Been trying to figure out why I'm so obsessed with this story. I think it's because it symbolizes how this administration disregards expertise, whether that's scientists, historians, engineers, public health officials, electricians, plumbers, everybody. It's all about the grift.
Clipping is, of course, generally bad. Notice how not only are the eyes blown out, but the glow around the eyes and pupil details look worse.
This is why leveling can be a dangerous procedure when done hastily or without consideration of the source material.
You can measure the levels of video objectively to ensure your results are consistent. The brightness of a section of video can range from 0% (totally dark) to 100% (completely bright). In the early example, Roshi's beard goes from 70% to about 88%.
This is also why we try not to compare single frames of different releases when evaluating their merits. It's easy to trick people by showing one or two nice frames while neglecting to show the more problematic parts of a release.
If we adjusted our newly released CC (left) to this new example brightness, it would look more like what's on the right. This image may look nice an eye catching, but there's a problem...
But how do you know how much leveling you should do? It isn't always obvious. Let's say for example we wanted our levels to match the source material. In these examples, Roshi's beard is around 95% brightness.
We've mentioned "leveling" in our new Dragon Ball color correction. But what does it mean to "level" video? How can this process improve video, and how can it go horribly wrong if you don't know better? 🧵
It's better to have a consistent looking release instead of one that produces a few good screenshots for social media but results in a poor or inconsistent viewing experience.
This thread was re-done with pictures.
"Leveling" refers to adjusting the levels, or brightness, of video. In the Dragon Box source, the video is often (but not always) darker than the original source material. Therefore, our newly leveled video will look brighter and better than it did before.
A few seconds later, this shot has a bright glowing effect. In the our release version (left), the glow is around 99% brightness, nearly the maximum possible. But on the right it's now clipped, which is what happens when you try and exceed the video limit.
After spending $14 million in taxpayer funds, Trump's renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are peeling off and floating to the surface
