C300 - Eastern State Penitentiary - Color Grade done in FCPX

Thanks to Kevin Ritchie for providing me with a few original files from his C300 to play around with. This is some beautiful material and it was a pleasure to work with his work.

Link to Kevin’s original video: vimeo.com/36230447


My goal with this color-grade was to just really push the codec, actually I was trying to break it and it just wouldn’t budge. I felt like I was working with RED RAW files.
Very impressive considering this is a 1080p 50mbps 8-bit 4:2:2 Mpeg-2 codec. Obviously very robust but there is more than meets the eye with what Canon is doing here with this camera.

Again I wasn’t going for a natural look here, just tried to push the codec. Oh and I added in my own sound mix as well, just for fun.


Anyway as for the video itself, here is the description from Kevin Ritchie along with a link to the ungraded version:

"I spent about 2 hours wandering around Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA with my Canon C300. I wasn't looking to test anything in particular, more just become familiar with the camera. I shot Canon Log the entire shoot and varied my ISO from 850 to 6400.

To see an upgraded version with ISO data please watch:

vimeo.com/36233022

I was very impressed with the form factor of the camera. The EVF is very sharp and easy to focus. The LCD is bright and usable in daylight. As far as I can tell there is no moire. The camera has an extremely clean image to 2500, with acceptable noise to 6400.


The following gear was used:
Canon EOS C300 EF
Canon 28mm 1.8
Canon 50mm 1.4
Canon 100mm L Macro
Canon 70-200mm L
Kessler Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly
Manfrotto 504 HD tripod

"Cold Summer Landscape" by Blear Moon (blearmoon.com/)

Thanks for your help:
Amy Reese
Kira MacAlpine


NOTE: I pulled out the song in my version but I suggest checking out the song as its a really beautiful piece.

BTW I did the grade in FCPX and the sound mix in Soundtrack Pro

Hi Mickey,

I first had a look at the original video, then watched your graded footage. Very impressive. You really have pushed the video to its limits while creating an excellent mood for this piece. Thanks for posting.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Thanks Ronny!

I’m glad you were still able to enjoy the video for what it is (great camera work at a surreal location)

I was afraid many may think the grade was too extreme and distracting but as I said my goal was to just really push the codec/colors and data information to the limits.

Still I was hoping to find a balance of pushing the codec but yet bring out the texture of the location and still maintain an “organic” look that Kevin was able to achieve in camera.

Again thanks for your feedback!

As an avid Apple Color user I really wanted to put FCPX through its paces and I have to say it was a pleasure working in FCPX for this piece. At this point the only thing I’m really missing from Color is Custom and tracking shapes...

Nice test, Mickey. Yeah, I miss Color, but am about to start learning Resolve LITE as soon as I catch up on my current deadlines. Nice to see that footage stand up so well.

This is gorgeous stuff. What a location, it's almost screaming for a dramatic scene. You may have pushed the colors, but to me they look perfect, bringing out such rich textures. Really like the early shot tilt pan down the dark corridor. The mini dolly shots & slow zooms all add to a foreboding mood, & the sound is amazing, can you share a bit about what you did with the audio mix? I hear echoing gates rattling as well as drips, but there's more....

TrixTrax9000 - Thank you for your comment!!

As for the sound mix, I basically just kept adding sound elements until it felt right. I had a theme in mind while building the design (basically sounds that one may have heard in the prison while it was populated)
I also had a music track in place but then decided my goal was to set a mood with just sounds and decided to pull the music track out. Based on your comment, maybe I succeeded haha.

Anyway as for the technicalities of the sound I basically had up to 25-30 tracks of sounds. The source sounds were just things I’ve acquired over the years and some built-in sounds from Soundtrack Pro. (Breathing, footsteps, water drips, lots of metal clashes and doors slamming, ambient “whooshes”, etc.)

Just about every sound element has reverb and pitch distortion effects applied and the breathing and water drops and a few others have the “time stretch” process applied form Soundtrack Pro. I felt that really exaggerated each sound and put emphasis on the individual elements I wanted to be heard clearly.

Again my primary focus was the color grade and after that was done I was just about to upload the video but then decided to take a stab at designing an evoking sound mix.

Again I basically just kept adding sounds until I felt it sounded cool and worked. I’m not a sound designer by trade but let me know if you have any further questions.