Festival Short The Reclaimers Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Festival Short The Reclaimers Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Brie Clayton October 12, 2023

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Blackmagic Design today announced that the horror short film The Reclaimers, which recently announced its inclusion in the FilmQuest, Screamfest Horror Film Festival and Telluride Horror Show festivals, was graded using DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.

The Reclaimers follows a woman hunting a group of creatures that killed her grandparents and took over her small town, but only her canine companion can see the hostile invaders.

The film deals with themes of loss, vengeance, and companionship in what I hope is a thrilling, yet moving little film, said Director and Colorist Jason Sheedy. The story was inspired by his own experience with his dog Boone. I was taking Boone for a walk after a storm and I remember turning down this vacant street where she froze in place with her eyes locked onto, well, nothing, at least nothing I could see. But she was insistent that something was there as she let out a low growl with her hair standing on end. I'm sure it wasn't a monstrous creature hellbent on ripping me apart, but it did get my imagination going.

From the beginning, Sheedy and Cinematographer Matthew Noonan wanted a stylized look, but without feeling forced. We knew we wanted to go with a desaturated look that leaned into cooler hues to give everything that uneasy, almost sickly feeling, continued Sheedy. We also didn't want it to feel too polished, so we embraced the grit and grain. Since there's little to no dialogue in the film, the goal was to use color grading to subconsciously set up the audience. For example, having warmer tones in scenes that should feel more comforting in contrast to moments of peril, which are treated with more greens and blues. In general, the film starts off warmer and as the story progresses and our character's situation worsens, we take out some of the saturation and cool things down.

During the shoot, Sheedy and Noonan kept with some specific look ideas they had discussed, knowing that in the grade they could explore different approaches that might better support the emotional subtext of the scene. When I sit down to color, I generally will grab a still from each setup and just start playing around, starting with our initial ideas and then kind of going wild just to make sure I'm not settling for the first thing that comes to mind, added Sheedy. I feel like it's easier to find the right look when you've explored some of the wrong ones.

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Eager for The Reclaimers to fit into the genre mold, yet in a unique way, Sheedy and Noonan used DaVinci Resolve Studio's color matching tools to help guide their style. Something my cinematographer and I like doing is finding still frames to reference from films that have the look we're going for, and then play with the Shot Match to This Clip' feature, just to sort of roll the dice and see what it does. While it's not creating a finished frame for us, it does help us figure out some sense of what could be a good fit for the film, getting us on the right path.

While embracing a muted, horror style, Sheedy still wanted a sense of vivid imagery as well, which required an exploration of various color treatments to find the happy medium. I wanted it to feel naturally rich, but stylized enough to keep in line with the darker tone of the film, said Sheedy. I also just get in my own head sometimes, since the right color grade can have such a profound effect on how the film is perceived. Should this be a bit cooler? Is that too much grain? I get lost in those little details, as I'm sure most filmmakers do, especially in a program like Resolve where you just have so many ways to shape the image. It can be intimidating, but it is oh so empowering.

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