Ok, well ultimately this comes down to personal preferences, it's art, it's cinema, but you still decide on the look.

Now we have to talk budget & time frame. Reason being, tops in the game prefer Resolve for the finishing touches to the color, but do you have time for another learning curve? Not to mention buying another program & the ancillary go-betweens. Also there are plenty of color grade looks presets which might suit you just fine.

My recommendation is to take a couple of scenes save them as a separate project, color grade them in FCPX, try a few different looks in the genre you're aiming for, sit your team down & see what they think. If it's a solo effort, you make the call. Sure you can get all fancy & keep throwing money at it, but sometimes less is more. Plenty of people are achieving amazing results inside FCPX. There are guys making a living just from selling their particular tweak combinations, or after market plugs thru MagicBullet etc. If you spend some time practicing with the color controls in FCPX you may find it's all you need. If it isn't pay more to get more...
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Depends what your final product is for. Increasing numbers of broadcast television studios are coloring their product in FCPX. The Emmy winning show George to the Rescue, for instance. However, some feature film work is utilizing Resolve to complete the task.feature film work is utilizing Resolve

Personally I think the color grading in FCPX is excellent, & there are many custom setting which can give you virtually any look you can desire, also with the power to tweak to your heart's content.


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Ever wondered what it's like to ski an avalanche?

Some amazing stunts here, & absolutely gorgeous slowmo...

Not crazy about the music, but it's ok... enjoy



www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t4CUNVYxxZM
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Your client knows her business better than anyone. She set the parameters for good reason. Her wisdom & years of experience have taught her that the entire purpose of this video is to speak to the heart & mind of parents of young children. I guarantee your client is overjoyed with your production because you did exactly that, perfectly.


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Love him or hate him, JJ Abrams is undoubtably very successful in both film & TV.

Here's an interesting recent interview with BAFTA where he mentions lens flares & the big one, Content is King, actual story is far more important than technique.

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bN-On2CusDM
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How about a ballet of inertia meeting the immovable...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJfP6QVDFGo
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Happy to hear my words had a motivating effect, Klaus. We've also seen the opposite here. But like I always say, your attitude determines your altitude.

I've been thinking about your film since writing those remarks. There's another positive value the insert shots I described will add. We're not bound to the soundtrack, or a slave to the rhythm as Grace Jones said. So even in the midst of the upbeat tempo, the tender moment offers another contrast to the manic pace, a slight emotional respite from the action, humor, etc. With this in mind, you might want to experiment with setting the camera rolling so all 4 of you can be in a single shot, maybe arm in arm looking out over a scenic vista. Adding a slow zoom to that shot in post adds tremendous value. Or another unifying shot with universal appeal is the family round the table eating. The bonus of adding the slow zoom in post is that it has the incremental smoothness to imply expensive equipment & also the presences of an additional expert camera operator. An insert shot of an parent's hand on a child's shoulder or giving an ice-cream draws us in emotionally & is a nice contrast to the grumpy face. Another level of playful contrast could follow, where daughter dumps water on sunbathing dad, or splashes him in the pool. The more contrasts we can subtly juxtapose the more the viewer's interest is piqued. Another eye to develop beyond artistic beauty, tiny gems, lovely lights & magic moments, is that of textures. Some marvelous contrasts can be made with textures too.

You must be fully recharged after such a wonderful holiday. Looking forward to your next presentation.
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I loved it. Very enjoyable, couldn't help but smile all the way thru. Breathtaking locations, perfect music, beautiful family. Brilliant ending with your two little giggling turtles stuck in the sand. Thoroughly delightful.

Some interesting text effects as you began, I liked the line of script across the horizon. When we first see what looks like a rainbow coming down on the beach, perhaps it was a light leak, but it had the curvature of a rainbow. The very next shot of the rocks has the same rainbow, I'd lose it on that second rock shot. For the most part I'd say the light leaks worked well for the daylight scenes, the glare of the sunny locale fit with the theme. You could experiment a bit with lessening the opacity of some. However, your night shots shouldn't have the exact same leaks. If you're afraid the shots will appear too bare after so much added effects earlier on, try some lens flares off those streetlights. Or perhaps you can experiment with some other night time effect, but the same light leaks which seem like they're sun induced suddenly seem incongruous at night.

Somewhere around the middle we have a couple of issues with pacing. Your funky music is bogged down by a couple of shots that are either ill-chosen or too long. Wife on vacation yet still looking grumpy... hey, I've been married, I understand that one. But little girl on boat looking miserable, that shot is too long by 3/4's. Then we have some long shots of shopping or slowly walking down hill, we're dragging here. There's a couple of other little places like that which are too mundane. When we pick back up to the quickened pace as you bring us down the hill past the stone wall, we're reconnected matching the music again. You could cheat some of those other shots in post by applying a bit of a slow zoom to the shot. Long static shots don't fit this tempo of soundtrack. Also not only the focal length of the shot but the duration. Throw in some cutaways, closeups & inserts. Then you can mix things up a bit to fit the tone. In fact, for this piece, apart from the long shot pans of scenery, I think you might add value by applying slow zooms either in or out, to almost every shot, even just an almost imperceptible 5%.

Nice work, Klaus. Thanks for sharing.


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Well, perhaps if you re-read what I wrote you will find plenty of "technical" comments too.

But if you care about the art-form & your future in it, you will find a way to influence the content... make friends, suggest writers, ideas, etc.

If you just want to do it as a hobby, then fine, have fun.
But if you're serious & want to make a success from this business, then you would be wise to work on quality projects.

Someone in the industry told me many years ago, "It's better to have a very small part in something great than to have a large part in something bad."

If you can't tell the difference, or just want to argue, well... it will never be much more than a hobby.

Either way, as they said in the Indiana Jones movie... choose wisely.


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From the San Francisco International Film Festival 2013

How much of the biz is business & how much is art?

[video]
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In this thread we had mentioned clever openings & title sequences. I'd like to add to that, closing title sequences.

If you haven't seen the latest Ironman 3, it's basically .. well, you know, Ironman. However the closing title sequence before the credits roll has to be one of the most complex uses of split screen effects I've seen. Not only are all the slices & segments moving & changing shapes, the speed, image juggling & freeze-framing is chronologically dazzling & logistically mind boggling. It's set to retro style music giving a real 70's TV feel. Looks like it took a lot of work to construct the sequence, but they've really achieved something memorable.


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This is a slightly different style for an action cut. Lots more stops & starts (like all the best Elvis songs), pletny of fades to black, then a nice build to an apparent crescendo but that's when they scale back the disaster, not in magnitude (which they actually increase), but in fervency with a kind of balletic grace.

From Russia

Metro

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OKh17zFt8-E
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Wish I'd heard that before these guys went to print. Could have saved them all the embarrassment.



Whatever you call it or what the duration is, the moral of the story is; when an opportunity arises to pitch someone very important, the time is extremely valuable, so make the most of it.

The 2 guys before the billionaires on Shark Tank, crashed & burned pathetically. Whether you're good at sales or not, if your idea is a good one, you need to be able to effectively communicate that vision to others.

Those opportunities are very rare, so be ready.
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