How important is onset DIT if I'm shooting 2k?

[Michael Morlan]

Responding to protecting one's work as a D.P.:

I raised the subject of protecting one's work with the incredible creative freedom that exists in post on another, private forum:

"While I laud the freedom that RAW digital imagery provides today's post pipeline, as a D.P., I worry about my ever increasing loss of creative control over the image once it leaves the set. I can no longer "protect" the image. Of course, with D.I. finishes to everything now, that privilege has been slowly slipping away from D.P.'s over the last few years anyway. Big D.P.'s can negotiate their participation in CC (and I include CC in my contracts for Indie projects) but I can imagine a vast number of projects where I lose complete creative control over my work on set. Once producers get their hands on things, all bets are off. Really, all I can control are lighting/framing/movement as acquired by a camera but that hardly seems the complete picture today.

In a positive vein, I have enjoyed my own explorations in post grading and CC and improved quite a few of my own and others' shots. As a D.P., I am having to become a bit of a colorist - at least a backseat driver colorist.

So, to my question: What should I expect to be able to have creative control over in various industry segments?: narrative feature, commercial, etc. What should I negotiate for?

My query should not be construed as an us-vs-them question, but a muse about where I should focus my ongoing education. I continue to advance my craft and art of lighting and composition. I'm becoming a fairly competent visual storyteller, if still a little iterative and cliched at times. And, I am gaining some fundamental knowledge of grading/CC. But now, when I can't participate in color correction personally, someone else (dare I say a producer) has much vaster control over the image I have delivered to post and can completely depart from the artistic intent of the director/D.P. team. (I suppose when producers are paying for the project they can do what they wish.)

Is the role of D.P. undergoing a fundamental change? Should the D.P./Colorist be recognized as "co-cinematographers" now?

Ultimately, who receives the challenge, responsibility, and privilege of crafting the image? And how should I empower myself to be that person? Truly, I am a storyteller first and foremost and understand that my greatest artistic opportunity is that creative collaboration with director, art director, talent, and production team. At least that control is still the domain of the set. "

The upshot of the ensuing discussion was, negotiate for the creative control you can, inspire the respect of producers and post personnel so they seek your input in post, and don't work with those who fail to respect your work.

The larger question, these days, is how a D.P. actually gets paid for his/her time in a coloring suite.

Michael

[Brandon Kraemer]

I hear you mate... but... the problem is if you are a DP and your footage goes into editorial not looking the way you intended you are inevitably in for some huge political headaches. So baking in an image on set, just to the proxies of course, is a really important step, for those who've experienced the agony of spending weeks on set doing your work only to have an editor tell you how it should look. Trust me, I've learned this the hard way.

IBloom

Ian,

Isn't this really just a case of educating the client on the workflow? I know I've taken special pains to make sure my clients understand the process. We work with your Crimson workflow, so we start cutting with proxies. Now, maybe you do something different, but I have never worked with proxies that looked correct. The color is always rather strange, the contrast is all wrong, they are a poor judgement on what we can actually do with the RAW files.

So before I start an edit, I usually grab a few frames from different setups, run them through Redcine and then through Color. I will often times split screen the transcoded and color corrected shot against the proxies to illustrate to the client the dramatic difference in how the proxies look against how it might look when the online and color correct are finished. Usually they are blown away. Of course that is a preliminary grading, there are many ways to go at that stage, but most clients don't understand unless they see what the differences are. Talking through the workflow often doesn't explain it properly.

As a DP, you should make sure your involved with the color correction stage and have confidence in a vetted editorial department to work with the RAW files properly. I'm not sure how you can do that with proxy files alone? This is still a new format for many, and I constantly hear about and meet people that have no real understanding of the proper way to online Red footage. That is probably your biggest worry when you hand over a mag to a client for post. I don't know how your trying to mitigate this by baking in a look into proxy files, especially on set in an environment that is not conducive to true color correction. I'd love to hear more on your insight from a DP's perspective.