Every December, we look back at the year that was to figure out which stories generated the most views among StudioDaily’s readers. It always opens an interesting window on what creative professionals were thinking about, and what they were most curious about, all year long. Here are the stories that drew the most traffic and drove the most discussion this year. Enjoy this look back at 2017.
Anya Taylor-Joy (left) and Kate Mara in Morgan
Photo: 20th Century Fox
#10: Artificial Intelligence Comes to Hollywood: Is Your Job Safe? Longtime StudioDaily contributor Debra Kaufman looked at the perception and reality around AI techniques in Hollywood, highlighting the fact that creative ingenuity will not easily be replaced by machine learning — and identifying some other job positions that may be in jeopardy.
R.I.P. Adobe SpeedGrade
#9: Adobe SpeedGrade CC Is Dead; Long Live Lumetri Color. It was a step forward or a step back, depending on how you feel about color-grading power tools vs. ease of use. Instead of continuing to develop the venerable SpeedGrade as a standalone application, Adobe had been working to integrate SpeedGrade’s color science inside Premiere Pro. The move wasn’t unexpected, but it grabbed a lot of attention when Adobe made it official this summer.
Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin in GLOW
Photo: Erica Parise/Netflix
#8: Light Iron Colorist Ian Vertovec on GLOW and Getting a Mid-80s Film Look in HDR. Those in the know have been insisting for years that HDR is the Next Big Thing in display technology — more important even than the leap from 1080p to UHD resolution — and Netflix shows like GLOW make a compelling case in their favor. But HDR approaches can vary widely, and some creatives remain leery of the technology’s effect on their carefully crafted images. Light Iron Supervising Colorist Ian Vertovec stirred discussion by going on the record about applying HDR to enhance GLOW‘s very particular, retro look without going over the top.
DaVinci Resolve 14’s Fairlight page
#7: DaVinci Resolve 14 Is Now an Audio Console, as Blackmagic Adds Fairlight Technology. At NAB, Blackmagic Design proved that it’s still an aggressive industry disruptor by taking care of one more thing Da Vinci Resolve did not previously do — this year, Resolve became an audio console as Blackmagic released a new version that incorporates Fairlight audio technology. It was the single biggest piece of news we reported from the show.
The cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
© Marvel Studios 2017
#6: How They Did It: Marvel Studios’ ACES Workflow for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Everyone who’s been wondering about the impact of AMPAS’ ACES on a major feature film was poring over this piece contributed by industry veteran Sarah Priestnall. She detailed some of the ways the production team on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, using cutting-edge color science from Red Digital Cinema from pre-production all the way through VFX and the DI, got the most out of ACES workflow.
