[Glenn Chan]

1). light dot spots in center of actor eyes
You could rotoscope this out, but it’s likely a waste of time because rotoscoping is a time-consuming process. Light reflections in an actor’s eyes are generally considered a good thing; DoPs will add eye lights for this purpose.

2) hot spot where direct light was hitting arm.
You might be able to color this in with the 3-way color corrector found in the PRO version of Final Cut.
FCE doesn’t have it. However, you might be able to hack the filter into FCE. Get a project from FCPro, with the 3-way CC applied on a clip. You may be able to copy it onto your clips somehow (sorry I haven’t tried this).

If you manage to get the 3-way CC onto your clip:
Use the secondary controls (limit color) to pickup the hot spot on the flesh tone. It will require some fiddling of the controls. I’m just glossing over the process here, it’s a little hard for me to explain.
I would read the manual (or figure out what all the buttons and knobs do even though you probably dont have the FCP manual).

With the hot spot isolated, color it in by dragging the right color wheel on top towards orange/flesh tone color. Lower white level or gamma just a touch, to bring the brightness of the hot spot down.

2- If you could post up a .jpg of your problems, it might help a lot. I can’t be sure if I understood your problem correctly and am addressing them properly.

3- In retrospect, it probably would’ve been easier to fix these problems at the shoot. Diffusion/soft light, flags, and wiping the actor’s skin dry (and possibly adding foundation) are tools which might have helped you solve your problem.

[Glenn Chan]

Here’s what happens on PCs:
Performance will vary be neglible amounts based on:
memory latency- these are coded into the SPD chips, and can be adjusted; lower memory latency/timings means faster performance (but too fast and you risk instability)
single-banked or double-banked
other differences?

There are various benchmarks of various RAM on hardware review sites like anandtech.com, xbitlabs.com, etc. On average, the performance increase from low latency RAM versus normal RAM is a few percent (and typically not worth spending money on). For video editing, the performance difference is not measurable (<1%) with Sony Vegas (my own tests).

Crucial RAM is programmed to run at the slowest timings possible to increase reliability. On PCs, this will hurt performance a few percent. For video editing it may be desireable to buy RAM such as this- the performance difference is neglible, while the RAM is a lot less likely to flake out on you. In rare cases, a stick of RAM will be marginal and cause an error every few hours or so- lowering timings can fix this.

Some RAM will be flakey on arrival. With the off-brands, your chance of getting a bad stick is higher (although still pretty rare). Good brands would be Crucial, Mushkin, Corsair and then Kingston, Geil, OCZ.

All in all, it's not really a big deal what RAM you buy. There's only minor differences between RAM. The top two things to do are probably:
A- Buy the right RAM. The memory finder on crucial.com makes this easy. G5s should be using PC3200 DDR RAM from what I remember.
B- Use pairs of the exact same model+capacity RAM for optimal performance (dual channel). Other configurations will hurt performance a few percent.

[Glenn Chan]

Wayne, to clarify a few things:

#1- Making your footage look better through color correction/grading is a whole art onto itself. It may be best to hire a colorist for this. *No idea where’d you should go. If you have the money, a telecine facility can do it.

If you want to do things yourself, Magic Bullet Editors is the easiest to pick up. It by no means gives you the best quality (talent and experience does IMO), it takes a really long time to render, and it costs money. Nattress’ FIlm Effects and Stib’s film curves plug-in + FCP’s filters can be a good alternative.

2. I know that it’s always best to color correct your footage using the 3-way color corrector tool & the scopes, etc. but what is the problem with using the FCP or ‘Joes’ Broadcast Safe filter.

No. I would recommend applying a broadcast colors filter as the first thing you do.

As far as Final Touch HD goes, it’s unnecessary. You can make your video in spec within Final Cut, and it’s probably fastest to do it from within Final Cut.
However, Final Touch can be a very good creative tool that is good for “artistic” color correction. You just need to add talent.

[Glenn Chan]

Hi Wayne,

Perhaps the following information can help.

I’m just a student studying Radio and Television Arts right now and that information is what I’ve figured out so far from my own research.

#1: Figure out what your goal of your color correction is

From a technical standpoint, you should make sure your video levels are broadcast-safe. As well, color correction usually includes fixing any image problems (white balance, exposure).

Continuity/matching: Shots that are too inconsistent from each other can cause color continuity problems. When there’s a cut, the viewer may think there was a change in location. This can happen when intercutting different consumer cameras. Another example is shots taken at a different time of a day. Generally I don’t think you need to worry about this, although it seems like something colorists spend time on.
Some colorists also spend time on ensuring the consistency of color throughout the film, and matching the video image to real life colors (i.e. for a product). In my opinion, don’t bother.

Artistically, there is a lot you can do to enhance your images.
Aesthetics: make images look better.
Draw focus onto particular things in a shot.
Apply a stylistic look (i.e. Sin City, film noir, Pleasantville, etc. etc.)
Enhance the meaning of a film through color (i.e. Schindler’s List / the girl in red jacket)

If you shoot on a DV format, you can (in my biased opinion) get huge increases in image quality. An example of my own color work: https://www.glennchan.info/Proofs/dvinfo/EFP1-CC-comparison.mov

#2: Suppose your goal is making your video broadcast legal. Note: This information does not apply to non-broadcast (i.e. DVD, projection, film out, etc. etc.).

That 7.5IRE setup/pedestal thing:
Ok this is a big source of confusion. Here’s my attempt at clarifying things.
For NTSC signals, 7.5IRE is black level and 100IRE is maximum white. When converting from digital to analog, you want to have black and white levels translated correctly. For DV (an 8-bit format), black should be at 16 and whites at 235. In RGB values (i.e. you’re making a title in Photoshop), black should be at 16 16 16 (RGB) and whits should be at 235 235 235 (RGB).

Digital-analog conversion:
Decks can convert 16 (digital) to 7.5IRE. *OR* Your deck can convert 16 (digital) to 0IRE (which is typically wrong, and lead to clipped blacks where you lose shadow detail and the image is a little too dark). Professional equipment can typically toggle between the two. Prosumer and consumer equipment (i.e. Sony DSR11) typically puts blacks at 0IRE. Some cameras can “compensate” for equipment putting blacks at 0IRE by recording digital blacks at 32. However, the tape shot in that camera will give improper levels when put into equipment that translates 16 (digital) to 7.5IRE (black, recorded at 32 digital, will end up at 15IRE instead).

IRE is an analog unit and doesn’t apply to the digital domain. If your computer program talks about IRE, it is just guessing what your video levels will end up as in IRE units.

EXCEPTIONS: Japan NTSC and PAL have 0IRE black.

CAVEAT 1: In Final Cut, 255 sometimes gives 235 235 235 (RGB) and sometimes gives 255 255 255 (RGB). If you’re making titles, watch out for this. 255 255 255 (RGB) gives an illegal white (which may not be that big of a deal if you use the broadcast safe filter on top).
CAVEAT 2: Many computer programs may talk about IRE and show levels on a computer-version of a waveform monitor. Unless it’s properly configured, don’t trust it. It doesn’t know whether your gear puts blacks at 0IRE or 7.5IRE.

What to do:
Know your gear and read up on it. Toggle 7.5IRE/0IRE if necessary. If you’re using a consumer/prosumer deck, you will need to do something special to make a proper analog master.

Illegal colors:
Colors can be illegal in three ways.

Luminance/brightness out of range
For NTSC composite signals, 7.5IRE is black level and 100IRE is white (*Japan NTSC and PAL have 0IRE black). Anything below 7.5IRE likely will not be seen by your audience. Anything over 100IRE will cause buzzing in the broadcast audio (and possibly some other things). Most TVs will display detail for things over 100IRE, but the broadcaster will likely clip those values off to avoid the audio buzzing problem.

Use the 3-way color corrector and adjust the left and right sliders. You typically want to retail detail in bright and dark areas. Also, you may want to maximize the exposure range available in the target medium (synonymous with increasing control) because things look better that way. If you look at the histogram, you usually want to have it so the big white blob there just kisses 0 and 100. There are exceptions to this! Do what looks right.
You will want to clip off the values that are too bright/dark. The broadcast colors filter does this. You can toggle it to see how your image looks like with illegal values clipped off.

Chroma/saturation out of range
Pull up the vectorscope in FCP. If there’s stuff outside the largest circle, it’ll probably be a problem (it may not necessarily be over-saturated). This generally doesn’t ever happen with real-world images although computer-generated elements can easily be illegal.
Reduce saturation with the 3-way CC (you can use the saturation limiter to only affect saturated colors) or the broadcast colors filter (I think that filter fixes this).

These colors will likely get clipped by the broadcaster.

Composite of luminance+chroma is out of range
Colors that are bright+saturated or dark+saturated can be illegal. Dark+saturated colors can cause interference with TV sync signals, so the broadcaster typically clips them at -20IRE to prevent that. You usually don’t have to worry about this case.

Bright+saturated colors can cause transmission equipment to overheat (happens at around 133IRE), so the broadcaster should be clipping these values off. At what value this occurs depends on the boradcaster, and how high they let your values get depends on the broadcaster. There is no standard value. 110IRE is conservative and sacrifices a little of the color space available. A higher limit (115IRE~120IRE) will create a great color range/gamut/space. As I already mentioned, the maximum allowed varies from broadcaster to broadcaster. The easy answer is to be conservative and stick with 110IRE.

You deal with these values as follows:
Use a waveform monitor as a guide to what’s happening. The WFM needs to be in composite mode. I think FCP’s WFM can do this.
A- Use secondary color correction to lower the brightness and saturation of these colors.
B- Use the broadcast colors filter to clip any remaining illegal values off. FCP’s broadcast colors filter has a smoothness option that will smoothly roll off illegal values instead of clipping them. I don’t know if it lowers both brightness and saturation, or just saturation.
The broadcast colors filter has to be set at the appropriate level. There are presets for 100IRE, 110IRE, 120IRE, etc. **If I remember correctly, the broadcast colors filter would give artifacts on one of the settings.

What you do here is a bit of an aesthetic judgement.

DIGRESSION: Some people say that chroma should not exceed the targets on a vectorscope (example: https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/cc_legal_fcp4.html ). This is not true.

White balance:
Fix white balance with the 3-way CC. Click on the eyedropper, click on something that’s supposed to be white, and you’re done. Watch out for off-white colors (walls, clothing, etc.). I would generally double check with your own eyes. If the picture looks off, it IS off.
Aesthetically, you may intentionally want a tint to your image. Night scenes can look wrong if they don’t have a blue tint to them.

Suggested workflow:
A- Apply the broadcast colors filter to everything. You can either apply it to a nested master sequence (this is better for performance, and for composites), or to each clip.
Put the right settings into the broadcast colors filter before applying it.
B- Look through your footage. If any shot looks off, go in and fix it. You may want to toggle the broadcast colors filter to see how it affects the colors.
While you’re doing this, you should view your footage on a broadcast monitor. The image you see in Final Cut is very innacurate compared to what your video will look like to a broadcast audience.

Monitor calibration:
see https://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm

That calibration only fixes the analog circuitry in your broadcast monitor. It does not account for other things you need to pay attention to.
A- Color temperature. The color temperature of all light source in your room should be 6500k.
B- The space in your eyeline around the monitor should be a neutral grey.
C- Phosphor wear in your broadcast monitor can cause “burns” and color shifts in dark areas. Phosphor wear comes from chemical changes when electrons hit the phosphors in the CRT.

[Glenn Chan]

Changing gamma curve response to mimic film: (likely the #1 thing you can do)
A- Stib’s film curves (Free)
B- Nattress’s Film effects (excellent value, excellent support) I believe the result is similar to Stib’s, but I haven’t played around with this much and both were kind of buggy when I tried it.
C- Magic Bullet Editor’s – easy looks, very very slow renders
D- Final Touch (nice for other things…)
E- Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse (more adjustable than above)
F- Gary’s post leads me to believe adjusting gamma curves is possible in camera. You may need to be more careful about white balance.

24p or 30p:
I assume the camera can do either.

Saturation: Most people like higher than normal saturation.
In Final Cut, use the 3-way CC to bump up saturation. You can add a second CC filter and use the secondary controls to isolate flesh tones. You may want to then manually bring these tones down.
Apply color smoothing before for slightly better results. Nattress’ G nicer may give slightly better results.

Skies:
You can use the 3-way CC’s secondary controls to play around with the sky. Typically you may want to make it darker before it hits the gamma curve adjustments (see above) so it maintains its color. Deep blue skies are nice, but so are colored skies like when the sun sets and there’s lots of pollution (those nice pink sunsets).
The secondary CC has a defocus or blur option which may help get rid of “chunkiness” in the key. Try chroma smoothing too.

Creative color correction:
Magic Bullet Editors, to me, seems the easiest.
*Haven’t played around with Nattress’ filters much, but they seem like an excellent alternative to MBE (did I mention MBE was slow???)
Another option is to hire a colorist.