This tutorial provides a comprehensive, step-by-step workflow for editing skin tones and the entire video production process in DaVinci Resolve.
Color Balancing: Learn to balance footage by adjusting offset, gain, and gamma using parade scopes to achieve natural skin tones.
Skin Tone Correction: Utilize vector scopes and hue vs. hue/saturation curves to fine-tune skin tones, making them more natural and vibrant.
Editing Workflow: Set up proxies, create a timeline, and efficiently cut clips, demonstrating in and out points, and trim modes.
Voiceover & Audio: Configure microphone settings, record high-quality voiceovers, normalize audio levels, and use EQ and compression in Fairlight.
Visual Enhancements: Implement dynamic zooms, generate and customize subtitles, and use viewer guides for precise positioning.
Final Touches: Add logos, integrate music with AI-powered trimming, prepare for color grading by grouping clips and applying CST, sharpening, and film grain, and finalize delivery settings for platforms like YouTube and Instagram.
The DaVinci Resolve interface showing color wheels, scopes, and a video clip
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The tutorial begins by demonstrating how to balance footage for optimal skin tones in DaVinci Resolve.
Resetting Nodes: The first step is to reset any previous color adjustments to start fresh.
Using Parade Scopes: The instructor advises using parade scopes to analyze the red, green, and blue channels in the footage.
The initial footage appears cool and greenish, indicating a need for balancing.
Adjust the offset slider to bring the shadows of all three color channels (red, green, blue) down to the zero marker on the parade graph, ensuring balanced shadows.
Increase the gain to add brightness and contrast to the shot, further enhancing the image.
Visual Impact: After balancing, the skin instantly appears more natural, orangey, and pleasant to the eye.
This section focuses on fine-tuning skin tones using specific tools within DaVinci Resolve.
Creating a Dedicated Node: A new serial node is created and labeled "skin" for isolated skin tone adjustments.
Vector Scope Setup:
Enable the "show skin tone indicator" in the vector scope settings to display a specific line representing ideal skin tones.
Enable "two times zoom" for a magnified view of the vector scope, making it easier to see subtle changes.
Qualifying Skin Tones:
Use the qualifier tool (Shift + H) to isolate the skin area in the image.
Adjust matte finesse settings (blacks, clean whites, blur, morph radius, denoise) to refine the selection, ensuring only the skin is affected.
Observe the vector scope, where the skin tone information should ideally sit close to the skin tone indicator line.
Adjusting Hue vs. Hue Curves:
Navigate to the "Curves" section and select "Hue vs. Hue."
Sample a point on the skin (e.g., jawline) to create three control points on the curve.
Extend the outer control points slightly to broaden the affected hue range.
Drag the middle control point up or down to adjust the hue of the skin tones, aiming to align the vector scope's skin information with the indicator line.
Adjusting Hue vs. Saturation Curves:
Switch to "Hue vs. Saturation" curves.
Sample the same skin area.
Push the middle control point up to add more saturation to the skin, making it appear healthier and more orangey.
The instructor emphasizes trusting your eyes over strict adherence to technical graphs, noting that artistic choice can sometimes override technical perfection.
Primary Color Wheels for Warmth:
For additional warmth, use the "Primary Color Wheels" and slightly push the offset wheel towards orange.
Before and After Comparison: A dramatic difference is shown, with the corrected skin appearing much warmer and more natural compared to the original cool, greenish look.
This section covers the core video editing process, including trimming, arranging, and adding basic effects.
Trimming Clips:
Use waveforms to identify speech and trim clips precisely using in/out points.
Drag clips to the timeline.
The instructor emphasizes preparing a script and structuring the video beforehand to streamline editing.
Match Cutting and Audio Fades:
Match cuts between different shots (e.g., a wide shot of the studio and a close-up of the screen).
Create audio fades by adding keyframes to the volume line, allowing music or sound effects to fade in or out smoothly.
Reviewing and Adjusting: Continuously review the sequence, adjusting clip lengths and transitions for better flow and viewer retention.
Adding Visuals for Demonstrations:
Incorporate screen recordings of DaVinci Resolve's interface to illustrate specific steps like balancing channels, adjusting scopes, and using qualifiers.
The instructor reinforces the importance of using scopes for color correction, stating they guide 90% of the process, but ultimately, the eye makes the final decision.
Detailed instructions for setting up an external microphone for high-quality voiceovers.
Physical Setup: Assemble the microphone stand, magic arm, and pop filter.
Microphone Placement: Position the pop filter a fist's distance from the microphone and the microphone a fist's distance from your mouth for optimal sound quality.
Connecting to Sound Card: Plug the XLR cable from the microphone into a sound card (e.g., Complete Audio 6).
Phantom Power: Enable phantom power on the sound card to provide power to the condenser microphone.
Steps for recording and processing voiceovers in DaVinci Resolve.
Voice Over Tool: Click the voice-over icon in the edit page.
Settings:
Name the file.
Select the correct audio input (your sound card).
Create a mono audio track (A2) for the recording.
Enable "3-second countdown" and "mute timeline audio while recording" in the voice-over settings.
Recording: Record the voiceover, mimicking the original camera audio for timing.
Normalizing Audio: Right-click the recorded audio track, select "Normalize Audio Levels," and set the target level to -5 EBUR128.
Aligning Audio Waves: Manually align the newly recorded voiceover track with the original camera audio's waveform using the playhead and command+B to slice, then trim to match.
Adjusting Volume: Use keyframes on the audio bar to adjust volume levels, ensuring consistent loudness across different segments.
Fairlight Page (Audio Mixing):
In the Fairlight page, adjust individual track levels in the mixer (e.g., voiceover to -5dB, sound effects to -15dB).
Apply a "Dynamics" effect (soft knee compression) to the voiceover track to level out loud and quiet bits.
Use the EQ to cut out low-end rumbling frequencies from the voiceover.
Apply a "Limiter" to the final bus, setting the ceiling to -1.5dB to prevent distortion, and adjust the input gain to reach desired output levels (around -5dB).
Applying Dynamic Zoom: Select a clip, go to the inspector, and enable "Dynamic Zoom."
Swapping Directions: Use the "Swap" button to change the zoom direction (e.g., zoom in instead of out).
Adjusting Speed: Click the "Dynamic Zoom" overlay in the viewer to reveal two boxes (green for start, red for end). Adjust the size of the red box to control the zoom speed; a smaller red box means a slower zoom.
Applying to Multiple Clips: Apply dynamic zooms to various shots to add a cinematic feel.
Generating Subtitles: Go to "Timeline" -> "AI Tools" -> "Create Subtitles from Audio."
Settings: Set maximum characters per line (e.g., 8 for dynamic, short video style).
Review and Edit: Manually review and correct subtitles for accuracy and timing.
Styling Subtitles: Select the subtitle track, go to the inspector, and in the "Track" tab, change font, size, and other styling options.
Saving Presets: Save custom subtitle styles as presets for future use.
Viewer Guides for Placement: Use custom viewer guides (dragged from the ruler) to ensure subtitles are placed optimally, avoiding areas often covered by UI elements on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
Importing from Other Projects: DaVinci Resolve allows copying assets (like logos and sound effects) from other projects. Go to the "house" symbol, open a different project, copy the desired elements, and paste them into the current project.
Positioning and Sizing:
Place the logo clip above the main video track.
Use a reference clip with the desired logo size and position.
Reduce the opacity of the logo clip to overlay it on the reference.
Adjust the "Zoom" and "Position" parameters in the inspector's "Transform" settings to match the reference.
Importing Music: Import a music track into the media pool (e.g., from Soundcloud, ensuring proper rights or using own compositions).
Placing and Timing: Drag the music track to a dedicated audio track (e.g., "Music"). Position it to start after any introductory elements or specific audio cues.
AI-Powered Trimming (Studio Version): In the Fairlight page, use the "Live Trim" feature (available in Studio version) to automatically analyze the music and create seamless cuts to match the desired video length, eliminating the need for manual beat matching.
Timeline Settings and Color Tab Preparation [01:46:28][01:49:00]
Preparing the timeline for final color grading and export.
High-Quality Playback:
Disable "Prefer Proxies" to view the original, full-quality footage.
Set "Timeline Playback Resolution" to "Full."
In Timeline Settings, ensure the timeline resolution is set to the desired output (e.g., 4K Ultra HD).
Disabling Clips for Color Grading:
Before entering the Color page, disable any clips that shouldn't be color-graded (e.g., logos, pre-colored external footage, test shots). This prevents unintended color changes and keeps the Color page clean.
Grouping Clips:
In the Color page, select all the clips to be graded (Shift+click).
Right-click and "Add into New Group" (e.g., "Shots").
This allows applying global color adjustments to all grouped clips simultaneously.
Applying CST (Color Space Transform):
In the Color page, with "Group Pre-Clip" selected, apply a CST transformation node. This converts the footage to a working color space before any creative grading.
Sharpening and Film Grain:
Add a "Sharpen" node (found under "Blur") and adjust it slightly to enhance image crispness without over-sharpening.
Apply a "Film Grain" effect (e.g., 35mm film grain at 3% opacity, available in Studio version) for a cinematic look.
Lightbox View: Use the "Lightbox" view to get an overview of all graded clips, quickly spotting any inconsistencies in exposure or color. Double-click on individual clips to make specific adjustments using the "Clip" mode.
Finalizing export settings for different platforms.
Setting In/Out Points: Set the in and out points at the beginning and end of the sequence to define the export range.
Delivery Page: Go to the "Delivery" page (rocket icon).
Video Settings:
Name the file and choose the save location.
Select MP4 format with H.264 codec.
Confirm timeline resolution (e.g., 4K) and frame rate.
Set quality restriction (e.g., 35,000 Kb/s for 4K, 16,000 Kb/s for 2K).
Subtitle Settings: In the "Subtitle Settings" section, choose "Burn into Video" for platforms like Instagram/TikTok. For YouTube, it's recommended not to burn in subtitles as YouTube generates its own and offers translation.
Render Queue: Add the job to the render queue and click "Render All" to export the final video.
