Blackmagic Design announced that DaVinci Resolve Studio was used in the remake of the hit TV drama series “Cold Case.” The new series, edited by IMAGICA Colorist/Technical Director Tetsuji Yamashita, was delivered in HDR and SDR.
The Cold Case remake with Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio was created for WOWOW, a private satellite television station in Japan. WOWOW currently broadcasts its entire programming in SDR, but decided to also create an HDR version, both for its own broadcasts and to sell the series in overseas markets.
“Despite the controversy surrounding the use of HDR, we decided to shoot the series in HDR because we wanted to give it a unique look that couldn’t be achieved in SDR. With DaVinci Resolve Studio I was able to manage the differences in tones and colors to get a more natural result while eliminating the potentially harsh, realistic and graphic image,” said Yamashita.
WOWOW and the creators of the series decided before the initial shoot the style they wanted to achieve. “In the case of Cold Case we had to deliver both versions, SDR and HDR. By deciding before Post Production we were able to use Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Studio to smooth out the grading of the material, facilitate offline editing and the close collaboration of the Director of Photography with the Director.”
Imagica also used DaVinci Resolve on a number of different projects as they also handled some of the production work for the series' filming.
Masahiro Saito, Data Manager at Imagica said, “We need to export our footage in various formats for different occasions, such as H.264 for cloud upload, DNxHD and ProRes for offline editing. DaVinci Resolve is very efficient as it supports almost all the codecs we need and allows us to export multiple clips in one shot. We also use Resolve when we pull footage for VFX editing.”
Yamashita adds, “Many crew members, such as cameramen and assistants, can now use Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve. Everyone can see the changes or edits I’ve made, so we can do the right color management with minimal effort.”
Throughout the series, each episode features a flashback scene. The “flashback” scenes take place in different eras, so each scene had to have a unique feel to it to fit its timeline. “We shot all the flashback scenes in 16mm to represent the time period in which the scene was set. If a scene was about the era when camcorders were first introduced, we used a camcorder with a DV codec and shot in 60i. For the 1970s scenes, I was asked to give a more aged feel. I used DaVinci Resolve to shift the shadow balance towards red and create a contrast that gave the image a strong and somewhat cutesy feel,” Yamashita concluded.
Blackmagic Design was founded by leading post production professionals and engineers and has offices in the US, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia.
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