Image Processing Reference
In-Depth Information
Mixing live-action elements with single-frame footage takes a lot of planning.
We covered match lighting and object/person interaction in the previous
chapter, but another element of this kind of composite work is adjusting
the colors to match. If your white balance option was not set correctly in the
shooting stage, then the edit is the time to correct this oversight. Thinking
about an interesting color palette or plan is important in the planning stage,
but it is the postproduction work that fine-tunes the differences that may
occur in shooting. The bottom line is that you need to have good footage to
begin with but there is some latitude in color correction whether you do it
in Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, or After Effects. It is best to identify one establishing
shot and color correct that shot to the best of your ability. All of the following
shots should be matched to that default color-corrected master scene. There
is the possibility of changing the overall color palette in the postproduction
process, but usually, this should have been explored in the preproduction
stage. Your attitude and ideas evolve during a film's development, so allowing
yourself a chance to play with the colors in color correction is worth the
time. You might change the image to black and white or a sepia tone; or
shift the contrast, saturation, brightness, or color scheme; or add filters to
view your film in another perspective. Keep track of all the changes and
their corresponding filter measurements, so you can duplicate a look you
discovered and want to apply to other parts of your film. You can accomplish
this by saving your filters and effects settings as “presets.” This allows you to
reapply the same exact effect to any shot at any time.
File Management
Another important practice that needs to be sorted out in the preproduction
stage is the naming convention for all your files. If you establish a good file-
naming system and stick with it, then the editing and postproduction work
become much more manageable. You can do this in several ways; here is a
system I used on my most recent film,
Off-Line
.
Title abbreviation = OL
Scene = sc
Take = t
Frame number = f
Effects = e
Final frames = F
You must consider the full range of scenes in your film and the maximum
amount of frames in any scene; that number, in the tens or hundreds, has
to be carried out throughout.
“OLsc09t1f055eF”
This would be a final frame with effects. None of my shots had more the
999 frames in them, and my film had 99 scenes or fewer. This may seem
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