Tetsuji Yamashita (Imagica) decides to work on the color of ‘Kubi’, a feature film by the prestigious Japanese director Takeshi Kitano, with the DaVinci Resolve Studio software and the DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel device from Blackmagic Design.
Kubi of Takeshi Kitano It is presented as a “large-scale” historical drama. Based on the well-known incident Honno-ji occurred in the Sengoku period, the film bets on humor in the middle of a panorama of overwhelming violence and an ensemble cast made up of Hidetoshi Nishijima, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, Tadanobu Asano and Nao Omori.
Kitano’s productions often feature a distinctive bluish tone. However, Yamashita did not take the easy route: “Determining the look of this feature film gave me a certain tension that I had not experienced before. I had to consider what my personal interpretation of that key nuance would be. Since the cinematographer of this film was Tsuyoshi Hamada, whom Kitano does not usually call on, I explored completely different approaches.”
Before filming, Yamashita created a conversion table (LUT) provisional in DaVinci Resolve and used it to take test shots, and later carried out a temporary grading in the company’s screening room. Even after filming had begun, copy and graded material was presented during several breaks in filming to retouch the aesthetics.
In order to meet the director’s busy schedule, the adjustments were also made to the editing of the prints of the opening key scenes, such as flashbacks: “Unfortunately, Kitano couldn’t be present at the grading sessions, so we tried to create the look with director of photography, Tsuyoshi Hamada, and lighting director, Hitoshi Takaya. During the weeks when filming stopped, the director would start editing copies of the recorded scenes, so I felt that sharing those files also helped showcase my aesthetic.”
The blue tone prevails in Kubi
Although Yamashita opted to explore original approaches to the color of Kubi given the presence of Hamada as director of photography, finally the blue tone ended up prevailing in the look ending of the film: “Initially, a neutral tone was applied in filming, but in the middle of production, the decision was made to give a bluish tone to the images in general. When filming some of the flashback scenes, the cinematography department decided to reduce the color temperature and add a blue tint to modify the hue. When he saw the result, Kitano suggested applying it to the entire film. Since then, filming was carried out with a color temperature of 4000K.”
Until then, most of the feature film had been filmed with a 5600K valuewith which Yamashita must have reduce color temperature of all the material by applying adjustments to the RAW files in DaVinci Resolve. After confirming it with Kitano, it was determined that this would be the basic aesthetic to determine the appearance, and it was the one used in the final cut: “Modifying the general tone to blue is similar to using a filter of this color during filming. As a result, contrast may deteriorate or colors may appear darker. To convey the goal of the production while maintaining a bluish tone, including the art direction and costumes, I carefully altered the skin tones and details of the outfits.”
The person in charge of color correction Kubi opted for solutions Blackmagic Design to shape his latest project. It is a software that has been with him since the beginning and, to this day, continues to provide solutions to his main challenges: “I have used DaVinci Resolve since I started as a colorist. It’s extremely easy to use and makes for an efficient workflow, even on movies with a lot of cuts, which is wonderful. On this project, I graded using ACES guidelines, and DaVinci Resolve gave me great flexibility. Additionally, Resolve FX settings give colorists the ability to achieve exactly what they want when retouching image texture.”
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