Post Production Log #4

📆 Date: 01.03.2024

📍 Location: Home

💻 Device: ASUS VivoBook 15

💾 Software: DaVinci Resolve

Day 1: Friday, March 1

Rough Cut #4 is all about color grading and I managed to finish it in 1 full day from early morning to late in the evening. During this rough cut, I mainly focus on adjusting the colors of different scenes such as applying a blueish tone to the hallway scene at night, using a white tone for scenes in the bathroom, having a warmer, yellowish tone when the scene is filmed at home. I also tried to note down the different color and numbers changes that I used, to ensure that all the shot that happens at the same location will have the same tone and color to it. 

This is my very first attempt at using the color wheel to color grade and I find the after result a bit hard to differentiate from the original color. For the first scene filmed in the hallway, the tone will be blue and the shadow will be enhanced, while the lighting gets a lot brighter. This helps to create a contrast and set the atmosphere for the scene. Since I have used Incandescent as the white balance, not much color grading is needed and I only need to adjust the shadow and light in these shots. 

In the scene in the bathroom, I tried to color grade the scene to make it look like it is filmed in high-key lighting to create a dreamy, surreal effect. In the end, it is not as bright as I wanted it to be but it is the best I can do because if I try to adjust it more, the character's face will disappear.

For scenes set at my house, I intentionally used a warmer tone, to add warmth to the environment. Furthermore, it is binary opposite to the scene set in the hallway at night and shows the difference in the 2 personalities. 

These are just timelapse videos of my color grading process. I decided to borrow my dad's separate screen to edit because the frame in DaVinci Resolve is too small for me to identify if any changes have been made or not so I need a bigger screen (which I think helps me just a little bit). 

Result: Rough Cut #4

Please refer to Rough Cut #4 to view the evaluation.

Or please refer to Post Production Log #5 for the continuation of the post-production process.