On some TV credits, the title of "Colourist" comes up. What do
they actually do?


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Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics) wrote:
On some TV credits, the title of "Colourist" comes up. What do
they actually do?

I'm very glad you asked that question, and that Dave answered it,
because I'd wondered that too.

I'd thought that it was something to do with turning black-and-white
film into colour :-)

Owain

It's much more fun than that. The colourist has the ability to change
any colour into any other colour, a process known as secondary colour
correction.
It's an artistic skill requiring good colour vision and good judgement
alongside the ability to manipulate complex controls in real time often
with directors sitting behind you applying pressure and irritation.
For a TV show, as Dave Plowman says, the colourist will usually just
fix the colour changes due to lighting - there is a budget after all.
For a movie or an advert many hours will go into getting the colours
just right, you'd be amazed how picky the directors can be.
The real kit is expensive and specialised but very quick to use and
very powerfull. If you have access to Adobe Premier (free with some
Sony laptops) you will find a less powerful version hidden in the
colour controls - you can waste hours playing with it!
HTH
Calvin

On Sat, 09 Jul 2005 10:39:45 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics) wrote:
On some TV credits, the title of "Colourist" comes up. What do
they actually do?

Most quality programmes these days are recorded in components which allows
the colour balance of the pictures to be altered somewhat. Usually, just
to get the flesh tones correct. The sort of lights used in TV tend to have
colour temperatures which vary slightly with age. This gets ignored by the
eye, but shows up on camera. As, of course, does natural light.

The normal technical term for sorting this is called grading in the UK.
I'd guess 'colourist' comes from across the pond. ;-)

Although more likely labelled as "colorist" :-)

--
Frank Erskine
Sunderland

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:

On at least some dramas in the UK - like say Casualty - the lighting
director will grade the pictures after the show is edited. Others may use
a specialist company, as the equipment to perform this task is costly.


Thankyou.

--
AJL Electronics (G6FGO) Ltd : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

"Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)" wrote in message
. ..
In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:

On at least some dramas in the UK - like say Casualty - the lighting
director will grade the pictures after the show is edited. Others may
use
a specialist company, as the equipment to perform this task is costly.


Thankyou.

Also called colour balancing. Some directors like to shoot within tight f
stop range and lighting to give a certain colour temperature throughout.
This at times has its disadvantages, in that an outside scene can be
remarkably like an inside one, which doesn't appear natural. Many 1970s US
TV shows were shot that way.

In Gone With The Wind (1939), the film started out bright and colourful and
gradually went darker as teh war took hold. Very clever and very effective.
Mainly done with lighting and f stops.

In article ws.net,
Doctor Evil wrote:
Also called colour balancing. Some directors like to shoot within tight
f stop range and lighting to give a certain colour temperature
throughout. This at times has its disadvantages, in that an outside
scene can be remarkably like an inside one, which doesn't appear
natural.

If you shoot at a constant colour temperature, the colours will change
throughout the day. And in different types of weather and season. Also,
most interiors will require some form of lighting - even in daylight. And
no two lamps will be exactly the same, colour temperature wise. So you use
filters to match the lamps to ambient at that time, if necessary. Of
course you may wish to simulate early morning or late evening by altering
the colour temperature, but as is more likely you'll alter the colour
temperature at either end of the day to match your 'norm'.

So colour temperature is constantly being altered to keep flesh tones etc
looking the same shot by shot. In the early days of video, this would
usually be done by white balancing just before shooting each shot. Now at
least with some cameras the colour temperature can be varied on the fly so
can be done more quickly by eye. With a skilled operator.

Many 1970s US TV shows were shot that way.

Shot on film, which can and will be graded anyway. It has to be, because
you can only guess at the results when it's being shot. It's a very
inexact science, film. But very tolerant in some ways compared to video.
With video, assuming you have a properly adjusted Grade 1 monitor and a
waveform scope, it's possible to get the results required at the time with
care. Same as you'd have to do on a live broadcast.

In Gone With The Wind (1939), the film started out bright and colourful
and gradually went darker as teh war took hold. Very clever and very
effective. Mainly done with lighting and f stops.

Care to speculate how much that film would cost to make in modern money?
Not that it matters - lighting and exposure are key elements in any
pictures - film video or stills. And it will still have had the pictures
graded.

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Dave Plowman London SW
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"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ws.net,
Doctor Evil wrote:
Also called colour balancing. Some directors like to shoot within tight
f stop range and lighting to give a certain colour temperature
throughout. This at times has its disadvantages, in that an outside
scene can be remarkably like an inside one, which doesn't appear
natural.

If you shoot at a constant colour temperature,
the colours will change throughout the day.

They shoot with exterior lights even in strong sunlight.

In article ws.net,
Doctor Evil wrote:
If you shoot at a constant colour temperature,
the colours will change throughout the day.

They shoot with exterior lights even in strong sunlight.

Most would use reflectors. Why waste money on lights when they're not
needed?

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Dave Plowman London SW
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On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 16:41:14 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

They shoot with exterior lights even in strong sunlight.

Most would use reflectors. Why waste money on lights when they're
not needed?

Especialy the big f off beggers that are needed to make any impression
against direct sunlight. A 4kW HMI at 8' is a nice bit of fill.

The real problems come with interiors and large expanses of glass to
the outside world. Out come the 10ks, the naffed off sparks and
melting crew...

--
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Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In article om,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
They shoot with exterior lights even in strong sunlight.

Most would use reflectors. Why waste money on lights when they're
not needed?

Especialy the big f off beggers that are needed to make any impression
against direct sunlight. A 4kW HMI at 8' is a nice bit of fill.

Yes - but won't run of a 13 amp so restricted to a studio back lot or
where you have a genny.

The real problems come with interiors and large expanses of glass to
the outside world. Out come the 10ks, the naffed off sparks and
melting crew...

On The Bill, we've got custom made perspex NDs for CID which has acres of
glass. Only takes a few minutes to fit them. But the biggest lamps the
crew carry are only 2.5 HMIs, and there's rarely anywhere to put them in
there due to near 360 shooting. So it just burns out a bit. ;-)

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Dave Plowman London SW
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Jim Michaels wrote:


In US video production the "Video Engineer" "paints" or "shades" the
cameras to produce the desired colors and tonal range.

Ahh so that explains the appalling colour quality on NTSC then, the
bloody cameras look nice in their shiny paint but the Video Engineer
does sod all to ensure the image resembles reality.
;-)



--

In article , Matt
writes
Jim Michaels wrote:


In US video production the "Video Engineer" "paints" or "shades" the
cameras to produce the desired colors and tonal range.

Ahh so that explains the appalling colour quality on NTSC then, the
bloody cameras look nice in their shiny paint but the Video Engineer
does sod all to ensure the image resembles reality.
;-)




Bit like UK digital TV then;(.......
--
Tony Sayer

In article ,
Jim Michaels wrote:
The normal technical term for sorting this is called grading in the UK.
I'd guess 'colourist' comes from across the pond. ;-)

In US video production the "Video Engineer" "paints" or "shades" the
cameras to produce the desired colors and tonal range.

That's fine where there is one on site when shooting. But you'll not get a
vision engineer on a single camera shoot in the UK - ie most quality
drama. It will usually be the lighting director who does this task on a
single camera shoot.

However, if you want minimum crew on location where involved lighting
isn't required, it's not possible for the cameraman to do this as he's
just got too many other things to operate.
So he'd do an initial white balance. He'll hopefully adjust the exposure
in the middle of a shot if needed, though, because once it's overexposed
there's nothing you can do to correct it afterwards.

But all you've got to do is look at all the elcheapo make over progs etc
to see what happens when proper standards go out the window...

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Dave Plowman London SW
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On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 00:40:57 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

A 4kW HMI at 8' is a nice bit of fill.

Yes - but won't run of a 13 amp so restricted to a studio back lot
or where you have a genny.

Drama shoot without a load carrier/generator?

The real problems come with interiors and large expanses of glass
to the outside world. Out come the 10ks, the naffed off sparks and
melting crew...

On The Bill, we've got custom made perspex NDs for CID which has
acres of glass. Only takes a few minutes to fit them.

Frames of scrim are available for all the windows of the buildings
used for interiors up at Emmerdale. These are fitted externally. Still
gets damn hot inside with just a couple of 575s. Glad I'm not down
there this week, Sods Law would guarantee that the story will require
a week of interior night so everything blacked out and sealed up.

But the biggest lamps the crew carry are only 2.5 HMIs, and there's
rarely anywhere to put them in there due to near 360 shooting. So it
just burns out a bit. ;-)

Emm mostly stick to 3 wallers during a scene but then it is more
"traditionally" shot than The Bill.

*I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth

Charming. B-)

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 08:33:25 +0100, Matt
wrote:

Jim Michaels wrote:


In US video production the "Video Engineer" "paints" or "shades" the
cameras to produce the desired colors and tonal range.

Ahh so that explains the appalling colour quality on NTSC then, the
bloody cameras look nice in their shiny paint but the Video Engineer
does sod all to ensure the image resembles reality.
;-)


Which explains why NTSC stands for Never Twice the Same Color.

(whether it be at the center of the theater or not).....




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Andy Hall wrote:
Which explains why NTSC stands for Never Twice the Same Color.

Naff Television Selling Cornflakes.

Owain

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 08:33:25 +0100, Matt
wrote:

Jim Michaels wrote:


In US video production the "Video Engineer" "paints" or "shades" the
cameras to produce the desired colors and tonal range.

Ahh so that explains the appalling colour quality on NTSC then, the
bloody cameras look nice in their shiny paint but the Video Engineer
does sod all to ensure the image resembles reality.
;-)


Which explains why NTSC stands for Never Twice the Same Color.

It doesn't. It stands for: National Television System Committee

In article ,
Matt wrote:
In US video production the "Video Engineer" "paints" or "shades" the
cameras to produce the desired colors and tonal range.

Ahh so that explains the appalling colour quality on NTSC then, the
bloody cameras look nice in their shiny paint but the Video Engineer
does sod all to ensure the image resembles reality.

Heh heh. But the NTSC we see *should* be ok, since it's the transmission
system where it falls over, not closed circuit.

--
*A bicycle can't stand alone because it's two tyred.*

Dave Plowman London SW
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In article ws.net,
Doctor Evil wrote:
Which explains why NTSC stands for Never Twice the Same Color.

It doesn't. It stands for: National Television System Committee

Clever boy. You've found out how to Google. Now Google for sense of humour.

--
*All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand *

Dave Plowman London SW
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In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
In article ws.net,
Doctor Evil wrote:
Which explains why NTSC stands for Never Twice the Same Color.

It doesn't. It stands for: National Television System Committee

Clever boy. You've found out how to Google. Now Google for sense of humour.

Or just "sense"

--
geoff

"raden" wrote in message
...
In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
In article ws.net,
Doctor Evil wrote:
Which explains why NTSC stands for Never Twice the Same Color.

It doesn't. It stands for: National Television System Committee

Clever boy. You've found out how to Google. Now Google for sense of
humour.

Or just "sense"

Maxie, it is clear you don't like humour, as you left it out.

In article ,
Jim Michaels wrote:
Which explains why NTSC stands for Never Twice the Same Color.

It doesn't. It stands for: National Television System Committee


Dr. Evil was referring to the very old and often true alternate
version of the meaning of NTSC.

With modern digital equipment this is much less true.
Remove SPAMX from email address

DVD etc fed RGB or components into a TV doesn't involve NTSC or PAL etc
coding. All such coding systems were necessary to allow compatibility
between B&W and colour TV receivers, and throughout the transmission chain.

--
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Dave Plowman London SW
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"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ws.net,
Doctor Evil wrote:
Which explains why NTSC stands for Never Twice the Same Color.

It doesn't. It stands for: National Television System Committee

Clever boy. You've found out how to Google. Now Google for sense of
humour.

I did and it said "Dave Plowman: this is referred to as a big laugh."

In article ,
Jim Michaels wrote:
If you are watching a converted NTSC show, then it is an engineer at
the point of conversion who is adjusting the NTSC chroma phase.

You're talking about composite analogue tape recordings. These were phased
out in the early '80s for mainstream TV production. And component
recordings aren't NTSC or PAL encoded.
And before the '80s, most quality US TV shows were made on 35mm film.

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Dave Plowman London SW
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In article ,
Jim Michaels wrote:
If you are watching a converted NTSC show, then it is an engineer at
the point of conversion who is adjusting the NTSC chroma phase.

You're talking about composite analogue tape recordings. These were
phased out in the early '80s for mainstream TV production. And
component recordings aren't NTSC or PAL encoded. And before the '80s,
most quality US TV shows were made on 35mm film.

Actually, I was thinking about the satellite link which often has
composite video in to and out of the transmission path even if it is a
digital path.

Ah - right. But live from the US usually consists of news stuff where
technical standards are often poor.

I believe that if people could get uncompressed 270mbit SMPTE 601
component digital video in their living rooms, most people would
believe that what they were getting was equal to HD and even when
shown HD side by side would not be willing to pay any substantial
amount for the small difference.

Yup. But then very few TVs are capable of making a really decent fist of
PAL 625 let alone anything better.

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Dave Plowman London SW
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