-the-point information.
can i agree with matt lin this is getting way over used i actually find the first frame quite refreshing
Maybe Mojo is something like magic bullet looks for photoshop???
If you guys have ever read "The Visual Story" by Bruce Block I think you'd understand why this looks is so popular as of late. It's the principle of "contrast" and "affinity", contrasty visual elements tend to be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye (i.e. "S" gamma curve) than flat non contrasty images. So that brings me to my point as it relates to color; blue/cyan and yellow are complimentary colors, they sit opposite each other on the color wheel so therefore they contrast real nicely the same as an S curve does with luma values. Skin tones/talent is obviously the most important feature and so pushing blues into the shadows and yellow into highlights and some into the mid tones really accentuates/highlights the talents skin tones and again is visually pleasing color wise because again it creates a nice contrast in complimentary colors. Because of the advent of digital color correction/grading films are more frequently taking on this looks which wasn't as much a possibility with "color timing" in film processing. So don't expect it to be a look to go away anytime soon. You can find this same look in nature, as Stu points out in his book "DV's Rebel Guide" you can find this color palette during a sunset. Highlights are yellow shadows are blue, highlights are yellow where the sun is hitting, shadows are blue because they are softly lit by the blue sky. Using this palette or color scheme is in a sense as Stu points out recreating the beautiful sunset type lighting. Hope this is a refreshing view on these color schemes.
Cheers,
Denver Riddle
That's not like the Avid Mojo is it?, cause I've had that for like, eight years now.
Maybe fix Colorista instead?
What about making Colorista work with Sony Vegas?
When?
I love Stu, but I have to admit that I prefer the top image. At least as a still image. Put that puppy in motion and I might be singing a different tune. Of course everyone has their own tastes, and if the content is good enough, I'll get over what ever opinion I have about the grade.
I'm guessing it's very sweet auto color correction for MB. Though I'd also be kinda interested if it got you kissing on hot girls somehow...
Mojo is my fav correction effect since Magic Bullet. Won't spoil it but when you guess see what this does for skin tones you'll flip.
"This "look" is getting increasingly overused, and just looks kind of silly on digital sources. Especially the way-overdone skin tone preservation, looks megafake. If a plugin comes out that does this automatically, then god save us and the resulting heaps of stuff on vimeo"
Your gonna hate MOJO then because that is EXACTLY what it is made for. I love it.
You might be sick off the look but you forget STU works on big budget movies and gives us tools and techniques that help our low budget stuff look like HOLLYWOOD movies.
I also prefer the original image. I suppose mojo could be a lot of things if it just turns an image with a little bit too much magenta into one with too much green.
"but you forget STU works on big budget movies and gives us tools and techniques that help our low budget stuff look like HOLLYWOOD movies."
This recent attitude amongst amateur filmmakers, set on completely copying the big budget industry, makes me a little queezy feeling to say the least. Have we all forgotten what film is about? And that not a single filmmaker has gotten their big break from copying, or imitating the big budget feature industry, they got it though, hold on to your pants - innovation! The thing film is all about. Grading your film to look like the most recent hip action movie is just so, well, silly. Take the money you were going to spend on this plugin and purchase a couple screenwriting classes - seriously, that is worlds more important than how hip the color in your film is, whether its exposed properly, etc.
It's scary how much the amateur film world has moved completely away from story and more to making it look pretty with 35mm adapters, as much resolution as possible, grading everything to look like The Bourne Ultimatum, etc... Yall need to stop worrying what the latest trends in hollywood are and start worrying about making your own unique films that tell YOUR story.
Jon, you are right, to a point. Film is not just about a story though. Sure, it might be 90% all about the story, but the rest 10% is about how you present that story. And color grading is one of these presentation ways. As for the teal colors, they simply look nice to the eye, that's why we like to use it, not because it's the latest fashion. It's the same reason why most operating systems have blue colors in their user interface. And no matter what you say, a lot of people don't like some OSes or mobile devices based purely on the UI rather than their usability. Same can happen to a film. At the end of the day, you want people to enjoy your film at all levels, not say "yeah, it was good, but it looked so bad". There are viewers who notice.
1st one is better. 2nd one is overgraded, sorry.
If your trying to sell your Rebel movie it would help if it looked like 90% of the films on the big screen for the past 5+ years. If all these awesome directors and DP's are keeping their skin tones real and the shadows blue/green. Who is any of to question them?
Also if we want to make my/your movie to look like that then sooo what?
It's not like you have to color the whole movie. Use mojo for a few scenes that need it.
Jon: You are making a very condescending assumption that the story and script are not in line. If they ARE, then why not work on the picture just a little?
The Before shot looks far better than the After shot.
Being able to lock skin tones into their "Hollywood" values is helpful not just because it has a big-budget look. Digital sensors are optimized for daylight, but I shoot lots of stuff under tungsten and flourescent lights as well, and editing it all together is a color correcting nightmare. Interior shot preceded by an exterior shot, and the people look pink, etc. I see tremendous value on something that would help make those scenes seamless.
Not Danny -
There is no NDA signed when you beta-test cetain RG products. It was like that when I beta tested MB Looks. Also there has no warning about talking about these products and did not get my hand slapped by Stu.
Besides all I didn't even tell you what it is other than mention that the brilliant 'skin tones checkbox' is a revelation.
What is mojo?
It is probably a psycho sort of test getting people to argue about two different colored pictures. :-)
"Is that what the kids are into today? A little bit of Mojo?"
"You eyeballin' my piece fitty cent?"
Just looks like a digital Infra-Red reduction filter. Nothing more.
Just came out. great plug-in
Thanks for the copy stu and micah.
Instead of spending yet more dollars on software, how about adjusting the white balane BEFORE and during the shoot. This way you don't need Mojo -- at least not the software anyway.
I gotta get my mojo on!