You know what’s funny? Everyone I know, my close friends anyway, almost all have a bunch of irons in the fire at the same time, ALL the time and, as I write this, I’m thinking about all my own current irons. So many irons!
I’ve always thought about this work as really fun in so many ways, and still do. That said, the work can be overwhelming at times, and there’s sometimes so many things going on it’s hard to keep track of. When there is a major life event, you take stock of what you have and what you want and, hopefully, as you come out the other side, you have a clearer idea of what your own priorities are. This was one of those weeks, but I’m still here and happy to have Thunderbean as one of my missions in life.
This has been a particularly challenging period here; the giant attempt is to tackle these fairly big projects and wrap them up as efficiently as possible- three Thunderbean ones and two non-Thunderbean ones. Aspects of that plan are going really well. Other pieces are taking much longer than I’d hoped. Mid-Century Modern 3 is done, Rainbow Parades volume 2 is getting closer, and at least most of the materials are scanned on the Lou Bunin set. Lots of special discs are finally getting dubbed, and we’re waiting for our first t-shirts to come back from printing. I know I’ll look back once these are all in the can and largely forget how hard the period was to move everything forward in, but I just wish the bumps were easier to navigate.
I’ve been on the Rainbow Parades, volume 2 set, and running some things by folks on Blu-ray.com, so I thought I’d run some of it by here as well. Iv’e been spending some time working with color a lot more in DaVinci Resolve, and finding the tool sets frustrating even as I gets things closer to where I want the results to be faster. Par for the course. Here are some basic grades from some of the Rainbows going into cleanup, mostly from setting a basic black and white level and tweaking a little from there. These are far from finished and a little most contrasty than where I am right now with the grades, but it gives a pretty good idea of the basic ‘look’ of the series and balance. It’s going to be a really pretty set:
<
Earlier in the week I put up a really basic color grade on Blu-ray.com of ‘Felix and the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg’. Since this first, basic grade, I’ve brought it into DaVinci and played around a little more, but I’ll save that for the final set. For now, here’s a little sneak preview of how it’s looking— minus a few final shots (we cleaned up a few shots manually that appear with DVNR here, and a small blank area). I know probably everyone has seen this particular cartoon ad nauseam, but hopefully we’re doing it some (not completed) justice, along with the rest of the series. Digital restoration was done at 4k by Luke Virgin, Allen Jancowics, Sophia Compos and myself. I know a lot of people car about this particular film, so we’re working hard to do it justice.
Again— not the final color grading by any means!
Have a good week all.
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
I know the DNR company responsible for too much of Disney animation didn’t do this –
Felix still has some of his teeth.
I’m so incredibly happy that you’ve come through your earthshaking incident and are back in control of things. I hope you’re OK overall! While the “Felix, the cat“ cartoon might have been seen by us at nausea, I’m sure it won’t look as good as it will when this, rainbow parades collection is finally complete! I very much look forward to it and the T-shirt and the special discs that are coming fourth. Thank you so much for all you do! Stay in good health.
The Rainbow Parades look great! I always thought the VB Gilletts were underrated. They were certainly better than what was coming before.
What strikes me about this scan is the prominence of gold colour — not only in the golden eggs and coins, but Goldie herself, Captain Kidd’s shirt, the pirates’ mugs, the cannons, various details like lamps, etc. Even Felix’s face has a golden hue. So offhand I’d say that the film could perhaps do with richer reds and (especially) blues to offset all that gold colour.
But really, I’ve never seen this cartoon looking so good. Colour grading must be an extraordinarily complex and painstaking process, but it’s that degree of commitment and attention to detail that distinguishes Thunderbean. Keep all those irons in the fire, and keep those home fires burning!
Hope you’re doing OK after your “major life event!”
Yeah, DaVinci’s UI is REALLY frustrating.
It’s also great with color.
And REALLY frustrating to use.
You should do an interview with the podcast “The Disc-Connected”
It would be great publicity for Thunderbean
Color grading in the digital age is both MUCH easier and more difficult than it was in the photo-chemical days!
In the photo lab days you were essentially working blind, at least with color negative, until you saw the first trial print. The film lab I worked at didn’t have a Rank Cintel for inverting and previewing the negative image. We had to best-guess what light the workprint was run at and correct from there. Maybe there were old timing cards for the workprint–maybe not. Needless to say, the first answer print was all over the map! Usually management let us redo it before the client got a look at it! The second try was always much better, but rarely was it “perfect.” Later, we had an homemade device to display the negative on a video monitor that was far from accurate and subject to interpretation, but was better than nothing. At least you could tell if the DP had left off the 85 filter!
Those first, second and third answer prints were expensive, and unless you were Stanley Kubrick or someone, you just threw up your hands at some point and said, “That’s good enough!”
These days you can fiddle with the color til the end of time, tweaking incessantly, and never be satisfied. It doesn’t cost you anything but time (and your sanity). That’s what makes it harder in some ways, particularly for filmmakers with OCD. Make this shot a point darker, a tiny bit more cyan, aha that’s good, but now the adjacent shots don’t look right!
In a way, I don’t envy colorists of today, but they do have much greater creative control than ever before.
PS. Your grades here would probably get an enthusiastic “pass” from both the lab AND the client. They’re far better than a first answer print from a film lab, definitely “good enough for daytime tv!”
Steve, what “major life event” did you have? For me, it was when my wife had our son! Please explain – if you can!