DaVinci Resolve Studio Used by Trish Cahill at Soundfirm to Grade the Dremaker
08/10/2015
Based on the book by Rosalie Ham, The Dressmaker takes place in the 1950s and follows Myrtle Tilly' Dunnage as she returns to her hometown to take care of her ill mother, Molly (Judy Davis), from whom she was sent away at the age of ten because of false accusations of murder. Tilly, an expert dressmaker, transforms the locals with her couture creations and in the process, exacts revenge on the people who wrongly accused her of murder all those years ago. The film is produced by Sue Maslin, directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and also stars Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving and Sarah Snook.
I made the decision to take The Dressmaker' to Soundfirm as it is a one stop shop for state of the art sound and picture post production and enabled us to work with a world class team of professionals who cared deeply about the story, said Sue. I couldnt be happier with the creative results that Resolve delivered in the hands of Don McAlpine and Trish Cahill.
According to Trish, the look of the film needed to be true to the dry Australian landscape it is set in, but it also needed to remain rich and beautiful. Don McAlpine is a master cinematographer, so as you can imagine, the film came to me with wonderful meat and bones already, said Trish. After the initial balance was in place, we looked for little things to enhance each frame, such as a chop at the top of frame here or an extra bit of sunshine on a patch of grass there.
She continued: We had the opportunity to experiment a little with the memory scenes where Kate Winslet's character remembers moments from her childhood, which needed to look different from the present. We ended up with a moody contrast look with a desaturated, ashy palette. Wherever we had skies and silhouette trees we graded, keyed and dropped the mids. There was definitely a focus on the environment.
In one day for night shot, the camera is on a dolly moving towards a silo, and Trish was tasked with retaining this camera movement while creating a starry nighttime sky. It fell into place very quickly using Resolve's super fast tracker for grades and the intuitive keyer to control the various areas of the image, said Trish. The very next shot is the two main characters gazing up at the stars and talking about the night sky, and the shot needed stars. I made numerous one pixel windows with a slight blur and lots of brightness and started moving them all over the place, occasionally making some brighter than others to recreate the randomness of a starry sky. The consensus in the room judging on a still frame was that it worked well.
However, once the scene was played back, the stars needed more integration into the shot as the camera dollied forward. Luckily for us, Resolves shape tracker and stabilizing tools are fantastic, so one run through at real time with default settings on the stabilizer tool and bam! DaVinci Resolve made the stars sit perfectly into the night sky without any loss of our wonderful dolly effect, said Trish.
DaVinci Resolve Studio's tracker also proved beneficial when protecting the performances and subtlety of the actors' eyes and faces while maintaining the rich and tonal look for the film. We have gorgeous actors with beautiful blue eyes, which were sometimes a challenge to maintain in warmly lit scenes. This is where Resolve's tracker also came in handy, said Trish. To be able to go through the film and highlight the moments and selective colors we needed and yet keep the frame rich, vivid and inviting on a whole was a case of having our cake and eating it too.
Trish concluded: The shape tracker allows for a colorist to keep the match and the beauty of a scene and also keep the performance and draw subtle attention to the moments that enhance the film. Without this intelligent and fast tool, you would have to keep a very strict priorities list of what could be achieved in the timeframe, because these things can take time. Now I find myself leaping into the tough stuff without hesitation and without having to do mental calculations as to whether this will blow out the schedule.
DaVinci Resolve Studio was also used for the online edit of the film at Soundfirm, which has a number of Resolve Studio suites in both its Melbourne and Sydney facilities. And according to Jonathan Burton, digital imaging supervisor at Soundfirm, The flexibility of the system really allowed for it to form the backbone of the DI post workflow, especially given that the production wanted to retain the 4K RAW files all the way to the final mastering of the film.
He explained: Resolve was used as the primary conform tool at Soundfirm Melbourne where the offline edit of the film was also done. There is a big advantage in being able to conform the film as the edit progresses, allowing the production to go between the online and offline versions of the cut and ultimately reflect any minor edit tweaks until the final picture lock off. Resolve was next used to handle all of the VFX I/O, creating deliveries to go to the VFX team along with temp grades, reviews and returns of VFX finals to go back into the online.
The final conformed Resolve projects were then sent up to our grading theatre at Fox Studios in Sydney, and DaVinci Resolve's Consolidate Clips tool was used to move all the media and manage the transition between facilities, added Jonathan. Overall the integration of DaVinci Resolve between Soundfirms multiple facilities allowed us to manage the complexities of the workflow in the simplest and most effective post pathway.
He concluded: Overall I would say the biggest benefit is the flexibility of the system. Purely
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
14/05/2024
Opinion: Why it's important to give broadcast engineers support in the move to IP
Ed Calverley, manager at large, SMPTE UK, discusses how organisations can help t...
14/05/2024
Sphere completes HOLOPLOT acquisition
HOLOPLOTs proprietary technology enables precise and digital control of sound propagation and localisation to deliver targeted, consistent and immersive audio, ...
14/05/2024
TVBEurope appoints Jenny Priestley as content director
Matthew Corrigan has also recently joined the TVBEurope editorial team as content writer By TVBEurope Staff Published: May 14, 2024 Matthew Corrigan has a...
14/05/2024
Gary Heelas Joins TSL as Principal Engineer
LOS ANGELES Gary Heelas has joined TSL as principal engineer in the company's U.S. office, the company announced....
14/05/2024
Gray Television Inks AAPB Deal for Summer Baseball
ATLANTA Gray Television Inc. has announced an agreement to bring select American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) games to free, over-the-air local t...
14/05/2024
Adsmovil Expands Nuestra.TV Distribution
MIAMI, Fla. Adsmovil has expanded access to its free, ad-supported, streaming TV service, Nuestra.TV to include Apple TV, Android TV, Smart TVs, Android media p...
14/05/2024
Roku Lands Exclusive Rights to Package of MLB Games
SAN JOSE, Calif. In another important example of how high-profile sports rights are shifting to streaming, Roku has secured the exclusive multi-year rights for ...
14/05/2024
Arkona Presents a Sneak Peek into the Future of Live Prod...
arkona technologies GmbH, provider of IP core infrastructure solutions for Tier-1 broadcast productions, has announced that it will be supporting its growing gl...
14/05/2024
TAG Teams with Techex at MPTS to Demonstrate Best-of-Bree...
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has revealed highlights of its MPT...
14/05/2024
Blaze Audio Acquires Cornered Audios Commercial Install L...
Blaze Audio, a Copenhagen-based global leader specialising in pro audio solutions tailored for the installed sound market, has today announced it has acquired t...
14/05/2024
GBICS Offers Exclusive Free Bespoke Samples at MPTS 2024
GBICS, a pioneer in multi-vendor optical networking solutions, announces its presence at the upcoming Media Production and Technology Show (MPTS), happening on ...
14/05/2024
Glensound brings the latest in IP audio to CABSAT 2024
Glensound, industry leader in high quality audio systems, is showcasing the latest additions to its extensive portfolio of networked audio products at CABSAT. A...
14/05/2024
Marshall Cameras Deliver Efficient and Innovative Hybrid...
S&L Integrated Systems, a leader in audio-visual technology solutions, has recently transformed courtroom experiences throughout Georgia and the surrounding reg...
14/05/2024
Broadcast Bionics showcases the future of podcast technol...
Visit UK software company Broadcast Bionics in London this May at the Media Production & Technology Show (MPTS), Olympia London on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 1...
14/05/2024
Miami-Based DJ Creates Unique Mixes in His Studio With KR
Miami-based DJ, Music Producer, and Music Business Entrepreneur Christian Tian Jimenez has always enjoyed making music. From producing and mastering in his ho...
14/05/2024
Rohde and Schwarz showcases operational efficiency at MPT...
Rohde & Schwarz will showcase its media technologies portfolio at the Media Production & Technology Show (stand M40, MPTS, London, 15 16 May) and demonstrate ...
14/05/2024
International OB provider DVB Production in Slovenia is f...
DVB Production, a major supplier of outside broadcast (OB) services in Slovenia and Central Europe, has integrated Calrec's all-IP Argo S audio console and ...
14/05/2024
Custom Consoles Announces Latest-Generation M-Desk Techni...
Custom Consoles will highlight major refinements to its M-Desk Technical HA heavy duty height-adjustable desk workstation on stand J26 at The Media Production &...
14/05/2024
Leader to Highlight Latest Test and Measurement Innovatio...
Leader Electronics Corporation, globally active innovator of broadcast-quality test and measurement instrumentation, will highlight three latest-generation test...
14/05/2024
IBC2024 Primed to Lead Innovation Explore Trends and Fost...
IBC2024 is now open for registration, with the global media and entertainment (M&E) industry set to converge on the RAI Amsterdam on 13-16 September. The event ...
14/05/2024
Vidzemes TV Latvia Expands with PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-...
Latvian free-to-air broadcaster Vidzemes TV has chosen PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box playout to expand the technical facilities at its studio headquarters in Val...
14/05/2024
Avid Presents - Meet the Sound Team Behind True Detective: Night Country
Avid Presents - Meet the Sound Team Behind True Detective: Night Country Brie Clayton May 13, 2024 0 Comments There's nothing quite like the sound...
14/05/2024
Rethinking Media Archiving with Object Storage
Rethinking Media Archiving with Object Storage Brie Clayton May 13, 2024 0 Comments Media producers today need to maintain online access to all conten...
14/05/2024
Liquid Morphing Motion in After Effects
Liquid Morphing Motion in After Effects Graham Quince May 13, 2024 0 Comments I'm not too sure if it is liquid motion but it's probably the b...
14/05/2024
Why APSC Lenses Might Be All You Need
Why APSC Lenses Might Be All You Need Sean Alami May 13, 2024 0 Comments Exploring the big impact of small sensors: Dive into how APSC lenses offer ci...
14/05/2024
Intelligent Video Effects with Film Impact in Adobe Premiere Pro Transitions
Intelligent Video Effects with Film Impact in Adobe Premiere Pro Transitions Colin Smith May 13, 2024 0 Comments This tutorial is part 2 of a detail...
14/05/2024
Shawne Merriman Turns on Lights Out Sports Streamer
Former NFL linebacker Shawne Merriman has soft-launched Lights Out Sports, a free ad-supported sports streaming service....
14/05/2024
Stars Are Back for Upfronts, More Dollars May Follow as Well
Television companies expect this year's upfront to be stronger than last year's....
14/05/2024
PJ Gallagher explores Ireland's fight for mental wellness in new RT documentary, PJ Gallagher: Changing My Mind
Comedian PJ Gallagher turns mental health warrior in PJ Gallagher: Changing My M...
13/05/2024
Entry opens for EU Award for Investigative Journalism 2024
Journalists from the Western Balkans and T rkiye can now submit their investigative stories published in 2023 for the EU Award for Investigative Journalism 2024...
13/05/2024
Sundance Film Festival: London 2024 Announces Repertory Shorts Programme, Three Repertory Features And Three Public Talks
Tickets on sale now London, 13 May 2024 - Today Picturehouse and the nonprofit ...
13/05/2024
In Their Own Words: Audiobooks To Explore During Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (APIHM), a time to reflect and ...
13/05/2024
Eurovision 2024: Swiss Singer Nemo Took the Crown, but There's More Talent To Celebrate
From C line Dion to ABBA, the Eurovision Song Contest has served as a launchpad ...
13/05/2024
Eurovision delivers strong Total TV audiences for SBS, with more than 2.2 million Australians tuning in
Eurovision delivers strong Total TV audiences for SBS, with more than 2.2 millio...
13/05/2024
L3Harris and Azerbaijan Airlines Advancing Pilot Training Capabilities in the Caspian Sea Region with Cutting-Edge Boeing 787-9 Full Flight Simulator
L3Harris is pleased to announce that it has secured a contract with Azerbaijan A...
13/05/2024
PBS Stations to Gain Access to Nielsen Local Dashboards
ARLINGTON, Va. PBS has received a significant grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to provide PBS Member Stations with Nielsen Local Dashboa...
13/05/2024
IBC2024 Now Open for Registration, Adds New AI Tech Zone
LONDON IBC2024, the broadcast industry's second largest international trade show, is now open for registration. Organizers said exhibition space reservation...
13/05/2024
CNBC: Sinclair Considering Selling Some Broadcast Stations
Sinclair Broadcast Group is reportedly considering selling more than 30% of its broadcast stations according to CNBC....
13/05/2024
Three New Shows on NBC's Fall Schedule
NBC has shared its fall schedule, with three new series set to premiere: Drama Brilliant Minds, with Zachary Quinto; comedy St. Denis Medical, with Wendi McLend...
13/05/2024
Animated Show Housebroken' Will Not Return on Fox
Animated comedy Housebroken will not see season three on Fox. The network said it was pleased with the show's creative, but viewer response wasn't stron...
13/05/2024
Tributes Flow for KTLA Entertainment Reporter Sam Rubin, Dead at 64
Tributes flowed in Hollywood today after KTLA in Los Angeles reported that longtime morning-news entertainment reporter, Sam Rubin, had died Friday at age 64....
13/05/2024
CBS Sports to Use 5G-Connected Cameras to Cover PGA Championship
T-Mobile announced today that it is deploying its 5G Advanced Network Solutions (ANS) to enhance the fan experience as well as CBS Sports' live coverage of ...
13/05/2024
The Film and TV Charity launches fund for Black and Global Majority professionals
Funding will be awarded in three rounds over two years, with applications for th...
13/05/2024
IBC2024 opens for registration and announces new AI tech zone
This years show features an expanded venue including a new AI tech Zone and a second Content Everywhere area By Matthew Corrigan Published: May 13, 2024 T...
13/05/2024
David Loving Named KHOU-KTBU Houston General Manager
David Loving srtarts as president and general manager of KHOU-KTBU Houston May 20. He comes from WOI-KCWI Des Moines, where he was the general manager. Both duo...
13/05/2024
Rick Sallinger, KCNC Denver Reporter, Has Died
Rick Sallinger, KCNC Denver reporter, died of natural causes May 9 in the Denver area. He was 74....
13/05/2024
ABC Renews Idol,' Shark Tank,' Dancing With the Stars,' Others
In advance of its upfront presentation, ABC has renewed American Idol for season eight, The Bachelor for season 29, Celebrity Jeopardy! for season three, Celebr...
13/05/2024
Gordon Ramsay, Fox Launch Bite Food Entertainment Platform
Fox Entertainment and Gordon Ramsay said they have launched Bite, a food brand and entertainment business featuring digital content, live events and consumer pr...