With a career that spans nearly four decades, ten studio albums and five number ones in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, Vives has made his mark in the music industry and has become globally recognized for his colorful and culturally rich visuals. For his new music video, Carlos decided to shoot at historic locations in Peru such as the Huaca Pucllana pyramid and Plaza de Armas of Lima, among others. The video was directed and produced by Colombia’s Mestiza Films and finished by Colombia based post facility Estudio Roco in collaboration with Los Angeles’ Chroma Hollywood post studio. Post production was divided between the two facilities in an effort to bring a Hollywood look to more Latin American productions.    

Previously, Diego Yhamá, the project’s director and colorist at Estudio Roco, and Henry Santos, colorist at Chroma Hollywood, worked with Mestiza Films when color grading Vives’ music video for “Hoy Tengo Tiempo (Pinta Sensual)” using DaVinci Resolve Studio. Because Mestiza Films and Carlos Vives liked their work and style, they decided to hire the duo for the “Mañana” video.    

“We were very excited when we got hired to work on this new project as we could use DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio for the first time and test it, especially the remote collaboration feature,” said Yhamá. “I’m based in Colombia and Henry is based in Los Angeles, so we definitely took advantage of that. The collaboration feature truly shined when Mestiza Films came to my studio and saw how the video was being color graded, in real time, by Henry thousands of miles away. This proved to be super helpful because they told us which color and tones they liked, and we adjusted them right then and there.”    

The team also took advantage of ResolveFX, GPU and CPU accelerated plug ins, especially the facial recognition tools, which automatically recognize and track facial features so colorists can adjust, brighten or change color without having to manually select or rotoscope any part of the image. This allowed Santos to focus on specific areas of the face to refine and balance skin tones.    

“These new plug ins were so easy to use and made the image look so much nicer,” said Santos. “I focused on the neck, lips and overall skin tone to achieve that Hollywood style but also to keep it natural.”    

When the video was close to being finalized, Mestiza Films sent over a new opening scene because the record label needed the video to be shorter for commercial use.    

“We didn’t panic at all. We relied completely on DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio’s new stacked timelines feature to drop the new scene in,” said Yhamá. “It was as easy as copying and pasting the new scene from the new timeline to the original one.”    

Because the new opening scene had not been color graded yet, the team took advantage of the multiple playheads feature. Yhamá continued, “This is something new that is such a huge help, especially when you add new content to what you’re already working with. I used this to compare shots and navigate my timeline while grading, to ensure it matched the rest of the video and avoid it looking disjointed.”    

Throughout the color grading process, Yhamá and Santos used the DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel and DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel as part of their workflow. Yhamá has a DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel at Estudio Roco, while Santos has a DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel at Chroma Hollywood and a DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel at home.    

“I use the DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel in the studio for all the ‘heavy work’ as the console gives me control of everything that can be found in the software. The DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel comes in handy when a customer needs some additional work and I’m at home; I can just do it right at that moment. Both tools have impacted my work significantly, not only because I can achieve what I want with the images, but also because I can deliver in a timely manner,” said Santos.    

He continued, “What’s really fascinating about the panels is that the design is very intuitive. I take full advantage of the trackballs and how they allow me to adjust color balance and brightness. It’s funny, I don’t even have to look at the panel when I’m working with it. It’s all muscle memory!”    

“Working on projects like this music video is just the beginning for us,” concluded Santos. “Our goal is to bring that Hollywood look to Latin American productions, and thanks to programs like DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio which facilitates collaboration, we’re one step closer. We hope that we inspire other post houses in Latin America to leverage the skill and expertise of professionals in our latino community. Being able to easily collaborate with local talent really fosters a sense of camaraderie and shared vision while delivering world class projects.”    

Press Photography  

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio, DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel, DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images    

About Blackmagic Design  

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmyâ„¢ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.