A Guide to Aces
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A GUIDE TO ACES UNDERSTANDING AND INTEGRATING THE ACADEMY COLOR ENCODING SYSTEM ACES PRIMER 1 ©2018 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.) All rights reserved. This document is provided to individuals and organizations for their own internal use, and may be copied or reproduced in its entirety for such use. This document may not be published, distributed, publicly displayed, or transmitted, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of the Academy. The accuracy, completeness, adequacy, availability or currency of this document is not warranted or guaranteed. Use of information in this document is at your own risk. The Academy expressly disclaims all warranties, including the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. These notices must be retained in any copies of any part of this document. “Oscars,” “Academy Awards,” and the Oscar statuette are registered trademarks, and the Oscar statuette a copyrighted property, of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Legend of Tarzan and Tarzan of the Apes courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. The Lego Movie courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Photo of Sekonic meter courtesy of Sekonic Corporation. SMPTE® is a registered trademark of The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers®. 070918-1 2 WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF ACES The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) is an industry standard for managing color throughout the life cycle of theatrical motion picture, television, video game, and immersive storytelling projects. From image capture through editing, VFX, mastering, public presentation, archiving and future remastering, ACES ensures a consistent color experience that preserves the creator’s vision. The goal of this Primer is to provide a foundation for using ACES. It outlines the history of ACES, including why it was developed, as well as its current and future value in production and postproduction workflows. The resources listed below will provide additional information. Primer Glossary – Throughout this guide, ACES terms that may be unfamiliar to some readers have been italicized. They also appear with a brief definition in the end glossary. Contact Information – Have follow-up questions? Want to adopt an ACES workflow? Find ACES resources at the end of this Primer. Getting Started with ACES – www.ACESCentral.com is the place to expand your ACES knowledge and join the community forum. It is the most comprehensive and up-to-date website for all things ACES. Active ACES users, equipment manufacturers, and Academy staff are available to answer questions and share their experiences. Registration is free. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: What’s Next: Swinging through the Jungle? ..................................................... 6 The Digital Jungle .............................................................................................. 7 Introducing ACES 1.0 ....................................................................................... 8 Producing with ACES ........................................................................................ 9 Coming to a Theater Near You ........................................................................ 10 Chapter Two: Delivering the Master: The Big Payoff ............................................................... 11 Downstream Color Spaces .............................................................................. 11 Mastering for the Display ................................................................................. 12 ACES ~ All the Eye Can See ............................................................................ 13 Mastering in ACES ........................................................................................... 14 Delivering and Archiving with ACES ............................................................... 16 Chapter Three: Distributing: To Screens Large and Small .......................................................... 18 The Language of Transforming ......................................................................... 18 Transforming an ACES Master ......................................................................... 19 Types of Output Transforms .............................................................................. 19 Future Distribution ............................................................................................. 21 A Deeper Look into Transformers..................................................................... 21 Chapter Four: Monitoring: Is What You See ~ What You Get? ............................................... 22 Monitoring On Set ............................................................................................ 22 Bringing Back the Light Meter .......................................................................... 23 Referencing the Real Scene ............................................................................. 24 Perfect-Vision Monitoring ................................................................................. 25 Chapter Five: The Shoot: Lights, Camera, Action..................................................................... 26 What the Camera Sees, ACES captures ......................................................... 26 Moving Image Data to ACES .......................................................................... 27 Viewing Camera Images .................................................................................. 28 4 Using ACESproxy ............................................................................................. 29 Creating Color Looks On Set ........................................................................... 29 Screening Dailies in the ACES World ............................................................. 30 Future-Proofing the Shoot ................................................................................. 30 Carrying the Message Using ACESclip .......................................................... 31 Chapter Six: VFX Marks the Spot: Navigating the Complexities of Visual Effects .............. 32 Creating and Exchanging Imagery ................................................................. 32 ACES in the Boutique ........................................................................................ 33 ACES in the Big House ..................................................................................... 33 ACES in Animation ........................................................................................... 34 Adapting Workflows ........................................................................................ 34 Reflections on a Virtual World ......................................................................... 35 Chapter Seven: Editing the Story: Sitting Around the Campfire ................................................. 36 Proxy Workflows ............................................................................................... 36 ACES-Based Editorial Workflows ................................................................... 37 Finishing in the Edit Suite .................................................................................. 38 Chapter Eight: Digital Intermediate: Looking Good .................................................................. 39 Saving Time in Pre-Grade and Versioning ..................................................... 39 The “Feel” of ACES in DI .................................................................................. 40 Appyling Look Transforms ................................................................................ 41 Chapter Nine: Shifting the Paradigm: From Start to Finish ........................................................ 42 Transforming the Jungle .................................................................................... 42 It’s a Wrap ......................................................................................................... 44 Getting Started with ACES ................................................................................. 45 Primer Glossary................................................................................................... 46 Acknowledgments .............................................................................................. 50 5 CHAPTER ONE WHAT’S NEXT SWINGING THROUGH THE JUNGLE? In 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs published a story in a pulp magazine about a character named Tarzan. By 1918, Tarzan had found his way onto the silver screen in a silent film based on Burroughs’s novel “Tarzan of the Apes.” Since then, Tarzan (often with Jane or Cheetah by his side) has been swinging through the jungle and onto a variety of screens, keeping pace with the latest technology. He’s gone from the silver screen to CinemaScope, from black-and-white broadcast television to High Definition, from animation to 3D and Premium Large Format, even to video games and direct- to-video films. Leveraging the Tarzan story in different media was Burroughs’s own idea, and he continued to feed his writing into his Tarzan machine well into the 1940s. Burroughs proved that a good story can, to quote another successful film franchise’s character, “live long and prosper” in the entertainment industry. Fast-forward almost 100 years to 2016. Tarzan hasn’t lost his touch. The Legend of Tarzan, complete with digital surround sound and astonishing visual effects, was released by Warner Bros. in 2D, 3D and Premium