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Exactly. Zekidk doing an edit on the color correction is no different from me doing rescores. I just have some fun taking a scene and putting to music to it. I'm not saying THIS IS HOW IT MUST BE DONE! It's just a look into what if territory.
I wasn't a fan of the Skyfall recoloration but I did enjoy the Spectre recoloration. I don't see what's wrong with fan experimentation.
I have never criticized Deakins, Hoytema and Mendes' for their creative choices when it comes to grading. I understand why they did what they did. It's just not for me. I like the sky to be blue and not lightbrown. I like a natural palette and the skin tones to look like skin tones and not a peeled orange.
There are many, many movies that have intense colorgrading. Fine. Usually I only watch movies once. But with Bond movies it's different. That's why I spent a week last year colorcorrecting both SF and SF. Did I post examples immediately after on this forum? No, I didn't. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind, until it came a topic of discussion here.
And no.... I don't "understand". Because what you are really saying is this:
Everytime someone changes either the color temperature, contrast, brightness and so forth on their TV to get the picture they prefer, they are "re-doing" the work that the director and cinematographer have invested so much time in.
Agreed. Mendes + Deakins is the real deal because you know Deakins is bringing the best DOP game in the business and Mendes knew it.
@Zekidk? I apologize okay? No need to be so grumpy. It's just not my style. I admire the hard work you put in it. And I should have been a bit more sensitive to that aspect. But even then the end result is not always liked. Just like you don't like the original color grading from SP and SF.
I'm not here to insult people. Again, no hard feelings.
I'm not offended at all because you don't like my result. That is perfectly ok. I am provoked however because you are accusing me of disrespecting the filmmakers.
Well, in a way one could make that case no? How would you feel if someone is using a Bond fan poster creation from someone else and is adjusting the colors of it to his/her liking? The difference here only is the fact that Mr Van Hoytema earns millions and would probably not be offended at all. But that doesn't mean that I do find it a bit disrespectful to someone's very hard work to execute the finest cinematography possible.
Again, I am entitled to that opinion, no matter how many people dislike it. So yes, I don't apoligized for that opinion. I apoligize only for my initial harsh assessment of it all, since I honestly felt a bit bad how my remark was perceived. You should not feel.....too provoked about that. *handshake*
Everytime someone changes the colortemperature, brightness, contrast and so forth on his TV or projector, to get the look they prefer, it's "disrespectful."
I get it.
I think it's better to leave it there ok @Zekidk?
Because you have no solid argument.
Sorry to interfere, but where does it end? No more fan posters: because images are adjusted from the original, and therefore disrespectful to the photographer. No more fan re-scores of scenes; it is disrespectful to the film composer. No more fan variants of the gun barrel, because... etc..
He is only showing what his preference is when it comes to the colour grading. Hardly disrespectful in my opinion.
You are right.
I respect that. I just don't agree that the examples shown on the right, look "dull and lifeless" compared to the originals on the left. Guess the beauty is in the eye of the beholder:
Well, @Gustav, don´t be sad, it won´t change that some of us are offended by the colorgrading in the last two Bond films. I have no idea what´s going on in your mind, a lot of people critisised former Bond cinematographers, just not for colorgrading, and if I got irritated by it watching SP I damn well blame either the cinematographer or the director, because it´s hard to imagine it was someone else´s decision. To say that this is all rather disrespectful to the cinematographers carries a slightly fascist vibe, to be perfectly honest with you. The cinematography, especially in SP, shits right in my face, and I´m not going to eat it. It´s my duty as a lover of films to say so if it is so. The director or cinematographer having the best intentions in the world doesn´t amount ot much if the result doesn´t make me feel good.
Certainly.
For me it's similar to painting. I can appreciate abstract work or hyperrealism equally, it depends on how well it's executed. I don't think there is one way to shoot and present a moving image. It's about creating tone and atmosphere through colour and texture. I love the sweep and scale of films like TB, but I'm equally drawn to the high contrast and saturated, Blaxploitation feel of LALD. SF for me is just another example of a DOP working to deliver something tonally interesting.
As I've said in previous posts, to me there's not enough range in SP and it could do with some lifting here and there, but with SF I think they pretty much nailed it. There's a hazy atmosphere to that opening sequence that is immediately sullied in your colour corrected version.
If you were or knew as many cinematographers as I do, then the original point would be moot anyway. All of them are told about how a film is going to look in pre-production and shoot accordingly. Very few have a hand in the grading process, except for a notepad of notes and/or suggestions on occasion. The grade is down to the director, not the DOP.
It's about as disrespectful to the Cinematographer as it is to the Gaffer.
In this instance, I really love how SKYFALL looks and feels, despite an overly BBC-drama like look in the London scenes. The stuff in Scotland especially, is f*cking spectacular.
SPECTRE, on the other hand, is ten times better in @Zekidk's version - especially in the Morrocco sequences. The original grade makes me feel like I'm watching the film through yellow tinted glasses that have had someone's fingers rubbing all over the lens.
I always thought it was the DOP! Curse you Mendes!
So yes... if anyone is to blame (or credit, depending how you look at it) for the look of SF and SP, it's Sam Mendes. I must say that - for me - especially SP is an enteriely different experience after my colorcorrecting. SP has Mexico, Rome, Austria, Morocco - colorful places that I think should look exotic and full of colors, not because of grading, but because it looks like that in the real world. The sky should look blue, not lightbrown. Snow should look white, not lightgreen, and the color of people's skin should look like the color of people's skin, and not someone suffering with jaundice.
You're right. I was so thrilled about 'my' city Rome being in a Bond movie and they butchered the whole atmosphere that is so typical for the Eternal City.
Another good example of your colourcorrecting are the beach scenes in SF. Put your version next to the original one and I much prefer yours.
Like I wrote earlier, I left the Rome scenes unaltered. Besides the lighting which is spot on in the interior scenes (the SPECTRE-meeting: amazing lighting techniques), I actually like the orange grading. It fits the setting perfectly, IMO.
Correct.
A DOP will leave notes for the Director to take to the edit suite. From there, the Director will sit through the footage with the Editor and work out the best angles, takes and take note of the way the lighting etc. is executed. Both the Editor and Director will then take further notes to the Colorist, who completes the process on the finished cut of the film.
It's a team effort. On lower-budget films, the Editor will often also do the coloring with the Director present.
Exactly, it's all a matter of taste.
Moreover, I do think these are mere details. People just like or dislike the movie. Some of my friends disliked SP after their first viewing. But none of them mentioned the color grading. Those are aspects we're gonna criticize when we fully dissect movies on forums like in here.
Wrong name attached to the right quote there, @boldfinger
I agree with you though.
Oh my, the pics on the right look terrible - completely messed up the d65 grayscale.
The ones on the right are MAGNIFICENT.....They should bring out a bluray SE. :)
Really?!