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www.postmagazine.com 35 POST JUNE 2018 COLOR GRADING ing capabilities for the production. Cinematographers Erik Messerschmidt and Christopher Probst, ASC, employed a one-of-a-kind Red camera with a 6K Dragon sensor called Xenomorph, devel- oped by Red to Fincher's specifications. Weidt's starting point for dailies, as well as any color work on the master, began with a low-contrast log curve based on REDgamma3 that maintained as much of the dynamic range provided by the Red Xenomorph as possible, and gave the SDR monitoring on set an approximation of Weidt's HDR workflows. "When you grade something, the tone curve can be your initial contrast," says Weidt. "It's a bit like choosing a film stock. With Red, at that time, the most current tone curve was REDgamma4. It's a nice, contrast-y curve, but David wanted to go back to a previous tone curve, which was REDgamma3. It's a softer curve, and it rolls off quicker and easier in the high- lights and also in the shadows." With the Dolby Vision HDR toolset, custom color transforms helped man- age the monitoring during production. From 6K .R3D files to linear OpenEXR files, they were able to go straight to grade in Weidt's and Messerschmidt's preferred 'flat' log. For Dolby Vision HDR mastering, Weidt used the Dolby Pulsar 4000-nit professional reference display, while the Rec709 passes were done with automated mapping to SDR from Baselight. For SDR, they used a Dolby PRM monitor at 120-nits. The HDR look was developed in post production: "In HDR, we initially came across a lot of scenes where the light sources were taking too much promi- nence," Weidt says. "David and his post supervisor Peter Mavromates really wanted an elegant balance. Mindhunter's HDR is not trying to strike you or slap you in the face. Just like the sound mixing, or cutting, it is not trying to blow your mind, but rather convey the story content. The latter is really what's going to punch you." Many of Fincher's notes require simple dodging and burning, performed primari- ly through Weidt's use of shapes, mask- ing and tracking in Baselight. Using PIX, Fincher would circle subjects or areas of a frame, giving suggestive chromatic terms like 'sallow' or 'ruddy,' and 'equi- distant' or 'symmetrical' in regard to reframing. Mindhunter used a 5K working area extracted from the full 6K frame, ul- timately downconverted to a 4K deliver- Aer the grade Areas of focus Before Aer