I occasionally get asked how I export videos for Youtube and Vimeo. The process is actually super simple as you will see below. When exporting the goal is obviously to create the highest quality file possible as this ensures the best results after the platform re-encodes the upload. There are two main methods I use to output this high quality file and the method I use generally depends on the project’s runtime. 1. Upload the Final Master For videos of around a minute or shorter I usually just upload the final master. This will likely be a Prores 444/422HQ file of around 1-5GB in size. This is ..read more

ARRI Alexa footage transformed by the standard ARRI Alexa LUT. An issue you might encounter from time to time is over-saturated, out-of-gamut colours. An issue that usually manifests as solid blocks or solid fringing around bright saturated elements such as LED lights. It can happen with footage from any camera, from an iPhone to an Alexa. It can be caused at the camera capture stage, at the grading stage or at the output transform stage. Luckily it’s an issue that’s easy to fix. In Resolve there are several way to address it. Today we will look at what are probably the three easiest methods ..read more

October 2021 Update: New FilmUnlimited Flexible Film Emulation PowerGrades If you follow me on Instagram you’ve probably seen the results of my Kodak Vision3 negative film emulation work over the last few years. With the new tools introduced in Resolve 17, I’ve been able to accurately rebuild these LUT based negative emulations as native Resolve PowerGrades. After hundreds of hours of work the project has been released as the FilmUnlimited PowerGrades: https://juanmelara.com.au/products/filmunlimited-flexible-film-emulation You can see some FilmUnlimited examples above but make ..read more

Finally found some free time to work on another Insider Knowledge. This time we take a look at a technique I've been using for the last few years. A hidden film mode inside FilmConvert that I don't think I've seen anyone talk about since it was removed years ago. So what's the technique? The technique is to uncover the StatusM profiles which were once part of FilmConvert. They were removed from the software maybe 5-6 years ago. But if you know where to look, they can easily be brought back. As I demonstrate in the video above. The reason you might want to use StatusM over the standard Fil ..read more

Here comes another one... Finally finished the second tutorial in the Insider Knowledge series. This time I turn my attention the Ursa Mini. And I show you how to bypass the not so great BMD Film Log start point when working with CinemaDNG files inside Resolve. I show you how to get access to the full dynamic range, richer colours throughout the full range and all in a curve thats a lot nicer to grade than BMD Film. Corrections CaptainHook from Blackmagic Design has been in touch with a few corrections. First of all the BMD 4.6k Film curve is actually able to hold all of the dynamic range of t ..read more

It's been a while! So I've finally got around to working on some new tutorials. Up first is a couple of techniques I've been using lately to make grading log footage easier. The basic idea behind this technique is to non-destructively transform log footage into a space thats easier to work with and then back again. This is achieved by using the genius Color Space Transform OFX plugin inside Resolve. The first technique will be of interest to beginners as it makes log footage as easy to grade as standard video. I occasionally use it when working with particularly challenging shots, or if I wan ..read more

Currently working on a new series of Davinci Resolve tutorials. Hopefully not too far away ..read more

Alexandros A. Apostolos on the Lift Gamma Gain forums posted this thread asking how to achieve the look of the Woody Allen films Midnight in Paris and To Rome with Love. Not seeing anything particularly complex in the look of either of the films, I decided to have quick go at trying to reverse engineer the grade. Seeing as both looks are quite similar I picked Midnight in Paris as it was easier to track down images of the same locations. Alexandros was mainly interested in the outside shoots featured in the intro, so I'll concentrate on those. Getting Started One of the first t ..read more

In October I graded a great little short film titled Necrophilia: A Love Story. It was written and directed by Michael Millichamp. It's currently doing the festival circuit, so it's unlikely it will be available to view online for a good while. I am however allowed to share a few frames. For more info on the short, check it's Facebook page here. The grade Necrophilia: A Love Story was shot on the Red Scarlet in 4k. Similar to Deep Water, I used a D55 white point film emulation LUT. But this time it was a custom Kodak 2383 LUT. The differences between the 2383 and 2393 LUTs are quite minor. Th ..read more

Based On True Events from Gary Allen on Vimeo. Late last year I had the pleasure to grade Based On True Events a short film directed by Gary Allen, with cinematography by Zakaree Sandberg. It was shot on Red Epic 5k 16:9 for a 2.39:1 crop. Finally here's some proof that I don't always apply heavy stylised looks! The basic idea was to keep the look organic and natural looking. Removing the digital edge, but not going overboard with the heavy film emulation LUT look. I wanted the colours to appear vibrant where necessary and to shine through the grade. I'll update this post with some more grad ..read more