dark footage

[Don Bloom]

First, forget B&C. there are other ways to get where you want to get without degrading the footage quite as bad but keep in mind IF the footage is that dark when you bring up the levels there will probably be some degradation of the image quality. No way around it.
You can use LEVELS to do just that-adjust the levels of the footage to suitable tastes OR you can use Color Corrector to do the same – use GAMMA and GAIN in SLIGHT increments to make the adjustments. As you do this you MIGHT need to do some slight color grading to keep the colors true.
Now here’s the trick to all of this. FIRST-DO NOT USE A COMPUTER MONITOR TO DO THIS WITH. I don’t mean to yell but to emphasize the point. When people use a computer monitor to adjust color and exposure it shows me they haven’t got a clue. Again not yelling but trying to make a point. You cannot properly judge color or exposure on a CRT monitor-most LCD or plasma monitors aren’t much better UNLESS they have been properly adjusted to color bars at the least. If you don’t have access to a true, properly adjusted production monitor then at the very least use a TV set up thru a passthru from the computer and use color bars,waveform and vectorscope to get the color and exposure as true as possible. It really isn’t that hard to do-just gotta use the right tools to make the adjustments to the hardware before you can really get the image where you want it.
I don’t want anyone to think I was yelling at anyone, I’m not, again just want to emphasize certain points.
Hey it’s early and I’m only still on my first cup of coffee 😉
Holler if you need more explaination or help on this one.
Don