Archer Roelants as temporary stand-in for lighting setup. Photo credit: Michael Paletta

As part of the 2023 Professional Development program the NZCS ran a long-awaited Masterclass on LUT (Look Up Table) Building for Cinematographers in collaboration with The Rebel Fleet and Metro Camera Rentals at their Auckland base.  

Dave Cameron, NZCS ACS tutored from the cinematographer’s perspective, and Pete Harrow, technical director at Rebel Fleet gave an extensive presentation from the colourist’s point of view and a practical demonstration of the DIT/Colourist role in setting up for a shoot and designing specific LUTS for a project.

The course was limited to 10 participants, so everyone got a good chance to access monitors and be interactive with the process. There was a good mix of experienced cinematographers, DIT technicians and post production representatives. More than 20 people applied for places on the course, so its planned to hold another Masterclass in the next few months for those who missed out first time around.

Dave Cameron NZCS ACS demos his process to the assembled group. Photo credit Michael Paletta

The day began with a powerpoint and technical overview of the whole LUT process by Pete Harrow. Dave Cameron then talked of his approach to pre-production and camera testing and showed clips of some of his previous set-ups and explained the why and the how of LUT creation for a specific show.

Dave Cameron NZCS, ACS with Pete Whittaker, Murray Milne NZCS and Peter McCaffrey.
Photo Credit: Michael Paletta

The afternoon was a move downstairs to Metro Films to a pre-lit set with stand-in, where test footage was shot on an Arri Alexa 35 with a comprehensive collection of textures and light sources to emulate a real environment.  Side by side monitors displayed LogC, Rec 709 and applied LUT versions and various options were explored to arrive at a final product, including Day and Night Interior scenes.

Footage was then taken in the system to demonstrate how the LUT integrates into the post workflow and can be used to link to the final grading session.

Pete Harrow (left) and Dave Cameron NZCS ACS (centre) demonstrate to course attendees.
Photo Credit: Bayley Broome-Peake.

Special thanks to Michael Paletta for the lion’s share of organising the workshop, Ryan and Andy Roelants from Metro for their generosity in supplying camera gear and premises, Mike Urban from The Rebel Fleet for his support of this venture and Tony Blackwood for supplying a truck of lighting equipment. 

~ Donny Duncan NZCS | Professional Development Manager