📆 Date: 03.03.2024
📍 Location: Home
💻 Device: ASUS VivoBook 15
💾 Software: DaVinci Resolve
Day 1: Sunday, March 3
Rough Cut #5 was initially the last rough cut and my plan was to make any final decisions in the post-production process, adjust any little detail, and add in the final touches. However, Jennie (my actor for Nadine and Anne) requested me during the filming process to remember to erase her dimples and blemishes in some of the scenes, which at first I did not plan to do because it doesn't bother me but I have been editing and staring at her face for too long during the color grading process, that it also started to bother me, therefore I decided to do her a favor and try to erase her blemishes. However as you may have guessed, I have no clue how to do it so I looked up Mr.Youtube for guides and tutorials, and it helped me so much.
I actually also made a creative decision to only correct her dimples in scenes where Nadine's identity takes over the body. However, for scenes where Anne has control, she would still look similar to the raw footage, not only to create binary oppositions but also to make it easier for the audience to differentiate between the 2 identities. Besides the reason related to the meaning of the film's opening sequence, there is actually a technical reason which is because removing blemishes in all scenes will be too time-consuming and difficult. Due to the convention of the genre, most scenes are filmed using hand-held movement with fast motion and the character moves continuously, therefore it was hard to track the pimples to delete it. Furthermore, a few of the scenes are set in low-key lighting, making it harder for DaVinci Resolve to identify the pimples. In the end, I decided to just erase the blemish in 3 scenes where it is visible while she is Nadine, and with the identity of Anne, she would have a nicer appearance.
Below is just me documenting my process of correcting blemishes and as you can see, I have attempted to use nodes to track the pimples as well as to smooth out the skin. At first, I was skeptical when the tutorial stated that nodes would need to be used because I was afraid it might be too complicated. Fortunately, I don't feel like it is that complicated, and is quite easy to figure it out (or because I have not reached the complicated level just yet). In the end, I think I'm happy with the results, especially during the last scene where the camera slowly zooms into the character's face. However, there are scenes where I'm not fully satisfied because I have not been able to select the needed area to smooth out and therefore I accidentally smooth out other areas and the scene doesn't look as how I intended it to be. Another thing is that due to the quick motion, the pimple tracking doesn't work 100% and it kept appearing and then disappearing which triggers me a lot. Nevertheless, I think I have done my best and I'm satisfied with the overall results.
Result: Rough Cut #5
Please refer to Rough Cut #5 to view the evaluation.
Or please refer to Post Production Log #6 for the continuation of the post-production process.
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