Sr. Colorist, Marvel Studios: All Streaming Productions Monitored In HDR & SDR On Set

postPerspective’s Randi Altman interviewed Marvel Studios’ Senior Finishing Colorist Matt Watson during a virtual roundtable.

Randi Altman: Do you often create LUTs for a project? How does that help?

Matt Watson: Yes, we create show LUTs for every project. To be specific, we design our looks within the ACES framework as LMTs, which represent the visual characteristics that the filmmakers want — contrast, tonality, gamut mapping, etc. — while CDLs are used and tracked throughout the project for per-shot color choices. We then use and modify that same ACES framework to manage our HDR and SDR transforms. All of Marvel’s streaming productions have had both HDR and SDR monitoring on-set. We send out multiple HDR LUTs that restrict or allow more information so that cinematographers can make informed HDR lighting decisions on-set. We also see large volumes of VFX in our shows, so our LUTs ensure a predictability to the image rendering so that VFX artists are not fighting a heavy or destructive color swing in the LUT.