Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1527843
lighting e‰ects to parts of shots throughout the„series. the color grading & vfx workflow Ferstl made use of both a„ custom ‹lm emulation LUT to impose more of a„photochemical feel to the images' contrast and a„separate ‹lm look recipe (incorporated as an individual node) speci‹cally to gather more of the colors in the camera original material to within a„ certain range that both enhanced the cinematic feel and added speci‹city to the hues of the Airbenderworld. As scenes, and then episodes, started coming in for color grading, Ferstl and Finishing Artist Mike DeLegal, working at separate loca- tions, made the most of both Company 3's extensive interconnect- edness among its many studios and remote locations and DaVinci Resolve Studio's collaboration features, which enabled them to work concurrently on the same media and communicate with each oth- er about every detail. While this kind of collaboration between Fer- stl and DeLegal, who works primarily in the VFX centric Fusion page and handles digital ‹xes like wire removal, split screens, some green- screen work and all manner of cleanup, has been possible for a„few years, it was essential on„Airbender. "There are some elaborate transition shots before and aŠer im- portant ‚ash forwards, where Aang sees his future," Ferstl explains. "The outgoing shot was done on the color page while I„ worked on the incoming shot on the edit page, which as a„colorist I„don't usually touch. That was a„ great example of where Mike and I„ had to be in very close contact because we really could both be working on the same shot at the same„time." vfx as an expansion of color grading Ferstl was among the earliest adopters of a„handful of tools added to DaVinci Resolve Studio within the last couple of years, primarily Magic Mask and Depth Map, which have opened up a„path for col- orists to perform more tasks that traditionally lie within the exclusive realm of dedicated compositors. In„ skilled hands, these tools allow an artist to qualify [isolate] speci‹c objects in a„frame down to tinier levels of detail and in a„fraction of the time it would take with tradi- tional adjustments, such as keys and„vignettes. While these functions would be overkill for most color work, they are enormously important for VFX type work of this complexity, for example changing the look of the foliage or sky without a‰ecting the people in the shot. The„ rotoscope work alone could take hours or days for a„ colorist to do, or it would be sent out to VFX vendors to have mattes cut and then returned to the colorist, but this is also a„time-consuming„procedure. As those familiar with the original animated series know, the Spir- it World plays an important role in Aang's story. Scenes set in this otherworldly place were shot in a„fairly straightforward manner with Raisaini and Spates then overseeing the enhancement of the space into the look we see in the show, one of lavender ‚ora and unearth- ly„skies. "We designed elements of the Spirit World based, to a„great ex- tent, on the look of the animated show," Ferstl says. He„ added in DPs Michael Goi, Michael Balfry, and Stewart Whelan shot Season 1. 6 CGW J U LY • A U G U S T • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 4