BURBANK, CA — AlphaDogs (www.alphadogs.tv) recently completed a 4K finish on director Zac Wong’s new film Revision, by relying on a combination of Adobe Premiere Pro and Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve.
In Wong’s new film, the director looks closely at a petty thief who seeks to atone his past by returning to the house he robbed. It was Wong’s vision to not only tell a good story but also explore how a film could portray the overlap of human consciousness and memory.
Wong explains, “I was fascinated by the way that we tend to experience several disconnected events in our past simultaneously. I found the feeling of guilt to be the most palpable manifestation of chaotic memory and a great subject for this film.”
AlphaDogs assistant editor Rachel Bartlett and colorist Sean Stack worked collaboratively as team using a round-trip workflow from Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve to complete the finish on the film. Bartlett explains, “We decided on a Premiere Pro and Resolve round-trip workflow because they both work natively with Red 4K media which allows a clear path to a smooth delivery.”
Resolve has a Red camera file management command known as R3D Trim and it was used to move the camera media in the final locked sequence to the shared server at AlphaDogs. The fast fiber connection to the trimmed source files allowed Stack to navigate quickly, review color grades in Resolve in real-time and render as fast as the GPU would allow, saving valuable time and money. “The round-trip workflow worked extremely well for this project,” said Stack. “Resolve had no difficulty rendering out the custom 4K frame size known as 4K Scope (4096 x 1708) for the final trip back into Premiere Pro.”
Specific color choices made by Stack during color correction not only added to the suspense of the story, but also kept the film’s continuity in check. One scene in particular involved a kitchen sink close-up shot with very warm tones. Stack chose to match a cooler version of the sink as it appeared in a wide shot earlier in the story, allowing for a consistent look throughout the film. “The good news is Resolve is such a powerful tool for color grading, that we had a chance to try both warm and cool temperatures with scenes and truly make a creative decision on what looked and felt the best,” said Stack. Wong adds, “We loved that Sean was able to make subtle adjustments to the color on a micro level that allowed for our characters and story to shine.”
“Working with the team at AlphaDogs was especially easy. They were not only friendly and accessible, but also responsive and intuitive to our needs as filmmakers,” said Wong. “We were very happy with the final delivery and that we delivered before the deadline. We would use AlphaDogs again because of the excellent customer service and the team’s expertise.”