Where's it going? | Episode 0004

The target resolution of your project often relates to how done your roto and paint should be. The graph below shows three major types of screens where your work could possibly end up. The quality culture of the house you work for often relates to these resolutions. Quality culture is basically how concerned about quality is your VFX house.

Target Resolutions and the Quality Culture of your house affects when you are done.

Web / Mobile : Minimal-to-No Review

There's the Web movie which is played on the computer or mobile device. Examples of this are Youtube and Vimeo. Lots of people own video cameras and post videos without much concern about the size of their camera's resolution. You might be working for a small shop that also does this. In these cases, whatever version of roto and paint first completes the task is good enough. There is often no review process unless the Compositor finds something horribly wrong that they (can't or don't want to) fix. Your shot is approved soon after the green stage.

HDTV : Moderate Review

Many shops you may work for will be commercials. The work they produce will be played on HDTV's and so higher quality is required. You may see that there is a Roto / Paint Lead or Comp Supe at these shops who will review your work. While they may provide some notes, those notes may not be too severe. Your shot is approved somewhere in the yellow stage.

Feature Film : Review til Final

The resolution of film is usually a minimum of 2k. At this level, the audience (which includes many layers of Leads and Supes at both the VFX and Movie Studios) can see every pixel. And with films being watched multiple times, everyone is paying a lot more attention to the details. It's almost like a team of painters evaluating every stroke. So the looser mindset and technique that might have got your work approved in the other two resolutions may not get it done at this level. 
   Many artists never get to practice or refuse to take their work to this level. This is unfortunate because if you can produce at this level, you can easily dial it down. But artists without this mindset and habit have a much harder time dialing the quality up. And often, some of those artist may never deliver final quality.

Exceptions and the Goals of This Blog

As you can see, resolution and the expectations of quality are related. You may find exceptions. Not all feature film houses expect the highest levels of quality and not all small shops approve the first pass. Regardless, you should try to recognize which of these 3 levels of quality is expected by your studio.
    This blog is about producing work at the highest level. The information here is meant to help your work pass the strictest leads and supes in as few versions as possible. It is not meant for the "just get it done" crowd. But if you are interested in Final quality roto and paint, this info is for you.