David Lindberg

Color Grading Contest Winner

2013-11-10T22:34:00.001+01:00

For you who still haven't seen I've moved this blog to a new site http://lindbergdavid.com/, make sure to visit that site and read about the winner in my latest grading contest which was posted today:
http://lindbergdavid.com/post/66602363888/grading-contest-winner

New site + New grading contest

2013-10-27T20:36:00.001+01:00

Hey!

Just wanted to let you all know that I just launched my new site as well as a brand new grading contest in which you'll get a chance to win my grading preset pack Fovea Aspect. Check the site out and join the contest!

http://lindbergdavid.com/

With that said, I will not be any active on this blog anymore but instead be triple as active on the new site!

See you there!
/D

New site, new color grading contest

2013-10-27T13:58:00.001+01:00

Hey!

Just wanted you who doesn't follow me on Twitter to know that I'm launching a brand new site along with a new color grading contest tonight!

Hope you're as excited as I am about this!

Sunday News!

2013-10-20T01:52:00.002+02:00

Hey guys!

I would just like to say thank you for all your mails and comments I've been getting from you lately, you don't understand how happy some of your words made me!

I wanted to share a sneakpeak of a personal project I've been working on today, and if the render times don't get too long I might share this with you tomorrow (Sunday). Without explaining everything, it's a short scene where I try to create a realistic but still very stylistic and interesting scene of the milky way.
All in AE, no images or stock footage added.

Stay tuned! And remember, call or meet some of your friends or family member before you go to bed today, ok!

/D

Monday Color Inspiration

2013-10-07T14:56:00.002+02:00

Hi,

I just wanted to share some color with you that hopefully can inspire you in some way. Today I came across a beautiful work by I Make Films (https://vimeo.com/imakefilms) with modelling by Joshua Maxwell de Hoog, and I really wanted to play with the colors in some of the scenes and create a short gif with the graded scenes combined. I asked Joshua if he thought it was ok and here's the result.

I also want to show you something that I really think you should keep in mind when grading, whether it's one scene or many. It is to keep some similarity in your colors, some kind of relation between them so that it feels like one united color palette. I know I've spoken about it before but it's so important that I'm sure I will keep repeating this in coming posts as well.

Here's my color palette of the combined gif above, based on the popularity of the colors. That means the colors in the top row is the most used while the lowest row is the less common colors. As you can see in the colors of the top, say 5, rows there are similarities in hue as well as saturation. We're having variation of relatively desaturated greens, yellows and browns which almost starts to go over to red.

That's all I wanted to show you today, but if you start to think about the importance of colors in "relationships" you see that you can learn much by looking at a short gif like this and at the color palette. Hope you find this at least a little bit interesting 'cause I really do, but then again I'm a geek so I don't blame you if you don't.

Thanks for all the comments on my latest post, I REALLY appreciate it!

One last thing before I finish this post, even if you're trying to work really hard to get into this cruel filmmaking industry do not let it be more important than spending time with your friends or family. Even though this industry really forces you to work more than 8 hours a day and sometimes even weekends, do not cancel your lunch with your friend or the dinner with your family, there's nothing more important than that. It's not worth making film making your job if your relationships is the price.

Thank you again!
/D

Crystal Chandelier Maker - Glass Obstruction

2013-09-23T17:42:00.001+02:00

Hey,

First of all I just want to say thanks for the many and very supportive comments you gave me on my previous post. It really meant a lot!

So as I've promised some of you I will talk a little bit about my latest film, Crystal Chandelier Maker, and how I achieved some specific effects. But to not make this post too long I've only focused on the glass obstruction technique I used in this film. I will post another article about my thoughts on the 5D mark 3's raw function which I used in 90% of this film, as well as some basic vfx such as the falling leafs.

Before I get started, here's a link to the company I made this video for:
http://www.krebs.se/

Krebs - Crystal Chandelier Maker

On of the first things I know some of you want to know about is how to create the blurry, distorted effects that can be shown in some of the scenes.
I've made some screen grabs to show you what I mean.

The funny thing about this technique is that it's so simple and easy to create but yet really hard to get beautiful. There are such a harsh line when it's taking too much of the viewers attention or when it just doesn't look natural.

And yes, you might think the effect can never look natural since it's basically made by bending the light from your scene in an "unnatural" way before it hits the lens, but if you take a look at Bruno Aveillans latest commercial for example, you can see how the distortions doesn't really hurt your eyes, they rather feels like a natural part of the image.

And I also think it's necessary I mention that I don't think I'm even close to his level in cinematography and how to handle the glass obstruction effect, not even close. But I think it's fun and inspiring to look at people who are better than yourself and try out their techniques.

Ok, so how did I make these glass obstructions?
I simply took a glass and crushed it with a hammer until I got a piece I was happy with. Then I just put the glass in front of the lens, tweaked and rotated it until the distorted light effect was nice and interesting. To make it stay there without moving (even the smallest movements will be visible in the film) I just pushed some part of the glass to the side of the lens

Here's the piece of glass I used in this film.

If you got some videos where you've tried this technique or something similar please share in the comments below and I promise to take a look at it!

Thank you and speak soon,

New Color Grading Competition?

2013-09-17T20:03:00.002+02:00

Hey guys!

As you probably understand I'm working so much that I don't really get the time to do blogposts here anymore. But the main reason why I don't think it's worth the time is because I'm not sure how many of you who's actually reading the posts and appreciate this blog.

So what I will do now is posting this without sharing the link on facebook or twitter and see how many interested filmmakers you are and if it's worth spend some time on writing articles and to start grading competitions. Because I really like helping you and share some of my knowledge and inspiration to you, but I need to know if you actually read the posts and want me to keep doing this.

So if you're reading this and would want a new color grading competition please let me know in the comments below. You can just write "yes" "+1" "more posts but don't care about the competition" or whatever.

Thank you!
/D

Vimeo Grading Lessons - PPro to DaVinci and back

2013-07-06T18:03:00.003+02:00

Hey,

I just want to say thank you once again for all your support, all your kind messages and mails I almost daily gets from you. Big thanks! It's really you that makes me still think making films and color is fun!

So after a lot of questions if I could do a tutorial on how I go from Premiere Pro to DaVinci for grading I decided to create one through Vimeo's On Demand and will sell it for 5$.
So this is my first tutorial but I'm pretty sure there will be a lot more.
So what you will learn in this tutorial is following:

How to export a offline/reference file from Premiere Pro
How to export a XML from Premiere Pro
How to start a new project in DaVinci
How to conform a project in DaVinci with the XML
How to use the offline/reference file to make sure the conform is correct
How to create a new version in DaVinci when two scenes are connected/linked
How to export the project from DaVinci
How to conform it again in Premiere Pro for the final export

So go on, watch and learn! https://vimeo.com/ondemand/3177

The Power of Structure

2013-06-19T11:01:00.001+02:00

Good morning!

Today I want to share an essential thing in filmmaking with you which has helped me a lot when working with my film projects. Before I started working for Stopp I didn't quite understand the importance of having the projects completely correctly organized, I just created some folders which names varied from project to project, even if they filled the same purposes.

But when I came to Stopp they had a great project structure so when you started a new project a script created a project folder with a few subfolders. I immediately started to understand the importance of having a correct folder structure when there was a chance that other people may had to jump into your project, and if you didn't have folder names you all knew about and were familiar with you would probably always had to explain where everything was to this person.

But now when I don't work at Stopp anymore and have started freelancing, I kept working with a similar structure even if I changed the name of a few folders and even added some new ones. I must say that it's really helpful and makes everything looks better and more comfortable even if you're the only one working with this particular project. You will always know where to go when looking for a specific file in your project and you always know where to put the files when receiving new ones from clients or when exporting offlines, vfx shots, or final versions.

So I've attached a picture where you can see my folder structure, and I truly recommend you to start work like this or at least something similar.

Folders name:

Here's where you should first enter the name of the client, then the project name. The project name is usually for you to decide, so pick a correct name that makes it specific but still kind of short.
Example: samsung_galaxygs4tvcommercial

Audio:
Here's where you put your music, soundfx etc. You can create subfolders like sound and music if you want to but I don't think that's necessary.

Conform:
This folder works best with subfolders like xml and edl since you quite often gets or export both of these files. So yeah, here's where you put your xml and edl for online or grading conform etc.

Document:
Here's where you put documents like specs for delivering or maybe treatments, scripts and reference PDF:s. This isn't the most important folder since you can put these kind of stuff in Transfer as well, but I really think it serves a purpose and that it's better to have this as a separate folder instead of a subfolder inside Transfer.

Footage:
When you've shot something or maybe received footage from a photographer you should put it here. Create a subfolder that for example specifies what camera was used and when it was shot.
Example for subfolder: redepic_130523

Graded:
Here's where you put your graded files.

Graphic:
My most used folder. Here's where I put graphics I get from agencies or graphics I make myself. It can be everything from texts like titles, legals to logos, pictures etc.

Offline/Reference:
After the editing is done, put an offline/reference file here to make sure you have a lowres correct version of your edit.

Project:
This is a good folder to keep all of your project files inside one folder. You can create subfolders that is relevant to you, maybe you're doing a lot of 3D animations and would want folders like 3dsmax or c4d. Feel free to create the subfolders you need.

Sent To Client:
This is a great folder to only put the files you've sent to the client. It's great to have those files in one folder so that you're 100% sure that these were the files they got if anything gets wrong or the clients are being assholes and accuses you for having sent wrong files. I can assure you clients can lie.

Transfer:
Not a very specific folder, but still serves a purpose. Put files you're getting from the clients that doesn't goes in graphics or audio. I use this for files like animations packs, grading references/inspirations etc. that clients sends me.

VFX:
Great folder to put your 3D animations, vfx shots, motion graphics in. Keep them separated from the Footage folder.

Last tips:

Keep your names in your files and folders as short as possible but still 100% correct.
ONLY use small letters (non capital/do not use caps lock/not like samsung_GS4tvCommercial, haha don't know the correct word for it in english). This makes everything more correct.

Hope this helped you somehow, but I really promise you that if you haven't got a structure yet try this and your projects will be much easier and more comfortable to work with.
Share this with your filmmaking friends if you think it makes sense, and don't hesitate to comment if you have any tips on how to improve it even more!

Fovea Aspect - Preview

2013-06-13T13:32:00.002+02:00

Hey,

Just wanted to keep you updated on the process of my DaVinci looks. Hope you'll like them!

Fovea Aspect - Grenade - First Look

2013-05-21T18:08:00.005+02:00

Hey,

As I wrote in my latest post (http://davidhjlindberg.blogspot.se/2013/05/fovea-aspect-davinci-powergradespresets.html) I'm excited to release Fovea Aspect, a pack of DaVinci presets in a near future!

So today I will show you a little bit of Fovea Grenade, one of the looks I'm currently building. It is going to be a look of green/matrix/action/dark/mysterious/artificial influenced look.

I'm sure some of you are going to get confused with the nodes and how I've set them up but I will follow up with a tutorial when I release the pack in which I will explain how the nodes are connected, how they work together and what they are doing individually. Some of you may think it's a messy structure but in my opinion, this is the best way of building a detailed look.

I've used footage from Benjamin Jacks, an amazingly skilled photographer who runs his own company The Jacks Firm (http://www.thejacksfirm.com/) with Scott Welch. This footage is shot with RED Epic which I converted to 16bits ProRes444 with Gamma Curve: REDlog Film and Color Space: REDcolor 3 to get as much details as possible to play with.

Another thing I want to share with you is that you should have a color palette to think about when creating your grade. To not going in too deep with color palettes and why it pleases our minds, it's sometimes very important to make us think something is working together visually. I really recommend you to check this blog out, which really shows how color palettes are used in films: http://moviesincolor.com/

I took a few samples of the most dominated colors in the scene to show you what palette I've got when making this grade. As I said, it's good to follow the scheme and make it work together. Of course there can be things popping out in the scene with a specific color or luminance but I try as a rule to keep it in the same scheme to make it easier for our eyes to accept. But this is nothing you can say is right or wrong, but I want to share my opinion that I think it's a great idea to have this in mind.

Hope you liked this reading and stay in touch for more info about Fovea Aspect.

Thank you for your time,
David

Fovea Aspect - DaVinci Powergrades/Presets

2013-05-14T01:05:00.002+02:00

Good evening!

Tonight I have some really excited news for you, I won't tell you too much this early but I'll let you know some basics about this announcement.

I've got a lot of mails where people tell me they would want presets of my grades 'cause they think it's too hard to create them by themselves or they just don't know how I'm creating my grades.
Maybe you don't have time to look at tutorials all night and read articles on how to create some stimulated color grading to your scenes, or you would like to have already created grades no matter what kind of feeling you would want to achieve.

I will be releasing some of my favorite grades I've used in some of my work, but I will also be giving you some new, experimenting grades that I'm sure you will find interesting as well. These grades will include different settings that will help you get most out of your footage, and help your scenes to fully generate the right feeling to the audience whether it's going to feel cold, dynamic, romantic, intense, scary, etc.

This package will be rich on grades of expert level and will be followed by some tutorials on how to use them and import them into your DaVinci Resolve system. It will have a price since I'm doing this for living now, but it will be 30 times better than the crappy presets that's already in DaVinci Resolve when you install it. I promise you that.

To help me design these grades in the most optimal way, if you read this post just drop a short comment on what camera or/and format you're mostly grading from.

Excited times now!
Stay in touch to get more information about this package and the price!

Cheers,
David

Inspiration of the Day

2013-05-09T14:43:00.000+02:00

Just wanted to share this BEAUTIFUL piece of film with you.
Very inspirational and well made. The VFX are exceptional in my opinion, although I must say I don't like the grading or the soft/glow style at all, think it could have been much nicer with another look. But still, one of the best short films I've seen.

Let me know what you guys think!

The Road of Life

2013-04-28T18:22:00.002+02:00

Hey,

Today I'm very happy to share the latest film I've worked on called The Road of Life.
It's a branded film by the incredible guys at The Jacks Firm, http://www.thejacksfirm.com/. I was honored to get the job to edit and grade this film which turned out to be a really interesting project with some specific ambitions about the films look, mood and editing style by the amazing director and cinematographer Benjamin Jacks at The Jacks Firm.

And no that's not something I just say to bring up the excitement for the film, I actually think this is the best footage I've ever laid my hands on, including all the stuff I worked on when working for Stopp. Love the obstructions in the foreground of the lens and the lightning and the framing. Really impressed and if you take a look at the film I'm sure the cinematography is going to amaze you as well.

This is THEJACKSFIRM's creative approach to the film:

"THE ROAD OF LIFE explores the journey of a partnership.

It reflects the universal challenges, forgotten moments, shared joys, and individual fears encountered along the way.

The goal of THE ROAD OF LIFE is to give a moment of gratitude for the journey itself.

It is a reminder to live in the present and welcome the future."

// THE ROAD OF LIFE // from THEJACKSFIRM on Vimeo.

Editing

So the first discussion I had with the director and cinematographer Benjamin Jacks was if we we're going to edit the film in a linear story. It's a safe call in my opinion, it's easier to make it look good and not give the audience an uncomfortable feeling about the story and editing when making it linear. But then we discussed a bit more about it and thought, it might get boring and not interesting enough if we have it all linearly, like: first we see them go to the car, drive it, get to some place and hang out, then go to the car, drive, hang out at another place etc.
It would be too predicable.

So we decided to make it somewhat abstract, but with some linear style coming back and forth every now and then in the film. For example, we begin with something that feels like the ending of the film with the fight on the roof. But then we start over and everything is fine, a lot of things happens, they visit places and have fun. At this moment you start to feel that you may see the story changing, how good and happy it was in the beginning and that you will soon see what made it crash. But then, when the sad parts comes, the mood is a bit less happy and the majority of scenes is now at night you think that this may be the end, what you saw in the beginning. But then it turns out good again, and the fight you saw in the beginning isn't actually the end at all, in fact they start to laugh at the roof later in the film and then kiss as well. So in this case, the film starts sad, starts over in a happier mood, but has a dramaturgically curve towards the end, which makes it not exactly linear but not that abstract and non linear either, it's kind of something in between.

Grading

To make the grading process of this film more interesting for you I made a short breakdown to show the before and after of this film. The camera Benjamin used was Red Epic and the before footage is in RAW with REDgamma3 as the gamma curve.

The Road Of Life - Grading Breakdown from David HJ. Lindberg on Vimeo.

The grading was a really challenge as well, but that's also what made it so fun. It wasn't just "make it contrasty and cinematic" instead he went for "I want to get a golden look, something to make it look like chocolate, chic, and elegant." So the description itself was in fact kind of abstract, and you would have to convert those thoughts and visions into colors which isn't always the easiest, but for sure very interesting for a colorist.

I won't go any deeper in how we created the look but both me and The Jacks Firm got really happy with the result, and with the amazingly talented Benjamin at Skype we could achieve this look with the screen sharing function.

I also made some online/vfx in this one when adding the sun in the sunset scenes, but also when making the skin look better under her eyes in 1:36. For this I used After Effects and Autodesk Smoke.

Hope you'll enjoy the film and if you have any question about the cinematography I'm sure you can try send an email to Benjamin at http://www.thejacksfirm.com/, and if you want to ask something about the grading or editing just give me a mail or message on facebook and I'll try answer them. Make sure to check out more stuff from The Jacks Firm,
http://www.thejacksfirm.com/

All the best,
David

Long time no talk

2013-04-19T08:54:00.000+02:00

Hey guys,

I know it has been a while since I posted something here but I've been so busy with a lot of music videos and commercials going on so there just not has been enough time over for me.

BUT, at the moment I'm working on my new website as well as the release of all my new films which I really hope you'll like.

I also got a question for you, a lot of people have mailed me and asked if I could do tutorials or lessons on grading and color theories, even if they would cost a few bucks. I'm very open for that but before I put time on doing these lessons I would like to know how many of you that would be interested of buying some lessons for a reasonable amount of money. If you're interested in learning my way of color grade, my workflow when it comes to both editing and grading, the theories on how the colors affect us and some other cool stuff, please left a comment here or email me at david.hj.lindberg@gmail.com.

Thank you in advanced and thanks for you patience,
David

Excited news!

2013-03-07T21:44:00.004+01:00

Hey people,

Once again thanks for your entries in me latest grading contest. It was a pleasure seeing all your creative ways to create a look for the shot.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I will be a new teacher at http://www.helloluxx.com/ where I will be selling products, tutorials and articles about mainly color theories and grading techniques, but also a few other things.

Hope you're excited to visit me there as well!

Btw, my music video just got a green light from Universal and will be released soon! SOON!

Winner of the grading contest - Windy Winter

2013-03-03T18:22:00.000+01:00

Hey,

As I've told you I've been very busy these weeks. I've pretty much worked day and night on this music video, so until it's finished I will have a hard time to answer all your mails.

Maybe you have thought I haven't received your mail but I have, thanks for all of them and your nice comments on my work and my blog. I really appreciate it. I can recommend you to write to me on Facebook for quicker answers, http://www.facebook.com/david.hj.lindberg, although facebook puts some of your messages in the spam box, but I promise that I will check it daily.

Ok, so time to talk a little bit about the competition! Over 40 people have been sending me their entries this time, that's incredible! So many of you are very talented and I'm excited to see more of your work in the future!

So, after been checking all the entries I have found a winner. His name is Hans Nellen and he has created a great look on our footage.

I really liked his sky replacement which increased the feeling of the image quality. Looked like we had a lot more dynamic range than we actually had. Great composing!

I also liked the soft, blue/cold look with some pretty milky blacks. Looks smooth and nice.

If I should find things to improve I would say that we need to keep the same tone of the snow in the whole image. As you can see the snow in front of her face on the buildings behind is a bit more green/yellow than the snow near the edges.
Although I guess this is to increase the focus on the actress I would still try to keep the chroma from shifting, but maybe just change the luminance a bit to make it pop a little bit more.

But overall, a great grade with some well balanced skin tones and a nice separation between the hat and the sky. Great job!

Hans Nellen, https://vimeo.com/meruto

Grading Contest - Windy Winter from HN on Vimeo.

Thanks for joining the competition and hope you're still excited for my website which I will launch as soon as I release the music video!

All the best and speak soon!
David

Website Launch - Pushed

2013-02-26T18:05:00.003+01:00

Hey,

I just wanted to say that the launch of my website is pushed because of a music video for Dirty South & Alesso - City of Dreams that I'm currently working on. Their deadline is VERY tight and I basically need to work day and night to get the editing, grading and vfx done.

I promise it will be launched, but not in the next few days. Maybe in a week!

Thanks for your patience and also thanks for all your entries for the grading competition. This is also the reason why I haven't answered you in your grading entries mail, just don't got time for anything but this video at the moment.

All the best and good luck on the grading contest!

Grading Contest - Windy Winter

2013-02-21T19:14:00.002+01:00

Hey people!

Hope you are as excited as I am to get this second grading contest started!

We were able to have our beautiful model Josefin Zachrisson in the footage of this contest as well which is great. This is a very interesting looking scene I shot directed by a friend of mine, Jesper Eriksson (http://jespereriksson.tv) last week.

Most of you know what do to.

1. Download the footage (00103_ungraded) from this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6k7epeq0j7hckkp/bcD3CicZJL

2. Make your own grade. You can do exactly whatever you want like adding CG, making a filmlook, making a fashionlook, vintage look etc. Just create something you think look interesting.

3. Upload it to Vimeo or Youtube and send me the link to this email: david.hj.lindberg@gmail.com

I will look through your work and choose a winner at Sunday, March 3th which I will post here on my blog. And probably on my website if I get time to finish that before the deadline.

My grade:

Grading Contest - Windy Winter from David HJ. Lindberg on Vimeo.

I decided to not create a desaturated filmlook which I first thought would be interesting. But because of the fashion feeling the shot had with her looking like a model and standing on a weird place, I decided to make a creative fashion look with red clipped shadows, but still tried to remain the skin tones as they were.

One thing I did in this grade which I thought was a cool challenge, was making it in AE with only using one Curve-effekt and one Tint-effekt. This made it really hard to tweak all the colors I wanted to tweak without affecting the parts I didn't want to affect.

Here are my curves + tint:

New blog and website releases tomorrow

2013-02-19T10:47:00.001+01:00

I'm happy to say that I will be releasing a whole new website tomorrow where I will include my tutorials, my work, my blog as well as products when I got the time.

Hope you're as excited as I am!

New Color Grading Contest

2013-02-17T16:36:00.002+01:00

Hey!

I'm very sorry for the lack of updates here, but currently I'm starting up my own company, editing a new music video for Dirty South & Alesso, and also creating my new website. So it's a lot of stuff to do!

Anyway, I'm interested of doing another color gradin contest for you since the last contest went really great with around 30 people competing doing cool grades on two scenes.

I want to see if there's any interests of doing this, so if you would like another contest comment that you're in below, and if there's more than 15 people the contest will start at Thursday February 21th.

Share this with all your filmmaking friends and make sure to gather all your color grading brain cells for Thursday.

New music video - Dirty South & Alesso

2013-02-15T00:30:00.001+01:00

Hey guys,

This is how I handle Valentines Day, with lots of candy and editing a new, amazing music video! Can't wait to share this with you!

Website coming soon

2013-01-30T15:47:00.003+01:00

Hey guys!

Sorry for not have been posting anything these last weeks, but I'm starting up a company as well as a new website. So stay tuned and I will make this up to you when everything is set up!

All the best!

Tutorial - How To Create a Cinematic Scene

2013-01-06T14:14:00.000+01:00

This is my first tutorial for you with audio and explanations, I hope you'll enjoy it.

Tutorial - How To Create a Cinematic Scene from David HJ. Lindberg on Vimeo.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Ben Jacks,
thejacksfirm.com/
vimeo.com/thejacksfirm

My lens flare in this tutorial can be downloaded for free:
dropbox.com/sh/lt4nsmjoj8kfaix/tj63qU_rAW

Batman Returns - My First Film

2012-12-24T01:11:00.001+01:00

Hey people,

Today I found a disc with a lot of footage from when I was a little kid. There were also my very first film, which I think is truly brilliant and of course want to share with you guys.

Here you go, watch and get INSPIRED!

Batman Returns - My First Film (Shot with RED Epic 5k) from David HJ. Lindberg on Vimeo.