Saturday, July 16, 2011

Video Color Correction For The Subtext-Conscious Editor

By Velma Joseph


Video color correction is an important aspect of most edits and is about a lot more than just evening skin tones or fixing an over- or under-exposure. A scene's overall coloration, or even that of a single shot, can enhance or subdue mood, theme and other subtextual elements of your storyline. It can also be used to draw the viewers eye to important plot or story elements by emphasizing specific characters, props or other visual elements. Just like a deft handling of light, composition and movement can evoke emotional or psychological responses from the audience, so can the skillful manipulation of color.

Good directors of photography must maintain a careful balance of aesthetic convention, shooting style and technical considerations with the piece's symbolism, theme and narrative. Every element must harmonize with the next in order to support the director's vision, the production design and the script. Good video editors must do the same with the elements of their craft: pace, continuity, movement, audio and color. Content, director-instruction and overall quality are the just a few important factors to consider in the decision-making process.

Whether you are working on a feature film, corporate video, music vid or anything in between, sorting out shooting inconsistencies is vital, and the most basic purpose of image manipulation. Col temperature issues, lighting problems, saturation levels and so on are pitfalls that live event coverage, documentaries and news gathering projects often encounter, due to the lack of controlled conditions in the field. Lighting, subject movement, shifts in the weather and a number of other environmental factors are often beyond the camera op's control.

Low-budget shoots and small-scale projects often suffer from these issues due to limited access to camera- and lighting equipment. Regardless of the reasons for image inconsistency, cleaning up footage so that shots are 'clean' is a high priority. Coloration continuity is also very important.

Once these basic fixes have been applied, colorization as an art form becomes the order of the day. Color has several layers of meaning. Throughout nature, it can represent fertility, toxicity, danger, seasonal changes, and so on. Human interpretations tend to link it with emotion (cowardice is yellow, envy green, rage red, etc.), as varied as the spectrum itself.

Common elements of our daily life have created general psychological associations also, and these are almost always highly contextual - a red rose on a table for two communicates romance, a red exclamation point on a computer says 'error', a red light on the road means 'stop', and so on. When enhancing, adding or otherwise manipulating subtext with video color correction, paying heed to natural/primal reactions, psychological associations and socialized connotations is crucial.

A golden light over two lovers kissing tells us they will live happily ever after. The apple in Snow White's pale hand is sinister in its gleaming redness. Neo should beware, and we tense too, whenever we see that sickly, digital green tint - Agents are coming. We can feel the magic of Hogwarts in the vibrancy of its coloring - contrasted with the drabness of the Muggle world. As a story telling tool, video color correction is very powerful.




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