Picture Shop's Mark Kueper Grades Billy the Kid With DaVinci Resolve Studio

28/05/2024

Picture Shop's Mark Kueper Grades Billy the Kid With DaVinci Resolve Studio

Brie Clayton May 28, 2024

0 Comments

Blackmagic Design today announced that Colorist Mark Kueper of Picture Shop graded season one and two of the MGM+ series Billy the Kid using DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.

An epic romantic adventure series based on the life of famous American outlaw Billy the Kid, the show follows the title character from his humble Irish roots, to his early days as a cowboy and gunslinger in the American frontier, to his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War and beyond. Season one's pilot was shot by Cinematographer Paul Sarossy and directed by Otto Bathurst. The series' cinematography was by Paul Sarossy, Ronald Paul Richard, Sylvaine Dufaux and Craig Powell.

Involved early in the process of pre production, Kueper was excited about working on a show shot in Calgary, in the Canadian province of Alberta. I jumped at the chance to grade images of such a beautiful place, said Kueper.

With neither the director nor the cinematographer having experience shooting a western before, they insisted on doing some test photography in and around the shooting location, located in the town of Drumheller. We were able to do look development and set the visual language for the show, continued Kueper. We talked about ways to make the landscape more foreboding. Everywhere you point the camera in Calgary looks great, and springtime outside of Calgary is very lush and green. We needed to make it feel more arid and dustier, like New Mexico. We could see desaturating the foliage and resisting postcard skies would help set the mood.

To achieve a unique look for the show, Sarossy and Bathurst chose to shoot film with vintage Petzval lenses. The character of these lenses was a big part of the look, but there are actually only two focal lengths available for this lens, added Kueper. The lenses have specific aberrations, and vignetting and focus fall off at the edges of frame depending on what stop you are at.

For wider shots and second unit, Sarossy needed to bring in other lenses, which meant matching the Petzval style in post. Kueper noted, We had to emulate those lenses in DaVinci Resolve by defocusing edges with tilt shift blur and aperture diffraction.

While Kueper created an interior and exterior shooting LUT for production, he found he could also add to the filmic look after shooting. I used FilmConvert Nitrate plugin because it has a luma mode that compresses the low blacks but also lifts them to give ambience like print does, continued Kueper. It was something we could have incorporated into the shooting LUT, but I didn't want to bake it in since it would be too aggressive for night scenes. We also used it to add grain to the show as well.

New tools in DaVinci Resolve Studio also helped speed up the grade. During the grading of season one we used match move for sky replacement. Now, in season two we can use the sky replace tool, which is quicker and better, Kueper explained.

Other tools in DaVinci Resolve Studio have helped Kueper add or enhance practical effects or manage on set challenges. Fast noise has been really helpful to add smoke or fog for continuity. There were several instances that we needed to add dust in scenes where horses are running through town or add gun smoke ambience to match shots that were missing it. Flicker addition worked nicely to get lanterns to have a more natural feel, as some LED lanterns have a rhythmic flicker that doesn't look natural, he noted.

While Kueper does start with a set node tree in his grading process, his focus is on moving past the heavy lifting and focusing on the artistic side of the scenes. Things like action scenes take the most amount of time, said Kueper. You may work on a scene for an hour and think, hey I did a lot of work here,' then find out you only did a few minutes of show. When you finally get that scene to a good place it's a good idea to move on and look at it again later with fresh eyes so you don't get lost in small details. I usually get some ideas to sweeten shots that I struggled with to make the scene better. This is every colorist's challenge. For me, when I grade a scene that really speaks to me because I think it looks great, it is rewarding. When you are seeing how you are enhancing a shot instead of fixing it, it drives the creativity up. We as colorists are only as good as the images in front of us. I guess what I am saying is that the reward doesn't come from the struggle, it comes from the art.

Billy the Kid is now streaming on MGM+.

Enjoying the news? Sign up for the Creative COW Newsletter! Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly updates on industry news, forum highlights, jobs, inspirational tutorials, tips, burning questions, and more! Receive bulletins from the largest, longest-running community dedicated to supporting professionals working in film, video, and audio.

Enter your email address, and your first and last name below!

-- Sign up: * indicates required

Email Address *

Name

--

LINK:	https://creativecow.net/picture-shops-mark-kueper-grades-billy-the-kid...
	See more stories from creativecow

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

18/03/2026

Net Insight Names Larissa GrnerMeeus CPO

Newly named chief product officer (CPO), Larissa G rner Meeus will return to Net Insight on May 4. Larissa G rner Meeus will become CPO of Net Insight on May 4...

18/03/2026

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026 explored how the sports broadcasting i...

18/03/2026

SVG's SportsTech@NABShow Blog Goes Live as Countdown to Vegas Heats Up

The 2026 NAB Show kicks off one month from today and SVG is once again set to cover the show from every angle. SVG's SportsTech@NAB Show Blog is now live - ...

18/03/2026

The Premiere of Dead Lover Showcases Grave Robbing and Sex With a Giant Finger

(L-R) The cast and crew of Dead Lover at The Ray Theater for its premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo by Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundan...

18/03/2026

Music Row Piano from Wiltone Productions

Yamaha C7 captured in Nashville Wiltone Productions have announced the release of Music Row Piano, a deeply sampled Yamaha C7 piano library that's been ...

18/03/2026

Techivation introduce T-Warmer Mk2

Bass-enhancement plug-in upgraded Along with a steady stream of new releases, Techivation have recently been revisiting some of the older plug-ins in their ...

18/03/2026

Tonal Balance Control 3 from iZotope

Mix-reference plug-in overhauled iZotope's powerful mix-referencing plug-in has just reached its third major version, and now boasts a new capture proce...

18/03/2026

Toontrack Transistor Organ EKX

Latest EZKeys 2 expansion arrives Toontrack's staggering collection of EZKeys 2 expansions has grown once again, and the latest instalment delivers a on...

18/03/2026

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture 18 March, 2026 Media releases New SBS Audio podcast For The Culture, hosted ...

18/03/2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz at NAB 2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz...

18/03/2026

LCTWS 2026

London Calling - When The Industry Convened to Help Streaming Find its MoJo In this blog, Laura Rognoni reflects on key discussions from the Connected TV World...

18/03/2026

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, a...

18/03/2026

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments LED wall virtual production blends 12K open gate acquisition w...

18/03/2026