19 Mar
GUEST POST: Bruce Goodman, Colorist for Mile… Mile & A Half.
In August of 2012 a friend of mine sent me a link to Trailer #2 for “Mile…Mile & A Half”. This seemed like so much more than a travelogue or a nature documentary to me. It was a personal record of the experiences that a group of friends shared one summer in one of the most beautiful places on this Earth. They made life long friends with some very interesting people along the way. Some of whom even joined the group and finished the journey with them. Having hiked several portions of the JMT myself, I knew firsthand how challenging this endeavor was. I was especially inspired by extra effort that it took to haul all of that extra gear and take the time to document their experience in such a professional way following a winter with particularly high snowfall.
The Sierra Nevada mountain range in all of its beauty holds a special place in my heart. I’ve experienced many magic moments on the trail so I kind of felt a bond with the people who I saw in the trailer although we’d never met.
With my interest piqued, I delved deeper, discovered Trailer #1 and then learned that the film makers had a Kickstarter campaign in progress. I made a small donation and reached out to Ric to ask him if he and his team had selected a colorist to do the final color grade on the film. Being a colorist and a lover of the Sierra Nevada, I told him that I would consider it an honor to be a part of this film and that my experiences on the trail could be put in to play in order to serve the imagery in the best possible way. As an added bonus, the studio where I would do the work was so close to his home that Ric could bike over to supervise the sessions and just hang out.
We set a time to meet at HotPixel Post along with Jason Fitzpatrick and Durand Trench where we viewed the trailers and I showed them what I could do to add the right touch to their already beautiful footage. The chemistry was there and the rest is history.
Even before the color grading began, I knew that this would be a labor of love. The challenges that I faced were many. The footage was shot with a half dozen different cameras (Canon and Nikon DSLRs, GoPro, Canon Vixia camcorder, a point and shoot still camera in movie mode and an iPhone). Each camera and lens combination required extra care in matching the tonality of the images. When the film makers reached an area of particular beauty, shots were set up and pictures were recorded. Since they had to balance the needs of maintaining a schedule and “making their miles” as well has capturing their story, some of the vistas were not shot under ideal lighting conditions. Using Da Vinci Resolve, I had the ability to create multiple power windows to isolate specific areas of the frame which I used to re-light the vistas making them more appealing. When there was camera movement or people moving within the frame I could track these shapes to keep these enhancements from being a distraction to the viewer.
Working with Ric, Jen, Jason, Durand, Zee, Bernie, Paul, Kia and Ethan on “Mile, Mile & A Half” is one of the reasons that I love being a colorist. I think they should meet again over beers and brats and make another film next year. This time I might join them on the trail instead of just in the studio.
-B.G.