Dell loaned us a Precision M90 laptop with integrated NVIDIA Quadro 3500M graphics for the Colorista evaluation. This is nice portable machine and it performed very well, see page 3 for more detail on the performance with Colorista.
Color grading is a strangely arcane art for most filmmakers, largely because the professional application of it seems so much different than the 3-way color corrector found in nearly every editing program on the planet. This issue is compounded even more for low- and no-budget filmmakers like many of us, as many of our films have had less than ideal lighting solutions. This means that, in addition to having a final look decided upon, many of our films have had issues with light consistency and hue that must be matched. I had so many problems with this in my first film, that I desaturated most of it into black and white and claimed that it was an artistic choice. (I even came up with a whole spiel about why the desaturation was apropos to the storyline. It was only a happy accident that the desaturation did fit the storyline, allowing me to avoid mentioning that I just couldn’t get hues to match in FCP!)
In addition to the fact that the work of the color grader is not given much in the way of how-to guides (leading many to surmise that it is a closely guarded secret by the Industry), the color grading software on the market is so far out of the range of most low-budget filmmakers as to utterly blow the mind. Final Touch for Apple is at the low end of the range at $5,000 for its SD system while systems like DaVinci start at $20,000 and go up like a NASA rocket as they get into 2K and 4K.
Well, the folks at Red Giant have decided to make things easier for filmmakers, by giving them many of the most powerful tools found in the professional grading packages, while removing a lot of the confusing controls that were rarely used. Further, they’ve targeted the low-budget filmmakers that make up our audience (as well as something like 70% of the current filmmaking community) by making the price ultra-accessible.
With that said, let’s break down Magic Bullet Colorista!
Ease of Use
While color correcting is not a simple activity, it is made much more simple by the conscious streamlining process that was engaged in by the folks at Red Giant. In fact, they made it so simple looking that, at first, I seriously underestimated the power of the application. (I will go more into the power of the system in the Depth of Options section.)
Even though it is simpler to use than most color correction programs and is very streamlined, you should still read through the manual and quick start guide that Red Giant provides, especially if you’re new to color grading or if you’ve just used the 3-way color correctors in most editors. Red Giant also provides some nice training videos on their site, which are easier to absorb than reading the manual for many filmmakers. Once you read the quick-start guide and go through some training, it’s surprisingly easy to wrap your head around, but it does take a little while to get used to if you haven’t used more advanced color grading systems.
Red Giant chose to use Industry standard terminology like, “Lift/Gamma/Gain”, rather than “Hue/Balance/Angle” or “White/Gray/Black Level” used in most editing programs. While this provides a few extra terms to learn, this means that you can now talk to professionals utilizing the correct terminology, which is a very valuable asset.
