case studies
Alexis Van Hurkman
Alexis Van Hurkman literally wrote the book on modern digital color correction with his “Color Correction Handbook”. For the second edition, he turned to the Koji team to help with a new chapter on film emulation, and to provide the sample film LUTs that are included with the book’s accompanying downloadable content.
In addition to the highly respected “Color Correction Handbook”, Alexis wrote the DaVinci Resolve 9, 10, and 11 manuals for Blackmagic, the RED Final Cut Studio Whitepaper for RED, and the Color 1.0 and 1.5 user manuals for Apple. He is no stranger to color workflows, and when he decided that the subject of film emulation deserved its own section in the second edition of his handbook, he approached the Koji team to provide examples.
Alexis wanted to study carefully the effects of a single print LUT and make specific recommendations about how LUTs can be used. We gave him an early version of our Koji 2383 stock to try out. In the “Using LUTs to Emulate Film” section of the accompanying “Color Correction Look Book”, Alexis compared Koij 2383 against a typical ARRI normalizing LUT. Of the result, he says: “Clearly, the normalizing LUT produces a more neutral result, while the Koji LUT adds much more character out of the gate.”
In communication via email, Alexis added, “After using your LUTs on a few projects, I find them much subtler and more useful than other film emulation LUTs I’ve used.”
To learn more how LUTs are used to emulate film, and for some indispensable tips for adding these LUTs into your workflow, we highly recommend picking up a copy of Alexis’s “Color Correction Handbook” and accompanying “Color Correction Look Book”.
Paul Schefz
Los Angeles-based photographer and filmmaker Paul Schefz put Koji to work to create a unique look for client Terrazas Footwear. His low-contrast, simple color palette showed that Koji can be used for a wide range of projects.
In Paul’s words: “The client is a local LA footwear designer (we have worked together before and that video is on my site as well) and for this project we decided to go for a loose alien/matrix/man from space theme… and unlike the first video which was all about showing product, I had absolute freedom to not show the product at all for a very loose story. Music plays a big part in this one and the client hand-picked a couple of songs from a local LA band…the soundtrack really set the mood for the piece.
We captured everything on RED Epic in 5kHD at 48 fps because we knew that we would use a lot of clips off speed, and in order to get a shorter shutter speed necessary to pull good stills. All footage was directly imported into Final Cut Pro X and the files were worked on in RED raw format all the way. Basic adjustments to the raw files were done with the red FCP X plug-in/workflow, then Koji Log for the final look. It was edited and finished all in FCP X, with stills pulled from the raw clips.
Koji not only helped in getting a quick look fast and making the editing easier, but it really worked like magic in setting the tone, contrast and look of the piece quickly and easily with a wide range of options all easily controlled with a few sliders.
Our first piece for Terrazas Footwear was black and white from concept to finish, and we knew that we wanted a simple color palette. So we kept the styling and wardrobe in simple grey and black and white to not introduce any color in filming, and we chose our locations that way, knowing that we would go with an almost duo-tone warm glow. We decided on the warm glow because Terrazas is based in LA and we didn’t want to make the piece sci-fi or cold…”
Ketch Rossi
Los Angeles and Italy-based filmmaker Ketch Rossi agreed to test Koji by re-coloring several scenes from his short films, “Venetian Night at Palazzo Stern” and “Last Snow in Valle D’Aosta.” Both were filmed using the Red Epic Dragon Digital Cinema Camera, lensed with Schneider Xenon FF Primes. The project was shot and finished in 6K on DaVinci Resolve 11.
“The vision was a simple one, yet somewhat complex because of the City of Venice settings. The idea was to create a mask evening where the young lady could have her lover sneak in dressed up as a lady, so that she in turn could take him without her mother discovering what she was really up to.
To make this happen was relatively easy, thanks to all the extras and talent that participated in the project. It could not have happened without each of their collaborative spirit, and deep involvement, so making it happen really was all about the incredible collaborative spirit shown by all.
At the end of the day, all the challenges in the world cannot stop a truly passionate filmmaker, and if you get to work with such fantastic people as I did, then they’ll make all the hard work worth doing, and each smile given, each “Can I help you”, “How can I help you” means the world. Even if you know that they cannot help you, as none of them ever has actually seen or worked on a set before, it was simply reinvigorating, and 19 hours day went down so fast, I didn’t even have time to realize the challenges or feel the weight of the workload.
Sometimes you just have to simply throw yourself out there and just do it!”
