HDR | GEAR
“Elsewhere, there’s a new wider colour gamut, to match the capabilities of HDR monitors. It’s also great when you have a mixture of camera formats. When you drop varied media into the wide gamut, the controls work in exactly the same way, so you copy and paste a matching grade from one file to another. The viewer in DaVinci Resolve emulates HDR, but you’re not looking at an HDR display, so you need an output monitor,” Hall explains. With HDR-capable software like this becoming more readily available to professionals outside the big-budget realm of high-end film and television, and cameras that can already capture the dynamic range necessary, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, HDR displays themselves will become just as accessible. There’s much more to cover if a true deep dive into HDR is what you’re looking for, but for now at least, what it is and what it’s capable of is clear enough. It’s a world of creative potential, it’s a new viewing experience and, perhaps, it’s the very future of film and television. When HDR was first implemented, everybody was starting with the SDR grade then doing an HDR pass. Nowadays, it’s the opposite
ABOVE The retro film emulation aesthetic of I Am Not Okay With This is a big part of the series’ draw, made all the easier for colourist Toby Tomkins thanks to HDR
MAKING THE GRADE Colour grading is another piece of the puzzle, with colourists like Toby Tomkins from Cheat having to adapt to – and reaping the rewards of – the new technology. Tomkins’ recently worked in HDR during the grading of Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This . “My creative approach is much the same in SDR and HDR, though there are certain nuances when it comes to tone mapping and gamut mapping that were never present, which does mean new tools and techniques,” he tells us. “What it has given me is more creative options in deciding how I can elevate the images and stories I work with. Still, we must always ask if and when we should use the expanded range, and how that impacts the story we are trying to tell.” Soriano adds more about his own experience with colour grading: “There’s been a shift in the approach with grading. When HDR was first implemented, everybody was starting with the SDR grade then doing an HDR pass. Nowadays, I think it’s more often the opposite. What works in SDR doesn’t necessarily work in HDR, but what works in HDR will translate really well to SDR, simply because it’s always easier to destroy than to create.” When we talk about the ripples these advancements have created
reaching every element of the industry, it’s no exaggeration. To meet evolving needs, manufacturers are creating more powerful products than ever. Aside from the monitors themselves, this includes cameras like the Sony Venice, but post-production is reacting, too. The recent DaVinci Resolve 17 launch saw 300 new features added – notably, new HDR grading tools and primary controls. Blackmagic product expert, Simon Hall, tells us more. “Manipulating highlights and shadows to the degree necessary in HDR can be challenging with traditional tools. DaVinci Resolve 17’s HDR palette gives a much greater level of creative control, with the ability to address the different tonal ranges of the image, from shadows and highlights to super blacks and specular whites.
LEFT Toby Tomkins performs colour tests for I Am Not Okay With This, alongside first assistant camera, Devon Taaffe
JANUARY 202 1 | DEF I N I T ION 19
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