FotoKem Takes on ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ with DaVinci Resolve

To both keep the distinctive look of the classic films, and maintain the appropriate dark, foreboding atmosphere of a horror film, Alastor used colour correction tools in DaVinci Resolve including Power Windows, 3D tracking and noise reduction. “Sam was going for a very filmic, warm and saturated look,” he said. “The series was shot digitally on the ARRI Alexa, primarily in the RAW format, but because and all of the ‘Evil Dead’ films were shot on and distributed on film, and he and Bob are great film fans, they wanted to stay true to that feeling.”

“Sam likes to apply windows and shapes in intentionally dark scenes, with an emphasis on brightening the actors’ eyes and faces. Resolve’s Power Windows and associated tracker are useful for meeting those demands.”

“Apart from the creative grade the project followed a workflow centred on Resolve from the DI to preparing and receiving VFX shots. It was more like working on a mini-movie instead of a TV series. Resolve handles RAW workflows very well, requiring no transcoding or supplementary steps prior to colour correction.

“On a show like this one, which makes heavy use of VFX, in Resolve we can also manage and manipulate the numerous hold-out matte channels for compositing. Actually, this ability was an important reason for choosing it as the grading platform for the pilot,” said Alastor. “To allow more control in the DI for the Force effect, as mentioned, all of the VFX shots were provided with EXRs with multiple matte channels, which meant we could keep very fine control over how and what to grade in the frame. DaVinci Resolve supports editing and grading of EXR files in real time.”

Artists can export EXR or DPX image sequences for visual effects work. As work in progress sequences are returned, a folder for VFX can be created that automatically links to the Resolve timeline, making sure that an up to date conform is in place with the most recent VFX plates. Also, the external mattes can be used to key out a background using an alpha output.

Extending to other parts of the pilot’s post workflow, Alastor used DaVinci Resolve’s multiple-layer timeline for online editing for the show. The software includes titles tools and supports various 3rd party plug-in effects, such as Boris FX. A keyframe editor is integrated into the timeline so that keyframe positions are visible directly under each clip and can be used to animate real time effects. Alternatively, if graphics are rendered with an alpha channel they can be dropped into the appropriate video layer and placed on the Resolve timeline.