Paramount graded 'Rocketman' with DaVinci Resolve Studio

With George Richmond (BSC) as director of photography, the work dynamic of Rocketman on set was developed and managed by Joshua Callis-Smith of Onset Tech.

DaVinci Resolve Studio of Blackmagic Design was used to grade the biographical drama of Paramount about the first achievements of Elton John, produced by Marv Films y Rocket Pictures, under the direction of Dexter Fletcher.

Con George Richmond (BSC) as director of photography, the work dynamics of Rocketman on the recording set was developed and managed by Joshua Callis-Smith, of Onset Tech. For its part, Goldcrest Post He was responsible for the digital intermediate and the final version. The colorist Rob Pizzey was in charge of the final chromatic adjustments, in order to deliver the film in format Dolby Vision HDR for homes and movie theaters, as well as in Rec. 709 SDR, while Daniel Tomlinson completed mastering.

Pizzey and Richmond began pre-production by defining the main conversion table (LUT) and testing different lenses and exposure levels with the elements designed for the film. “Next, three versions of the LUT were generated by varying the exposure, with the purpose of defining the basic look of the feature, and I helped create a subtle color arc for the copies, to highlight the changing narrative,” revealed Callis- Smith.

On the other hand, he adds that “the laboratory where the copies were processed used a Blackmagic eGPU unit for the first time, which allowed achieving greater speed when using an iMac 5K device through the Thunderbolt 3 connection, even when encoding in H format. 264”.

Chromatic Bible

Once production was completed, Richmond and Pizzey selected 350 stills from the film, with the intention of creating a color bible for final adjustments. They then spent two days choosing different looks for each scene, before a two-week unattended grading process, during which Rob tailored the look to the previously defined aesthetic, making subtle additional cuts and adding VFX sequences as needed. .

“We wanted to reflect the narrative with a slightly muted, desaturated palette for the scenes of Reggie as a child,” notes Rob. “Later, as the plot progresses and Elton's world spirals out of control, the color becomes more intense, and we use vintage lenses to achieve a vibrant look with exaggerated highlights.”

“My goal was to maintain the soft look we achieved with the older lenses, making sure I didn't go overboard at the bottom end of the curve,” says Rob. “In one scene, we wanted everything to look dull except for Elton and Reggie. However, there was a lot of color in the respective copies. The houses were made of red brick, green prevailed in the gardens, and the dancers had colorful costumes. In order to achieve the desired look, we asked the visual effects team to create masks to help us ensure that the colors did not bleed over to the other characters that were part of the dance routine.”

Other articles on Blackmagic