Colour manic Kevin Shaw has spent the last three weeks in Chennai, putting in at least 12 hours for his ever desi project, Jayendra’s 180. With over 25 years of experience in the field, Kevin explains that his role is a spread over colour correction, grading and calibrating projectors to achieve colours and effects that make the big screen, even bigger.
Working on 180 — the challenges or difficulties
There were many challenges. Technically the biggest was getting everything calibrated for film prints, digital cinema and video releases. It’s a beautiful film so I wanted to make sure that it stays that way, wherever it is seen. Aesthetically the stars and the locations are amazing and don’t need much help from me. But the nature of shooting involves a lot of matching scenes together, under difficult and variable lighting.
Also, I wanted to convey emotions that support the narrative, but without it looking too obvious. I spent a lot of time working with Balasubramaniam, the photography director, who is very keen on digital intermediate technology.
Between us, we pushed the grading system (a Digital Vision Film Master) pretty hard. I hope everyone walks away thinking that 180 looks amazing, as well enjoys the songs and the script.
Working with the crew of 180
Everyone has been very relaxed and helpful. I would have to single out Venki at Real Image as having taken care of everything outside of the suite for me. Jayendra, the director and Balasbramaniam (DP), have both been very kind and taken just enough time to explain what they want, but also given me plenty of freedom to add my own little magic touches to the project.
How is colour enhancement similar/different between Indian and World cinema?
Colour enhancement is generally the same the world over. Matching scenes, looking for great skin tones, and generally getting the best results out of each shot. The main difference that I find with the Indian genre is that there is an acceptance of breaks in the continuity of a scene, especially in the case of song sequences. In a way, Indian films have more in common with western music
videos than films, and that gives me the opportunity to get creative, rather than an obsess with the technicalities.
Is South Indian cinema equipped with latest technology to do big projects?
India has embraced digital cinema quicker than many countries, which makes it more important to maintain high quality fini-shed products. I can’t speak for everywhere in India, but the installation at Real Image is second to none. Not really surprising since many Indian
companies are now offering their services on Hollywood and European films.
I do have my preferred grading system, the Film Master and the best digital projector around (Barco DP90) in a proper DTS cinema environment.
Favourite picks with regards to colour enhancement
My favourite film on a visual scale is Hero with Jet Li. Each story is carefully colour coordinated and must have been planned from the storyboard stages onwards. There is a great use of colour in so many ways. I also like the warmth of A Good Year and many others.
Memorable international projects
StreetDance 3D was my first stereoscopic movie. There is also the film, Transfer, a German movie that I really like the look of, and I am you, which was an enormous amount of work . I think we designed every single shot! It has just been released I think. Acolytes won an award for best cinematography and received many comments for looking good. I did my part in that one!
Background and beginnings:
I started as a still photographer, but grading is what I like to do. Two years ago, I co-founded the International Colorist Acad-emy (www.icolorist.com) to teach the new software generation some of the things we’ve learned about digital grading as telecine colourists.
Of course ‘digital intermediate grading and finishing’ embraces a lot of hat wearing, so you need to be familiar with editing, compositing and visual effects to get the job
done now.
Upcoming projects
I will be running ICA classes in London and LA in May. Then hopefully back to grading in June. I have some projects under discussion but nothing confirmed yet.