Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

A24's Y2K Graded With DaVinci Resolve Studio

13/12/2024

A24's Y2K Graded With DaVinci Resolve Studio

Brie Clayton December 12, 2024

0 Comments

Teen comedy horror emulates a film look using digital tools.

Blackmagic Design today announced that A24's comedy horror film Y2K was graded using DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.

In Y2K, on the last night of 1999 two high school juniors crash a New Years Eve party, only to find themselves fighting for their lives in this dial up disaster comedy. Directed by Kyle Mooney with cinematography by Bill Pope, the film was color graded by Senior Colorist Charles Bunnag of Light Iron, a Panavision company.

Bunnag, who had worked with Pope as an additional colorist on both Men in Black 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, discussed with Pope the style the cinematographer was hoping for on Y2K. It was important to Bill that this movie look as if it were shot in 1999, said Bunnag. He wanted to emulate the look and feel of the raunchy teenage comedies of that era. I want this to look like Superbad'' was not something I expected to hear from Bill, but that was a particularly helpful reference point and a good excuse for me to watch that movie again.

Movies in 1999 were all still shot on film, and the discussion of matching looks turned quickly to the perception of what film negative looked like, and how to create that style in DaVinci Resolve Studio. Bill and I briefly discussed some specifics regarding film stock, but we quickly decided that our memory of what film looked like was more important than the technical details. With that in mind, I created a node tree in the timeline color track which acted like a film emulation LUT. This LUT/node tree gave the image a warmer white point and pushed the reds in the midtones and skin tones.

Bunnag also used the Edge Detect tool across the entire movie to further create a film look. The output of the tool was used as a matte to contain a very subtle blur on any super sharp edges and fine details. Since film is not made up of pixels, there are technically no true, sharp edges, no matter how sharp and in focus the image may be, continued Bunnag. Using the Edge Detect to control a slight blur took away some of the digital feel that can happen in ultra sharp parts of the image, like individual hair wisps or other areas with high frequency detail. Grain was added as the last step in the timeline color track. Halation was also used across the entire movie but in a Group Post Clip track to allow scene by scene adjustments.

The film, a unique combination of comedy, fantasy and science fiction, employed a wide range of visual effects, including practical animatronics, models and computer generated imagery. Bunnag found at times he could help marry the elements in the color grade for a more cohesive look. I'd say that my biggest contribution in terms of VFX was putting in some finishing touches on some comps: adjusting black levels, adding some pop to fire and explosions, and helping to integrate some monitor comps. There was one scene that was particularly challenging, which required a lot of tricky rotoscope and color to help the lighting feel connected to the VFX.

The scene, in which the character Laura (played by Rachel Zegler) hacks into the evil AI, required some extra attention. The practical lighting from the monitor did not match the final comp because of design changes that were made in post. Finding a way to make this mismatch in lighting look believable was a challenge, but I'm glad the tools in DaVinci Resolve helped enable me to find a solution that made the filmmakers happy.

Y2K is now in theaters.

December 17, 2024Maze GmbH's Esport Factory Levels Up with Blackmagic Design Live Production WorkflowFrom charity streams to multi studio events, discover the technology and creativity

December 6, 2024TEDxGenova Outdoor Event Powered by Blackmagic DesignURSA Broadcast G2 and Micro Studio Camera 4K G2's used to capture

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/a24s-y2k-graded-with-davinci-resolve-studio/...
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 ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

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

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

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 ...

15/04/2026

WIDOW: The Mission Software Defining Rotary Strike

Image courtesy of MD Helicopters...

15/04/2026

L3Harris Announces Billion Dollar Expansion to Boost Solid Rocket Motor Production in Orange County, Virginia

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, L3Harris VP Mark Farley, and state and local l...

15/04/2026

Advancing America's Space Defense: L3Harris Completes Critical Milestone on Way to Delivering GBOSS Capability to the Warfighter

U.S. Space Forces Ground-Based Optical Sensor System upgrade at the Maui Space S...

15/04/2026

Winter Olympics, Super Bowl Power NBCU-Versant to Gold Medal Performance in Nielsen's February Gauge Reports

NBCU-Versant notches 13.1% of TV viewing in February, its best since August 2024...

15/04/2026

Nielsen CMI shows New Zealand's over-65s are a growing, cashed-up and still-working audience brands can't ignore

New data reveals older Kiwis are financially resilient, loyal to local products,...

15/04/2026

aconnic launches ACCEED 4430 10 Gigabit system for high volume enterprise and business service aggregation

aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, announces the market launch of the ACCE...

15/04/2026

Autocue to Mark 2026 NAB Show Debut of its New PTZ Prompter

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Locality Deploys Nielsen's Media Data Engine

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Viant Announces Agreement to Acquire TVision

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Evergent introduces Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platfor...

Evergent introduces its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform, transforming how subscription businesses across direct-to-consumer streaming, pay-TV, telecommun...

15/04/2026

CentralCast Delivers Breakthrough Efficiencies to Public...

Harmonic's XOS Media Processor Delivers Exceptional Video Quality to More than Half of U.S. Public Media Viewership Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announce...

15/04/2026

DPA N Series Wireless System Unlocks Duplex Gap and Guard...

LONGMONT, COLORADO, APRIL 15, 2026 DPA Microphones N Series Digital Wireless System users in North America can now take full advantage of the system's exc...

15/04/2026

Cobalt Iron Launches Compass Tape Gateway Modernizing IBM...

Cobalt Iron, a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced the launch of Compass Tape Gateway (CTG), a transformative enhancemen...

15/04/2026

Disguise to Showcase Cutting-Edge Experience Tech for Sports, Broadcast and More at NAB 2026

Disguise to Showcase Cutting-Edge Experience Tech for Sports, Broadcast and More...

15/04/2026

Arooj Aftab Makes the Music She Wants to Hear

Arooj Aftab Makes the Music She Wants to Hear The singular artist explores the juxtaposition of grief and joy, dark and light, in her distinctive sound. Apri...

15/04/2026

Panasonic, NEP Partner on IP-Based Live Production

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Encompass Digital Media Powers Global Cloud Transformatio...

Interra Systems, a provider of end-to-end quality assurance solutions for the digital media industry, is proud to announce its central role in the digital trans...

15/04/2026

Viaccess-Orca Powers MasOranges Multi-Brand TV Expansion...

VO Integrates Client-Side and Server-Side Ad Technologies with its Secure Video Player and Segmentation Tools, Leveraging Broadpeak's SSAI and BPK SmartLib ...

15/04/2026

TMT Insights Unveils AI at NAB 2026

TMT Insights, a leader in professional services and software development for the media and entertainment (M&E) industry, today announced the launch of TMT AI at...

15/04/2026

Encompass Digital Media and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure E...

Encompass Digital Media, a global leader in managed broadcast and cloud-based media services, today announced an expanded partnership with Oracle Cloud Infrastr...

15/04/2026

Middleman Software Debuts PhaseLock Technology and Expand...

Middleman Software, a leading provider of signaling and synchronization solutions for broadcast and streaming workflows, today announced it will unveil PhaseLoc...

15/04/2026

Deity Announces PR-4 Compact Field Recorder

Deity Microphones today announced the PR-4, a compact six-track field recorder featuring four inputs, 32-bit float recording, advanced routing, and a workflow-f...

15/04/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces Fairlight Live

Blackmagic Design Announces Fairlight Live Brie Clayton April 15, 2026 0 Comments Powerful software-based live audio mixer with support for SMPTE-2110...

15/04/2026

Haivision Launches Falkon X4 5G Transmitters

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

JB&A Spotlights Exhibitors Ahead of Pre-NAB 2026 Technology Event

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Wave Central, EVS Announce SMPTE ST 2110 Interop Collaboration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Top Reason for Subscribing to Pay TV Is Live News and TV, Survey Finds

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

NAB Leadership Foundation Honors Outstanding Broadcasters

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Wisycom Expands MPR60 With New Multichannel IFB Mode

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Thomas Riedel Acquires Premium Manufacturer ARRI

Strategic Alignment With the Riedel Group for Innovation and Growth Thomas Riedel, founder and owner of Riedel Communications and the Riedel Group, has acqui...

15/04/2026

Iyuno Deploys SDVI Rally Platform to Accelerate and Scale...

SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that the company's Rally platform has been deployed by Iyuno Media...

15/04/2026

Frequency Leads the Industry in Live Local News on FAST

Frequency, the engine behind many of the worlds leading streaming television channels, has become the platform of choice for leading U.S. broadcasters bringing ...

15/04/2026

Harmonic Introduces Breakthrough AI Orchestration Service...

New Service Simplifies Integration of AI Applications with Exceptional Reliability and Security SAN JOSE, Calif. April 14, 2026 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) t...

15/04/2026

VIDI and Media Links Bring Scalable IP Transport to Germa...

During the 2025 off-season, VIDI completed a major upgrade of the broadcast infrastructure across all 36 stadiums in Germany's 1st and 2nd Bundesliga. The p...

15/04/2026

Clear-Com Introduces Transformational Arcadia and Eclipse...

Clear-Com announced significant updates to its award-winning Arcadia Central Station as well as enhancements to the Eclipse HX Digital Matrix System now runn...

15/04/2026

Shotoku Introduces the World to Aura P2 PTZ Prompter Panner at NAB SHOW 2026

Shotoku Introduces the World to Aura P2 PTZ Prompter Panner at NAB SHOW 2026 Brie Clayton April 15, 2026 0 Comments New system removes PTZ pan restric...

15/04/2026

LiveU Announces Expanded Collaboration with Sony at NAB Show, Adding Direct File Workflow Integration

LiveU Announces Expanded Collaboration with Sony at NAB Show, Adding Direct File...

15/04/2026

This 24-Hour Performance Art Piece Needs Your Participation

This 24-Hour Performance Art Piece Needs Your Participation Keefer Glenshaws latest project is about collaborating with the Berklee community and beyond. Apr...

15/04/2026

The Countdown Has Begun! Netflix Drops Trailer and Release Date for Second Season of 'Roosters'

Back to All News The Countdown Has Begun! Netflix Drops Trailer and Release Dat...

15/04/2026

Celebrating BEEF' Season 2 and Storytelling That Connects Cultures

Back to All News Celebrating BEEF' Season 2 and Storytelling That Connects Cultures From left to right: Matthew Kim, Jinny Howe, Lee Sung Jin, Seoyeon Ja...

15/04/2026

Made in New Jersey: Dan Levy's New Comedy Big Mistakes' Makes a Big Impact

Back to All News Made in New Jersey: Dan Levy's New Comedy Big Mistakes...

15/04/2026

LinkedIn's 2026 Grad's Guide shows where opportunity is...

LinkedIn's 2026 Grad's Guide shows where opportunity is growing Published on Apr 15, 2026 Categories: Company News, Data and insights LinkedIn Corp...

15/04/2026

Moving Next Generation Audio Production Workflows into the Cloud

With new broadcast standards evolving all over the world and OTT streaming striving for the pole position in media consumption, both next-gen video and audio co...

15/04/2026

CentralCast Delivers Breakthrough Efficiencies to Public Broadcasting Stations with Harmonic

Harmonic's XOS Media Processor Delivers Exceptional Video Quality to More th...