“There were limits to how many people could be on the set at any given time, including actors, so some setups became multi shot composites.” “There were quite a few shots that may not have been VFX shots to begin with but became VFX shots because of the pandemic,” said Wallach. Then once everything was balanced, we pushed the contrast and saturation and used several different curves within Resolve to see how far we could go until the image started to deteriorate.”Īdditional challenges included the large number of VFX in the film, not simply big CG shots but also subtle work not as obvious to the viewer. “I initially approached it similarly to the rest of the material using offset and printer lights.

709 color space, and it sort of is what it is,” added Wallach. “The broadcast footage wasn’t scans of raw files. The challenge with these elements was the lack of a log file for grading, which can make a more intense look harder to achieve.

“There was also a lot that was shot with digital broadcast cameras in a studio type space for when characters are appearing on TV.” “It was predominantly a 35mm show but there was some anamorphic, some spherical, some Super 8 and a little bit of 16mm,” said Wallach. On “Don’t Look Up,” Sandgren shot with a range of formats, in addition to film, which added to the complexity of the grade. He also likes to approach color in ways that hold to the feel of photochemical work. Wallach had primarily focused on dailies color in recent years working with many top cinematographers, including Sandgren who likes Wallach's approach to color and asked that he do both dailies and final color for his previous film “No Time to Die.” Sandgren prefers to shoot film negative whenever possible, as opposed to digital acquisition, and to treat digital color grading with an eye for always preserving the filmic look of the images. The film has received four Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. The film, which follows two academic astronomers who discover a comet destined to destroy the Earth and go on a giant media tour to warn humanity, was directed by Adam McKay with cinematography by Linus Sandgren FSF, ASC.

Davinci resolve cinematic color grading