DC Metro FCP UG

MYTHS.

“RED doesn’t do good skin tones”.
Tony Pratt of Park Road Post showed footage from The Lovely Bones with film intercut with RED footage. All the scenes were “skin tone scenes”. He challenged the audience to tell which was which. Between the presentations, he confided that whenever he actually gets an answer to that question, most get it wrong.

So if Park Road Post can get great skin tones from Build 15 and Build 16 footage, why can’t others? Here are some possible answers:

1. You committed to RGB space for grading without a proper white balance first. If you are off a significant amount in WB, it will make it very difficult to get back where you want. This has been discussed in Post #2 of this thread.
2. Early RED color science was not as exact as it is now, which meant that some work was necessary (as opposed to none) to get great skin tones. Today’s new FLUT™ Color Science (see Post #11 above) makes it extremely easy to get proper color, including skin tones.

“RED footage is soft”.
Sorry, nothing could be further from the truth. Peter Jackson has compared RED 4.5K-RAW footage to 65mm film as recently as one month ago. If you have actually seen projected RED 4K footage, you realize how incredible this statement is. So why do some people say this?

1. They actually didn’t see RED footage but heard someone else say this.
2. They shot 4K footage and did a half-res debayer to 1080P (half-res throws away 78% of the recorded information) and did not “un-sharp mask” the RAW footage because _________ (insert another myth here).
3. They shot RED 2K footage (1/4 of the resolution) and expected it to be the same resolution as 4K.
4. They watched a bad film print.

RED 4K-RAW footage has 256% more measured resolution than a 1080P camera (assuming it actually measured the captured resolution). RED 4K-RAW footage has more measured resolution than a 4K scan of S35 film. Resolution is not something that the RED ONE is deficient at. Shoot a zone plate and see for yourself.

Jim Jannard – RED Leader