Apple Final Cut Pro 6 - Manual (Page 1344)

Chapter 27 Color Correction 559
III
Step 1: Pick the master shot of a scene to use as the basis for color correction
If you’re color correcting a scene consisting of a single shot, your job is pretty easy. All
you need to do is find the settings that work best for that one shot. Most scenes,
however, cut between a variety of different shots, such as close-ups, medium shots, and
wide shots. In every scene, there is usually a single wide shot that encompasses the
entire scene, called a master shot. Traditionally, the master shot is the first shot that is
taken for a scene, and it is used as the basis for that scene. After the master shot, you’ll
typically use a series of medium shots and close-ups. These other shots are called
coverage, because they’re often used to cover different edits made in the scene.
When you color correct a scene, you begin with the master shot, because that’s usually
the establishing shot of your scene. Using the master shot as the basis, you can then
make the colors of the coverage shots match those of the master.
Step 2: Perform primary color correction
Primary color correction refers to two basic steps that you take using one of the
Final Cut Pro color correction filters. After you apply the Color Corrector or Color
Corrector 3-way filter, you’ll perform two steps:
 Adjust the blacks and whites to maximize the contrast of your clip.
Essentially, you’re mapping the blackest black in your clip to a value of 0 and the
whitest white to a value of 100. By doing this first, you widen the range that an
underexposed image covers, or bring down overly bright (or super-white) areas of
overexposed video into the range considered to be broadcast-safe.
 Use the appropriate color balance controls of the color correction filter to make
adjustments to the balance of reds, greens, and blues in your shot.
As you make these adjustments, you’ll want to view your clip on your broadcast video
monitor as well as check the clip’s luma and chroma levels in the Video Scopes tab to
make more informed modifications.
Step 3: Add additional color correction as necessary
It’s important to remember that you don’t have to do everything with a single
application of a color correction filter. For example, if you can’t get the colors in both
the dimly lit areas and the highlights of your clip right with a single filter, focus only on
the dimly lit area. You can then adjust the highlights with a second application of a
color correction filter.