{"id":12128,"date":"2018-08-15T20:41:52","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T19:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firedbydesign.com\/?page_id=12128"},"modified":"2018-09-27T12:51:18","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T11:51:18","slug":"grading-the-handmaiden-scene-by-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firedbydesign.com\/?p=12128","title":{"rendered":"Grading The Handmaiden, scene by scene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Grading The Handmaiden<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Handmaiden<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is a poisonous and feminist tale from director Park Chan-wook<\/a>, inspired by Sarah Waters\u2019s 2002 novel, Fingersmith<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0With the setting transposed to 1930s colonial Korea and Japan, it is a gripping and sensual story of a young Japanese lady living on a secluded estate, and a Korean woman who is hired to serve as her new handmaiden, but who is secretly involved in a con-man’s plot to defraud her of her large inheritance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The film, which is the first Korean movie ever to win a BAFTA award for best foreign language film, was graded on Baselight<\/a> by Park Jin-Ho, senior colourist at Cinemate in South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Library<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The colour grade was completed in two weeks. One of the key challenges for the colourist was to express the wet and humid weather after the rain. \u201cIt was difficult to recreate the sense of a wet and muggy scene on the screen,\u201d he explains. \u201cI found it really useful to mix several grades in one stack. It meant I could catch a thought and grade immediately before the idea disappeared, then blend it into the overall grade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Soul<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Park Jin-Ho has worked on several movie projects with director Park Chan-wook since his time as a junior colourist and he also has plenty of experience working alongside Park Chan-wook\u2019s partner, renowned cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon<\/a>. This close relationship meant that when The Handmaiden project started, he was able to join in discussions at the pre-production stage, which gave him time to test and adjust the camera and lens characteristics that had been chosen by the DOP in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To create the feeling of Joseon during the Japanese occupation of the 1930s, Chung Chung-hoon shot on the Arri Alexa<\/a>, with 1970\u2019s anamorphic Hawk lenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the following descriptive Scene by Scene analysis, Park Jin-Ho guides us through some of his work on various scenes in the movie, accompanied by a selection of before and after visuals (use sliders and magnifiers to view<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scene \u2013 In front of the rain at BoYoungDang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first scene is a very cloudy day. In CG, storm clouds were added in the sky. Then, in the DI, I removed the warm tone of the original footage to better express the cloudy day. To make the tone of the characters colder, I removed the yellow colour and added blue that is close to white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CG composite with storm clouds
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Scene \u2013 Wide view of Kouzuki’s countryside palace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At the start of Part One, we see a wide view of Kouzuki\u2019s countryside palace. CG was used to add a little bit of cloud, and I added a little sunset mode to create the two different tones in the sky.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MASK
Mask for wide view of Kouzuki’s countryside palace<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"CG
CG composite of\u00a0wide view of Kouzuki’s countryside palace<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Scene \u2013 An annex road\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main lens used is the Hawk Vintage 74 Anamorphic. The combination of camera and lens clearly differentiated\u00a0The Handmaiden<\/em>from other movies in terms of texture. I thought it might be just one specific look, but it was a good combination and the best reflection of the texture of film in the digital age as I have ever seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also impressive to create images while zooming in and out deeply with the anamorphic camera showing the depth of field and image texture. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Before <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One disadvantage of this lens, however, is that in a wide zoom shot the focus is distorted on the edges and in the corners. In the mask area shown below, blurring is strongly applied everywhere except for the centre of the frame, and the focus is soft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mask
Mask \u2013 Out of focus area
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Improved sharpness\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I tried to give the images sharpness by using the fast tracking and keyframe together around eye of an actor. However, in such a wide view shot, it just wasn\u2019t possible to focus on the upper part of the heroine, even when raising the sharpness value of the whole image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Left
Left and right 10% cropped image<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Despite these disadvantages though, the filmic texture is fascinating.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Scene \u2013 Annex\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This scene was in an annex within Kouzuki’s library.\u00a0The characteristic of this library is that it is located in the shade and rarely experiences sunlight. Therefore in this shot, I decreased saturation as well as the brightness of the light part of the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Library
Library scene – mask<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Annex
Annex Library After Mask<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Skin tone of leading actors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The skin tones of the actors were rather pale. Typically, I graded the face of Lady Hideko to be expressed in pure whiteness throughout the movie, because she was trapped in the palace. <\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On the contrary, I raised the skin tone of the maid Sook-hee a little, because she lived more freely than Hideko.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Count\u2019s skin tone was desaturated because the actor\u2019s original skin tone is strong already.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Scene \u2013 Weather change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In this scene, Hideko and Sook-hee are talking about their mothers. In the middle of their stories, the sun was covered by dark cloud. <\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Before and after the dark clouds cover the sun, I showed the weather change on the two heroines through brightness and colour tone.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Scene \u2013 Palace\u2019s back garden<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where the Count is angry with Sook-hee. <\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I reduced the brightness of the tree-lined garden to concentrate on the two characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scene \u2013 Hideko and Sook-hee run away<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here Hideko and Sook-hee run away from the palace for freedom. These cuts, arranged in Part 1 and Part 2, have a temporal change from the moment they run away over the wall to the moment they run across a wide field. <\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hideko and Sook-hee keep running toward freedom from the dark night to the coming of the dawn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grade involved adding the feeling of the sunshine by separating the key of the characters and the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mask
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Primary<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Scene \u2013 Soul asylum (<\/strong>psychiatric hospital)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Before\"After<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The soul asylum scene needed a lot of hard work from the CG team as the director wanted to change the red brick wall into an achromatic wall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Soul
Soul asylum – before<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When I graded it on the big screen, I worked with mattes from CG as it was difficult to make a key to separate the wall and the actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Soul
Soul asylum – mask<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Soul
Soul asylum – after<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Scene \u2013 Library basement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Library\"Library<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

My work on the scene of the library basement involved showing when the Count did and did not smoke while in conversation with Kouzuki.<\/p>\n\n\n