Color Correction, HDV Footage, Best Software

[tleisher]

Hey guys,

So, I'm editing a short film based on 1440x1080p24 footage.. and the colors seem REALLY bland. I've tried upping the contrast but that blows out some of the other parts of the film.. or super darkens other parts...

So I'm curious, what is the best software to do color correction in? Right now I've tried Vegas Pro 8, After Effects and Premiere Pro...

Apparently, from what I understand, HDV footage boosts the black up to around 35.. where it should be at 0. I was told that if I pull down the blacks to 0, my image will look MUCH better. But I can't seem to figure out how to do that in any program I own.

I've been looking into other comping software packages, but which one is better for color correction?

Are there any good tutorials out there for Premiere/vegas/After Effects about how to get good color correction? Aside from comping/editing/motion graphics and whatnot that you can accomplish in After Effects, I really want to learn about Color Correction and how to get good color in my films.

[Tagger]

if you have acces to final cut studio 2, color is a good app for doing cc on hdv footage. And about the whole 35-0 thing, i'm not sure where you're getting that from but i would forget it, while there are a million things i could say that was wrong with hdv, this is not one of them.

if you're gonne stick with the programs you stated above, i would start by looking at the 3way colourcorrector that comes with premiere and first master that before stepping into anything else

[tleisher]

Alright, for my first feature film I was planning on shooting in HDV 1080p24... should I not shoot with HDV and aim for DVCPro HD instead?

If so, why, whats wrong with HDV?