I am trying to learn more about color, so I interviewed Richard Allen Crook.
Today I am excited to have Richard Allen Crook of Crooked Path Films on my interview show today. (Facebook)
Richard is a cinematographer, editor, steadicam operator and has own awards for his projects such as the Best Narrative Film at the California Film Festival.
I watched Richard’s color demo he has on Vimeo and I was blown away on how he could push the color around anyway he wanted. I didn’t know you could stretch the color like that, I always thought you had to make small changes. Richard makes it look easy, which I can tell you it is not. Also some of you might know Richard from his picture style called Crooked Path Flat.
Podcast (you can Subscribe on ITunes as well)
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(Sorry the audio quality is not up to my normal standard, I hope to improve that soon).
Questions I Asked Richard:
- For those who don’t know you, can you give us a little background on what you do?
- Do you always use your flat setting, or does it depend on the lighting and contrast of each situation?
- In Premiere there are many ways to adjust levels, which one do you use?
- Break down the window light desk setup from your demo reel. Software used, each filter, work-flow order.
- Break down outside shoot, what filter used on the sky without adding noise?
- What is done better sharpening in camera or Premiere?
- Does the order matter when adding effects in Premiere?
- What does 8 bit 4:2:0 color space mean?
- Favorite recent movie or TV show that influences how you color?
- Which Magic Bullet Looks should I get?
- What exercises can I do to become better at coloring?
- ND filters? Do you use polarizer filters at all?
The time-lapse looks good. I’ve been experimenting with these for a few months now. But when you talked about jittery shots, I think it’s because your intervals between each picture are too far apart. I’m not a time-lapse expert, but I’ve found that keeping the intervals tight can help clean up that jittering. Now of course, exposure plays a big role. If you’re shooting time-lapses at night, you’ll obviously have longer exposures. The first time-lapse I did was a night time-lapse with 8 second exposures at 15 second intervals http://vimeo.com/15984983. Closer intervals should smooth out that video. And ensure your camera is locked down real tight.
Thanks for this interview. Very informative and also goes directly against a lot of advice I have been reading on other forums.
Richard is so cool and straight up and he knows the industry…
Plus he just gets to the point as any true professional does…
“Dave, Just use the best tools and best short cuts available – MAGIC BULLET LOOKS”
Dave you took us through the great questions which was able to draw the best out in the guy…
A fast track way and process to the many problems of this subject..
Mike
Hi Dave,
In the interview you talked a little about your qualms when shooting in snowy environments. I too shoot a lot in the mountains and have found it very difficult to expose the subject properly while still maintaining detail in the back/foreground. I’d like to know your thoughts on this. Perhaps an episode?
Thanks for all your work
Anyone else find it strange that someone who is seemingly very knowledgeable about color grading doesn’t even know what levels are?
@Clay
He undoubtedly knows what levels are i would imagine, just not the CS5 effects option “levels”. As Dave said… “there’s tons of ways to change levels”, perhaps dude just doesn’t use “levels”.
I find the Magic Bullet “look” works good for certain situation, not so much for other…. In the demo reel, I find that it worked really well to get the music video clip look as well as give the scene with kids in the attic a really nice magical atmosphere.. Good interview Dave
check this video out!
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/maschwitz_stu/red-giant-blockbuster-film-look/video-tutorial
Hello,
why isn’t the interview available in germany?
That’s why I do not like youtube….
Julian
@Yuu you can’t download the mp3 of the interview, the YouTube video is not the actual interview.
@Dave the mp3 download works, but the YouTube video doesn’t.
“Video is not available in your country”
@Yuu I think I know why I have some music on it that is royalty free, for some reason Germany does not like it when I add music. If you like I put all my videos on Vimeo as well, see my about page for that link.
@Dave ahh ok thanks that works.
Hey Dave,
I’m a bit confused. Richard says ‘don’t lower your saturation levels’ but when I install CPF2.0 and look at the settings in my camera, it shows Saturation down to minus 2. Am I missing something? Also, is there anyway to change the label of “User Def.1″ to show the Picture Style title instead?
Thanks,
Dan
@Dan you are right that is a bit confusing.
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for listening to the podcast and for your support! To clarify on the CPF 2.0 picture style, I originally went along with everyone else and knocked the saturation down 2 notches when I first created it. This is not right as I specify in the podcast. In an 8-bit 4:2:0 colorspace you want to retain that information and leave it at ZERO, and adjust in post as desired. Sorry for the confusion…I haven’t had a chance to go and change it, but I will shortly. Thanks for pointing out the discrepancy!
And I also will point out that I do know what levels are…just didn’t see a way to adjust them with the stock effects in Premiere. But since the podcast, I notice you can do so in “Fast Color Corrector.” I can see how that sounded weird! haha.
I’m going to create a nice tutorial and also show you all something pretty nifty you can do to expand the dynamic range even further…which give a great filmlike look and also sharpens up the image….without using the sharpen tools. Make sure you join my Facebook group to keep up on that.
Thanks again to everyone and to Dave for the podcast…it was fun!
Richard Allen Crook
Hey guys, I updated my Crooked Path Flat style and also added a couple more. Enjoy! http://crookedpathfilms.com/blog/2011/02/27/459/
So Philip Bloom says in-camera sharpness is total crap, but now Richard says to actually increase sharpess in the camera. Just when I started to think I had this picture style stuff figured out. . .
@Jesse yes the experts are confusing us now. Looks like we need to do more of our own testing.
Every flat picture style I’ve tried in low light situations are incredibly noisy. The new CPF style is no different.
Hey Dave, this article/video is interesting on the topic of Picture Styles and grading. http://www.hdslrhub.com/tips/hdslr-color-grading-before-or-after.htm
@Jesse thanks for sending that, that was really good!