Lab for color grading 5D clips

[billy]

I have been shooting Canon 5D video footage and just cant seem to get the look I want when color grading and then downsizing for web. Is there a lab out there that would handle the post production I need; color grading, exposure adjustment, downsizing and sharpening. My immediate need is just to make my video portfolio on my website look good. I only shoot clips, as in 'moving pictures'. I do not need editing to put together a movie or cohesive series of clips. Visualize a typical web gallery on a still photog's website but when you go thru the pictures on the site they are 2-3 second clips, a moving lifestyle picture.

I have been using 2 methods; Method 1, trimming the clips in MPEG Streamclip and then color grading in Photoshop 5. Method 2, using iMovie's latest version. I do not want to learn Final Cut because it is serious overkill for what I am doing and the learning curve is STEEP.

Is there a lab like Icon in LA that can handle these things? Especially the output; I would like to say" please make this clip look as good as possible for my website, 1000 px wide and load relatively quick.

I am hoping that Aperture or someone creates an intuitive software soon that handles these types of editing needs for people like me that are not trying to create a movie, just trim, color grade, and output the clips.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

If you are comfortable with Photoshop you might want to invest in After Effects. You can import native footage, adjust every setting you need, then grade professionally (I have graded an entire feature on it) all in its native resolution. This guarantees the best quality possible. Then you can export to flash, quicktime, whatever is the preferred delivery format of your choice. If you find the need, you can also occasionally trim and edit footage (but it's not for heavy use).

The workflow and feature set is pretty similar to Photoshop so you don't have to start from scratch. Hope this helps.

[Chris Sanderson]

But the problem is real-time playback while grading, no?

Sareesh, I'd love to hear your workflow within AE for the grading process. I use AE a lot and am not really in love with Apple's Color (mostly because it UI is so foreign to FCP). But AE feels like an Adobe 'home' and I would love to use it for colour-correction.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Real-time playback can be fixed with a hardware upgrade. I'm not sure whether in Billy's case it is a significant factor....or is it? Need more info.

Chris...I am a big fan of the basic tools - RGB levels, Curves, etc - with this (either levels or curves) almost anyone's color work can be accomplished. I work in 32 bit. With good masking and tracking tools, selective grading can also be accomplished easily. If speed of use is important (and budget is not), you can use Color Finesse for AE, and integrate it with additional hardware. More expensive tools make it faster, not better. The results are exceptional.

From FCP - automatic duck (last I heard) the project to AE. No transcoding or re-encoding happens. In AE, keep the project in 32-bit mode, and grade. When it's time to output or finish, do it from After Effects. You can also preview the results in various different LUTs from the software itself, and calibrate your monitor accordingly. I don't use Apple of FCP. I get what I need with Premiere-AE-Photoshop-Flash.

Hope this helps.

[Pete_G]

There's always Da Vinci Resolve Lite - free cutdown version of the full software. Expected in July.

[fredjeang]

I know I repeat myself and sorry if I'm heavy but I'd like to share this: if what you want is a familiar kind of workflow to avoid a starting-from-zero learning curve, I'd go for AE. It's good, it works and there is a lot of tutorial everywhere on the internet.
But if you really want something more solid, check Autodesk. Even the rather "old" Combustion. It is another planet.
Color grading and keying (and 3D) are in another league. The downside is that you really need to learn from zero and there is almost no help in internet.

But Chris, if you are with FCP, they will release at one point the new version and now why not going with Smoke application? (and get rid-of all the other softwares and plug-ins etc...)

Color grading with Autodesk Smoke (combustion is very similar) and no need the Euphonix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAwO6znerkc

The Color Corrector setups you create in Combustion are compatible with the Color Corrector setups in the following Autodesk systems: Flint, Flame, Inferno, Smoke, and Fire.

and sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOaUhf68eN0&feature=related

[billy]

no labs, eh?

[bcooter]

no labs, eh?

tehnicolor Los Angeles

method studios Los Angeles

Russel Fell Los Angeles

Dallas Post and Transfer, Dallas

Broadway Video, New York

The Lab
637 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001

Much longer list, but these are people/places I have experience with.

BC