We gave our first wave of Customized Final Cut Pro training to the staffs at STAR, back when Final Cut Pro was only version 4.5.  STAR had just started to upgrade their editing stations to Final Cut Pro. Since then, even more Final Cut Pro editing stations had moved into Star, becoming an essential part of their daily post production workflow. When STAR pioneered satellite television in Asia in 1991, there were only five television channels. Today STAR broadcasts over 50 services in seven languages and offers a comprehensive choice of entertainment, sports, movies, music, news and documentaries. Reaching more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries across Asia, STAR is watched by approximately 100 million viewers every day. STAR is a wholly owned subsidiary of the News Corporation.



The addition of Color to Apple Final Cut Studio 2 gave the STAR editors accessed to a professional color grading application. Color uses GPU-accelerated processing to produce RGB output in resolutions up to 4:4:4 with 32-bit float processing. Color makes it easy for editors to create signature looks for projects ranging from short video pieces to full-length theatrical films. Their Color training with Fatbars was fully customized to fit their demanding schedule. Along with customized Motion training, the STAR editors are now armed with new knowledge eg. Motion tracking capabilities to handle the tasks of fixing some problematic shots.



One key factor was that their Color suites at STAR will be using JL Cooper’s controller. A manufacturer of a broad range of control surfaces. Working with Creative iCare, set up STAR’s Color suites and Final Cut Pro Stations, we managed to include this controller into their training, showing how Color can be used with JL Cooper’s control surfaces.

   

In the early years of video, color grading was born out of necessity. Filmmakers needed the ability to fix the color of their images. They wanted to improve problematic shots, balance the tones of individual clips in a sequence or correct footage that had been shot with the wrong color filter. The position of colorist evolved to meet this new demand. As technology improved, colorists began to enjoy better tools to make increasingly sophisticated alterations to their film and video images. Precise control over color detail enabled colorists to exercise their imagination and infuse an artistic color style into their projects. As a result, producers began turning to the colorist to develop elaborate "looks" for their videos that would significantly affect the mood of the program. TV shows like the CSI series have used deep color grading to create mood to let the viewers know which CSI world are they in : CSI Las vegas or CSI Miami.



Color grading is much more than just making colors match from shot to shot – it’s also a way of selectively changing the look and feel of a clip. With this newly acquired knowledge, the editors at STAR can now show off their True Color with Color. We wish them good luck! 





Client : 客戶