Color timing: What is it? (1 Viewer)

[JJR512]

What, exactly, is color timing? Why does color need to be timed and how is it done? I would like a good, detailed, technical yet easy-to-understand explanation of what it is, why it's necessary, and how it's done. Thanks!

 

[ChrisMatson]

It is basically changing the colors of a shot to achieve the desired look. This can now be done digitally. O Brother Where Art Thou is a great example. It was the first movie to be completely color timed digitally.

Click here for some examples and a more detailed explanation:
http://www.filmimaging.com/2003/08_a...iators0803.htm

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Is there home pc software that allows you to color time your home movies, relatively easily? Do any of the personal video editing programs have features that allow this?

Say I want to give something a movie a bluish/silver tint like in Payback, or a gold hue like 187.

 

[Max Leung]

I assume color timing also has something to do with color accuracy between frames? That is, that the color also has to be consistent within a scene? For example, can we say that the color timing in the Superbit version of Lawrence of Arabia is superior to the first version? Or is this only limited to film production, and not film replication/transfer?

I guess it has nothing to do with film transfers (to video, DVD, and other media) after all.

 

[Scott_MacD]

Chris, I thought Pleasantville was completely colour graded digitally, back in 1998.

EDIT: Rats.. I forgot that the opening and closing moments are untouched.. close call, tho.

 

[chris winters]

color timing is the colorisation of film as it is being developed, and has to do with the chemical process involved in creating colorized prints. Leaving it longer in certain baths of chemicals or shorter, will give different results, causing a shift to blue or amber or whater is desired. It will be one of those terms that becomes obsolete as digital processes take over, and the term remains, but the origion will be more mysterious to future generations


chris

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I assume color timing also has something to do with color accuracy between frames? That is, that the color also has to be consistent within a scene? For example, can we say that the color timing in the Superbit version of Lawrence of Arabia is superior to the first version? Or is this only limited to film production, and not film replication/transfer?

Yeah, to some extent. There is a good deal of manipulation that can be acheived at the color timing phase. Mostly however, it is useful for scene consistency. Often shots are filmed at entirely different times, for instance. One shot will be darker than the next. Color timing is used to manipulate the color and give the scene a consistent look between shots.
Oh Brother Where Art Thou is, as Chris mentioned, a modern update on this concept. OBWAT was the first film to really harness the digital color grading process, even before the term "digital color grading" existed. It has since been used on several other films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy being the most prominent. This also offers a higher level quality of home video presentation, since DVDs can be sourced direct from the digital grading master. In these cases the only film intermediate would be the original camera negative that was telecined. The only thing better is straight digital productions, like Attack of the Clones. In either case, once the the final print and color options are locked, the film is printed directly off via laser and the traditional color-timing stage can be bypassed altogether.

 

[JohnRice]

color timing is the colorisation of film as it is being developed, and has to do with the chemical process involved in creating colorized prints.

I'm hardly an expert on this. Maybe Robert Harris will drop by. Anyway, that was my initial impression from just trying to figure out what might be timed. I did eventually ask this very question in my first Cinematography Discussion. I think it might have been Mr. Harris who answered it. I don't remember where it is in the thread, so you'll have to look.

As I recall, it doesn't actually have anything to do with the chemical processing step, but is done during an early duplication step. Basically, the color of the light being used to duplicate the film is adjusted to alter the appearance of the result.

You can basically do the same thing digitally with levels and curves of the individual color channels. What you can do will depend on your software.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Pick up a copy of the r1 release of O Brother - there is a great little feature about the colour timing on that film. With raw footage of the stars running through lush green fields, and hen colour timing to give the film its autumnal look.

There's also a feature about this on the LOTR:FOTR:EE.

 

[Markus Lidstrom]

They have a demonstration of this on the Se7en DVD as well.

 

[JohnRice]

Matthew, it's been a while since I saw that feature, but I think, technically, that wasn't timing in O Brother but actually digital manipulation. What they did was far more flexible than regular timing. As I recall, Se7en is traditional timing. Guess I should watch both those features since I have them both.

 

[JohnRice]

It's always interesting that a question like this gets so many different answers and everyone is certain they are right.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Matthew, it's been a while since I saw that feature, but I think, technically, that wasn't timing in O Brother but actually digital manipulation. What they did was far more flexible than regular timing.

Probably. It's been a while since I saw it as well.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

The quote from Robert Harris

Color timing in its most simplistic form is done at the laboratory by a timer.

The timer will view the cut negative on a piece of equipment via which he/she will assign "lights," ie yellow, cyan , and magenta exposures for each cut shot in the roll of film.


The roll is then printed with these lights -- changing each time a cut goes by. That print is then screened and new
corrected lights are assigned and a second, third, fourth, etc. print struck until all of the scenes cut together concurrently correctly.

Once all of the lights are confirmed; director, dp and others are happy with what the timer has created, that final accepted print will be considered a final answer print.

The cut neg will now be prepared to have separation masters, IPs and a handful of Oneg prints struck for release.

 

[JohnRice]

Brian, that is from the cine thread, isn't it?


Thanks for being less lazy than I am, finding the post and quoting it here.