DP2 Week11 Lecture 2009 Web

DIGITAL PRODUCTION
2
WEEK 11, 2009
LAST MINUTE AFTER EFFECTS TOOLS
COLOUR CORRECTION
LUKE MONSOUR
LAST MINUTE AFTER
EFFECTS
Basic Colour Correction, Reading Waveform
Monitors
A Look at Expressions
Basic Wire Removal
Beam Effect / Stroke Effects

WAVEFORM MONITORS &
VECTORSCOPES
WAVEFORM MONITORS &
VECTORSCOPES
Why colour correction?
Almost nothing you see in finished format escapes the
treatment process, everything is graded.
Used to correct or simply adjust colours and tonalities

of your image
Required to create seamless colour continuity between

shots and scenes
Used to create a particular look or feel

PRIMARY / SECONDARY COLOUR
CORRECTION
Primary colour correction usually refers to correction
applied to the whole image, a ‘master’ correction
Secondary correction refers to correcting particular

elements within the image
Highlights, shadows, midtones
Hair colour, eye colour
Saturation, colour of particular elements
ACCURATE FOR OUTPUT
What’s an LUT?
‘Look up table’
Preset calibration files used to simulate the look of your
final destination on your computer monitor
ie If finishing on film, you could use an LUT designed to
simulate the look and colour space of film to help make
the composite and grade more accurate
Unfortunately there is always still some ‘guesswork’ when doing
a final grade. You can never guarrantee exactly how your movie
will look, it depends on so many other factors.
Lucas tried to begin this process with THX theatre specs…
VIDEO SYSTEM
Before you begin Colour Correcting, make sure

you’re in the right system
Usually set in the preferences
Choose PAL, NTSC etc
Each has specific ranges, limits, requirements

WAVEFORM MONITOR
Different types:
Luma
YC
RGB
‘parade’ format
YCrCb
‘parade’ format
LUMA
YC
RGB PARADE
YRGB PARADE
HISTOGRAM
WAVEFORM MONITOR – WHAT’S IT
FOR?
Displays the level of video signal over the width of one
or more scanlines
Shows the levels of luma & chroma components
The width of the monitor corresponds to the width of the

video scan line
ie The left edge of the monitor represents the left edge of
your video frame
The height shows the amplitude of the signal

Black is the bottom, white the top
WAVEFORM MONITOR
The Scale along the left edge is in IRE units.

IRE: Institute of Radio Engineers, merged with American Institute of
Electrical Engineers in 1963 to form IEEE – Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers, developing electrical and digital
standards. ie IEEE1394 (firewire), IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.11
(networking standards) etc.
0 is black
100 is pure white
Some monitors use voltage as units

WAVEFORM MONITOR
This one uses a voltage scale from 0.1V to 1.2V

The image is quite dim, as you can see by the video signals.
VOLTS V IRE
IRE is a relative measure based on the voltage of the

video signal
Video has a range of 1 volt
This 1 volt spans140 IRE units
+ 100 IRE for the video signal , - 40 IRE for the

Synch pulses of analogue broadcast
So 1 IRE unit = 7.14 mV

FINAL CUT WAVEFORM MONITOR
A DYNAMIC RANGE
An image with a good dynamic range will show on

the waveform monitor as having a wide range of
signals, from black to white.
The signal can go above white, but only very briefly,

and in little amounts. If a reasonable portion of the
image is above ‘white’ or 100 IRE, then the image is
overexposed.
The black level should be set at 0 IRE (for PAL. NTSC uses
an IRE of 7.5 for black)
Good range of tonality, includes little bit of white, bit of black, good
spread throughout. And the image ‘looks’ good.
Over exposed white areas, too much clipping. Large areas of over
exposure in the image, loss of detail.
This image has no white, which makes it look dull, washed out.
This image does have both black and white, although the balance is
shifted towards the brighter end, making it look washed out.
ZEBRA PATTERN
Some cameras (all pro cameras) use zebra patterns to

show specific IRE levels in your image.
PD170 can set zebra to 75% or 100%
75% is a good level for skin tone, if parts of the face

are stripy at 75 then exposure for the shot should be ok.
100% is for white in the image, so having a few little

stripes appear when set to 100 indicates a reasonable
exposure.
GREEN SCREEN IRE
Using a waveform monitor can assist with green screen shooting
This can be done by connecting the camera via firewire to a laptop

running waveform monitor software
Many people suggest exposing so that the green screen sits around
50 – 60 IRE.
VECTORSCOPE
Used to analyse colour in the video only.

Displays HUE and SATURATION components.
More accurate than relying on your monitor for precise colour information.
VECTORSCOPE
Hue is measured by counter clockwise rotation

Hue is usually measured by degrees, from 0 to 360°
Saturation is measured by distance from the centre
Each pixel in the image has it’s own colour

information, defined by hue and saturation
Black, greys and whites appear in the centre as they

have no or little saturation
Points toward the outer edge have great saturation

VECTORSCOPE
There are two main colour components in this image, the green screen and
the woman’s skin tone.
VECTORSCOPE
Hue has been rotated, saturation untouched
VECTORSCOPE
Hue has been rotated, saturation increased (beyond safe levels)
VECTORSCOPE
COLOUR BARS
PRIMARY COLOUR CORRECTION
Image straight from consumer handycam, shot on overcast day, looks

slightly washed out – to the eye
Waveform monitor confirms this, no real black in the image, there are
some bright areas, but it’s the lack of black which makes it washed out.
Set your black and white levels. Here the Pedestal (black level) was
adjusted to darken the shadows in the image. Gain was increased to lift
the mid to dark areas so the image wasn’t too dark.
SECONDARY COLOUR CORRECTION
Used to isolate a particular area for specific correction or effect.

SECONDARY COLOUR CORRECTION
Used to isolate a particular area for specific correction or effect.

COLOUR CORRECTION FURTHER
READING
www.synthetic-ap.com Synthetic Aperture site
Color Finesse User Manual

Mac: Applications>Adobe After Effects>Plug-ins>Effects>Synthetic Aperture>Color Finesse
Docs
Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects:

Essential and Advanced Techniques, 4th Edition
by Chris & Trish Meyer, Focal Press (2007)
The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction

by Steve Hullfish, Focal Press (2008)
Simple Wire Removal
In After Effects, use CC Simple Wire Removal plug-
in
One instance of the plug-in per wire, per segment of

wire
It draws a line along the straight line of the

wire/string. You have a choice to remove it to alpha,
or ‘displace’ the pixels, with a ‘clone-like’ result
Keyframe the ends of the strings for the duration of

the shot
Simple Wire Removal
Simple Wire Removal
Simple Wire Removal
BEAM EFFECT
Use this to create short animated lines

BEAM EFFECT
Define the Start and End points of the beam
Animate the ‘time’ factor of the beam
Thickness, colour, perspective

BEAM EFFECT

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DIGITAL PRODUCTION

Basic Wire Removal

Beam Effect / Stroke Effects

Used to correct or simply adjust colours and tonalities

Required to create seamless colour continuity between

Used to create a particular look or feel

Secondary correction refers to correcting particular

Before you begin Colour Correcting, make sure

Usually set in the preferences

Choose PAL, NTSC etc

Each has specific ranges, limits, requirements

Shows the levels of luma & chroma components

The width of the monitor corresponds to the width of the

The height shows the amplitude of the signal

The Scale along the left edge is in IRE units.

100 is pure white

Some monitors use voltage as units

This one uses a voltage scale from 0.1V to 1.2V

IRE is a relative measure based on the voltage of the

Video has a range of 1 volt

This 1 volt spans140 IRE units

+ 100 IRE for the video signal , - 40 IRE for the

So 1 IRE unit = 7.14 mV

An image with a good dynamic range will show on

The signal can go above white, but only very briefly,

Some cameras (all pro cameras) use zebra patterns to

PD170 can set zebra to 75% or 100%

75% is a good level for skin tone, if parts of the face

100% is for white in the image, so having a few little

This can be done by connecting the camera via firewire to a laptop

Used to analyse colour in the video only.

Hue is measured by counter clockwise rotation

Saturation is measured by distance from the centre

Each pixel in the image has it’s own colour

Black, greys and whites appear in the centre as they

Points toward the outer edge have great saturation

Image straight from consumer handycam, shot on overcast day, looks

Used to isolate a particular area for specific correction or effect.

Used to isolate a particular area for specific correction or effect.

Color Finesse User Manual

Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects:

The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction

One instance of the plug-in per wire, per segment of

It draws a line along the straight line of the

Keyframe the ends of the strings for the duration of

Use this to create short animated lines

Animate the ‘time’ factor of the beam

Thickness, colour, perspective

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