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After some investigation, our team and I have finally found a studio to take on the epic task of colour grading our first 3D documentary.

The search was a tough one.

The main challenge: though many studios in the Vancouver area possess the colour correcting software to edit 3D – DaVince Resolve, Lustre, Quantel Pablo – they’re still waiting on the monitoring systems to edit in stereo.

For some studios, monitoring systems were actually in transit, boxed to be at their doorstop in less than a month … exciting evidence of the growing hunger for 3D content.

Our colorist will have their work cut out for them.

The rigours of event-based 2D documentary filmmaking versus intentionally lighted film environments means the colorist will have to deal with variable lighting that can change from one shot to the next.

Tackling discrepancies between 3D footage will be another challenge.

The way the cameras capture, miniscule differences in manufactured parts, and the way light hits these parts creates differences between left and right.

The differences are slight, but if left uncorrected could produce a big problem.

Matching stereo pairs and making content broadcast legal will take the work of an expert, but it’s worth the payoff: the absolute best of what 3D can offer before it leaves our hands.

–Ian Herring, President

@ianherring

 

As we enter the polishing stages on our first 3D documentary, the hunt is on to find a studio that can take on the task of color correcting months of painstaking work.

It’s essential to any post-production process, but especially crucial to 3D because we’re creating an effect that only reads if stereo pairs match perfectly.

When filming, aberrations in stereo images occur because the mirrors/prisms contained within the beam splitter can change the nature of the light from one moment to the next.

Any slight difference in temperature or exposure of image pairs will confuse the brain, create discomfort, and botch the whole operation. Period.

So my team and I need to be choosy when it comes to colorists. The challenge now is finding a studio that has a system capable of stereo viewing and correction – slim pickings due to 3D’s relative newness.

And of course, one that possesses the expertise to produce the high-quality 3D imaging we are looking for at a price we can work with.

More to come …

–Ian Herring, President

@ianherring