Dream In Color - Joshua Smith

Dream In Color - Joshua Smith
Category: DVD
Reviewed by: Damon Dietz
Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary:
In this DVD, Joshua Smith, of Cinematic Bride takes you through the steps to creating visually stunning videos through the use of basic and advanced color correction. You have the opportunity to view several of Joshua's latest trailers, allowing you to see his color correction techniques and their implementation in his final videos. Also, there is a short "Creative Motion" section, where Joshua shares his philosphy on wedding video production.

What Worked:
There is no doubt that Joshua is extremely talented especially in the arena of colorization techniques, and this DVD shows nice samples of before and after clips that have been enhanced utilizing these techniques. He shows the viewer on an actual timeline and NLE interface, a step by step approach to adding filters and making adjustments to achieve a certain final look. You watch as he actually adjusts the values for different parts of eah filter. Also, I really liked the presentation of this DVD, as it comes in an upscale hard plastic case, with beautiful artwork combined with a well put together design.

What Didn't Work:
Unfortunately, good videos and a nice design is where it ends. The DVD claims that "if you have reached a level of quality in your videos, but just want to take them to the next level of creativity, Joshua Smith, of Cinematic Bride will share with you how he transforms his videos using amazing color correction techniques." The truth of the matter is that while Joshua does show you exactly what he is doing to each filter to change it, he does not explain the process or the underlying principles of color correction, (or colorization as he refers to it). He takes you through each scene adding filters and making adjustments, but never explains what the effects the adjustments will make on the final scene, why he selected the filter, or explain the final look he was trying to achieve. He heavily utilizes filters that include RGB color correction, levels, curves, output, and gamma, but never explains what these functions are actually doing and more importantly why he is choosing to make adjustments to each setting. It is obvious that Josh knows what he is doing. He adds the filters. He makes the adjustments. The final clips looks fantastic. But in the end, I am left asking myself, "how did he do that?"

The Bottom Line:
If you are in the market for an inspirational DVD, as you probably know by now, Joshua Smith creates some of the most visually stunning videos you will ever see, therefore making this DVD one that you may enjoy. However, this DVD promises to be more than it is, rendering it more as a basic inspirational video more so than a training video as it promotes. This DVD is available for purchase for $100.

Ratings:
Content: 2 out of 5
Presentation/Production Value: 3.5 out of 5
Worth the Price: 1.5 out of 5
Overall: 2 out of 5