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davinci resolve grading. how to achieve this look

R

richcassy

ok. learning from juan melara's website. i understood a fair amount of how to grade the summer blockbuster way. but i realised it is not so aesthetically pleasing when 99.9% of your cast is black. i tried it and it sucked. i then embarked on more search online and i saw a number of south african clips with black people graded in a different way. i liked the grading (personal thing) and i want to emulate such. but i just dont know how to achieve this look in davinci resolve. i have therefore posted the clip here. bear in mine the one of the clip has only white in it, the other has just blacks. i want to achieve this look. is there any tutorial out there or can anyone put something quick together on this look and how to achieve it in davinci resolve.


nb: i am a film director and i fund my own film, i don't have enough to pay a colorist for now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrMZm198lIo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LSgjY1ETEw

pls. don't take any of my statements as offensive. English isnt my first language
 
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Might help if you have a sample of what the original footage you're working with looks like. A path to success requires both a beginning point and a destination. 1080p screen grabs may help.

I'd suggest to look at your scopes and see the differences between what you have and what you're trying to achieve, then make adjustments that bring you as close to the final output as you can.

Experiment lots. Don't be afraid to push a little too far and start fresh by resetting and trying again.

I'm not aware of any tutorials that can teach you what you're after.
 
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thanks for your reply. i have been trying it out for a while but i still cant achieve it. i would take a screen grab when i get home and post it here.

my source footage: blackmagic 4k raw
 
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Those clips both have fairly different things going on. As for the first clip, there's definitely some fog/haze being used on set, as evidenced by the volumetric lighting by the windows. Overall it looks fairly flat, relatively low contrast. Soft light, shallow depth of field.

It's not being employed in the example linked, but darker skin tends to look nice with fill from a warm bounce. Either a gold, or sometimes a checkered gold/silver reflector. It fills and adds warmth, which flatters darker complexions. Soft light wraps around a bit, which is what you're seeing on the faces in that first clip. No harsh shadow edges, the light wraps around and gradually fades to shadow.

If it's not lit properly, no amount of post work will acheive the same look.
 
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You still didn't answer the full question. So we know that no lut was applied. Was it graded?

Assuming no grade, 4k raw, those shots aren't too far. Expose them right, though you can fix that more in post so long as you haven't clipped or crushed.

Sometimes when the director is asking how to do a look, they aren't asking the right person. The look starts with your production designer and DOP then follows through to your compositor/grader. The first start to getting that look is to get your set looking similar. Pay attention to the colors and contrast. Then have your DOP light for that look. When you get to post, all you'll need to do is slight tweaks in color grading.

That summer blockbuster look won't work on scenes like this, particularly with his methodology, though you can still achieve the orange/teal benefits if you work towards that from the get go.
 
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Sweetie said:
You still didn't answer the full question. So we know that no lut was applied. Was it graded?

Assuming no grade, 4k raw, those shots aren't too far. Expose them right, though you can fix that more in post so long as you haven't clipped or crushed.

Sometimes when the director is asking how to do a look, they aren't asking the right person. The look starts with your production designer and DOP then follows through to your compositor/grader. The first start to getting that look is to get your set looking similar. Pay attention to the colors and contrast. Then have your DOP light for that look. When you get to post, all you'll need to do is slight tweaks in color grading.

That summer blockbuster look won't work on scenes like this, particularly with his methodology, though you can still achieve the orange/teal benefits if you work towards that from the get go.
Click to expand...



no they haven't been graded yet and it is raw. i think reading through your post over and over again, i understand a lot of what you are explaining now. thanks for the contribution.
 
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