Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) October 2017 Volume 34, Issue 8 | Page 20

20 Orban iMix products offer multi-channel audio Orban has debuted two products for stereo synthesis and surround sound upmixing. The iMix Mono2Stereo synthesiser, developed with sports mixing in mind, uses a proprietary algorithm to produce an artifact-free, wide soundstage with spectrally balanced audio from mono content. The iMix 257 surround audio decoder uses a patented DSX sound algorithm to upmix stereo audio to 5.1 and 7.1 surround for gaming, film, live sports and TV productions. Core SWX provides more battery power Core SWX’s Hypercore 9 Mini (HC9 Mini) battery is now shipping worldwide. A 98Wh (14.8V) battery with a 12A load, the HC9 Mini measures at 3.54” x 4.65” x 1.9” (.09m x .12m x .05m) and weighs 1.9 lbs (861.8g). Described by Core SWX as the “perfect solution” for lighter and more mobile camera set-ups, the HC9 Mini is equipped with a LED backlit runtime LCD on the front of the battery pack. This identifies how much battery time is left when in use, and the remaining charge time while connected to a charger. Next Month @ Creation Power, Lighting and Camera Support Systems PANELLISTS April 2012 October 2017 Bringing images to life with a palette of colours In the world of video, colour is more than just human visual perception. Using colour, colourists in post production are able to highlight subjects and enhance emotions, thereby conveying a more engaging story. Josephine Tan writes more. I n Van William’s music video Revolution, which features Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit, the songwriter-performer tells the story of a relationship full of conflict and its eventual demise. With a focus on composing moving portraits of the artists that express the meaning behind the lyrics of the song as they go through an emotional journey individually and collectively, director Grant James delivered a variety of “raw and striking imagery that balances the fine line between cinematography while keeping the subjects grounded in their own natural aesthetic and realism”. Produced by Los Angeles-based media company Milkt Films, the music video is presented in black and white to emphasise the photography and story as much as possible. For this project, director of photography (DoP) Vance Burberry used Blackmagic Design’s URSA Mini Pro digital film camera, and Video Assist 4K monitor/recorder to film the music video. “We wanted the look to evolve as the story progressed, so it was essential to have strong photographic images to work with, which is why I chose the URSA Mini Pro,” says Burberry. “The camera’s 15 stops of dynamic range re- ally shone in greyscale, providing a wide gamma of dynamic range in deep shad- ows and blacks through to over-exposed edges, which roll off very film-like with the URSA Mini Pro.” In post, Burberry graded the music video using DaVinci Resolve Studio, and the DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel to enhance the theme. He explains: “The video starts out with a clean look, and as the story is told, the artists’ hair gets messier, and they’re screaming and cry- ing. By the end, they look terrible in a beautiful way. “I started off less contrasty and open in the mid-tones, and as the song intensified, I decreased the mid-tone detail just to soften everything up. I then increased contrast, and darkened up the mid-tone details, as well as pushed the highlights hard. Increased mid-tone detail also brought out the texture of the skin thanks to the detail captured with Dr Ahmad Zaki Mohd Salleh Group GM, Engineering Media Prima Phan Tien Dung CTO Vietnam Digital Television Bernard Anthony CEO Cambodian Broadcasting Services Presented in black-and-white, the Revolution music video by Van William tells the story of a relationship full of conflict and its eventual demise. To enhance the theme of the music video, DoP Vance Burberry used Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Studio and the DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel for colour grading. the URSA Mini Pro.” When grading black and white us- ing DaVinci Resolve Studio, Burberry points out to APB two different ap- proaches he would take: “First, if I want a straight black and white look with no colour added, I will just go into the RGB mixer and switch to monochrome. Then, I deal primarily with lift, gamma and gain. But I also will work in curves as subtle adjustments to grayscale can be made there. “The other approach, which I do a lot, is pull back saturation to zero, so I