Look Dev questions
I'm pretty familiar & comfortable with resolve for basic grading but am just getting into look Dev and have a number of questions . Hope there aren't just too many here.
Consistent final look : I see a lot of tutorials where people suggest creating a 'look" before doing individual clip grading and making it part of a consistent unchangeable final node group or adjustment layer. So:
- How do you decide on a look before you've experimenting a great deal with your individual shots - doesn't that make it kind of arbitrary?
- Couldn't that look sometimes be inappropriate for specific shots or scenes in a movie and wouldn't the fact that its in an untouchable final group or adjustment layer make it difficult to adjust for those shots?
- Is this something more appropriate for narrative than docs because the shots are more similar and hopefuly already art directed?
- Could you only do it only on a per/scene basis if some varied a lot?. i.e. how important is it to have that consistency throughout?
Split toning - This is a related question re a consistent "look" - I see a lot of tutorials ( esp Cullen Kelly) where they choose a warm/teal split as part of the look from the get go. However to my eye teal shadows can look terrible when imposed over a scene where the shadow colors are warm - brown clothes, wood walls, dark skin tones in shadows, a lot of nature scenes with lots of trees. I've noticed this especially in some of Cullen's tutorials. Sometimes it works but others it sucks.
Likewise it seems to me that even if you like a warm/teal consistent look that how much you want it applied could vary alot depending on the colors of the shot
- Can you create a reverse split tone to modify what that final one is doing just on clip basis . If so how? I tried to do this with a split tone DCTL I like but it didn't work .
- To me it seems more flexible to make it part of your basic node tree than as an untouchable final adjustment . What do you guys think?
Re Film Emulation:
- What is the point of having both a Negative and a Print emulation ? What kind of "magic" does the Negative add to this mix? Again I wonder about how much of this is kind of arbitrary since you'll be adjusting colors in the grade anyway .
- With different DRT's ( including JP 2499 & Cullen's "Referent" which I really like) already available- what's the point of also adding a Film LUT emulation since some of those DRTs are already trying to do much of what they do at least colorwise ( other than halation and grain which could be added separately.) Can't this just start to get redundant?
BTW - These are just questions in my mind - not opinions.
Thanks. Sorry if its too many
Lenny