GMA-7 is eager for color grading Pinoy TV

A lot of times when we watch our local TV shows, something is lacking...and it's actually 'color-grading'. GMA in this article seems to want to fix that, I hope it's true because this will take our TV experience to the next level.-Ela-

Color grading Pinoy TV
Engine Room, Optima Digital and Opticolors teamed up and presented a catalogue of services to prospective clients, composed of TV and movie people, at the Shangri-La Edsa on July 31.

Foremost of these services is color-grading, which can enhance the look of local TV programs.

Optima prepared an audio-visual presentation; senior colorist Marilen Magsaysay and chief technical officer Marc Ambat were among the speakers.

Tony Gloria, head of the three companies, pointed out

that color grading would be especially beneficial for clients eyeing the foreign market.

To illustrate, he said a love story should look different from an action-adventure, or from a supernatural thriller.

Color grading enhances storytelling, said Gloria, by eliciting the desired reaction from the audience. “It supports the story, genre, as well as the intention of the director and writer,” he said.

Ambat told Inquirer Entertainment, “Color connotes mood, place or situation. Where love stories can be dreamy and warm, thrillers are usually dark and gritty.”

This is why there should be a “detailed discussion between our team and the client … to find out if our interpretation of the creative intent is spot on,” Ambat added.

Although some TV commercials were shot on digital video, he said, they still looked “sleek and film-like” largely because of color grading.

In the US, he explained, most TV shows are color graded to create a “unique look” for each program.

Fastest tools

To date, Optima is the only post-production house in the country that uses Da Vinci 2K Plus and the Spirit DataCine, considered “the fastest and most powerful color grading tools.”

According to Ambat, this was the same hardware-software configuration used to color grade US TV programs like “CSI,” “24,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Sex and the City” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

These were also the same tools used in color grading Hollywood films like “Gladiator,” “Black Hawk Down,” “The Departed” and “Dreamgirls.”

Magsaysay showed several examples of how color grading can “polish” the look of a local TV show.

A scene from GMA 7’s fantaserye “Encantadia” was color graded—the costume and jewelry of lead actress Iza Calzado were made more vivid; her skin tone was also made more flawless. “Like porcelain,” Magsaysay pointed out.

The same “Encantadia” scene was turned into black-and-white, with only Calzado’s lips in bright red. “That was the look achieved in [the comic-book film] ‘Sin City,’” Magsaysay explained.

A scene from the Kapuso action-adventure series “Lupin,” originally set at noontime, was turned into mid-afternoon, dusk and nighttime.

Participants

Among those who attended the presentation were representatives from GMA 7 and ABS-CBN 2, Regal and GMA Films, as well as independent filmmakers.

Carol Reyes, an executive producer for GMA 7, was among those who asked questions during the open forum.

She later told Inquirer Entertainment in a phone interview, “Color grading can take the quality of local shows to a higher level.”

She mentioned that the network had previously tried color grading on the adventure series “Asian Treasures.”

“But we used an in-house team,” she recalled. “We want to look at the latest software available.”

Joey Abacan, GMA 7 vice president for program management and project director for GMA Films, related that the network had tapped Optima for the “Kapuso ng Bawa’t Pilipino” TV ad; and Opticolors for printing the same station ID that was attached to the theatrical trailer of the hit movie “Ouija.”

He stressed that tapping new technologies was “in line with the network’s objective to continually improve its movies and programs.”
Bayani San Diego Jr.
Inquirer