The world of visual storytelling is an ever-changing one, where color grading, over the years, has become an indispensable tool that crafts and shapes the tone, mode, and overall aesthetic of video content. From blockbuster flicks to videos for social media platforms, color grading improves storytelling by conveying emotions and setting up the atmosphere.
To understand this better, let us consider Netflix’s popular show Ozark – the series’ cool, desaturated tones shed light on its dark and gritty themes. The example of Ozark color grading is a solid testament to how the process can work wonders in elevating a show’s popularity. Similarly, the sleek commercials by Apple use vivid and clean color grading to highlight modernity and innovation.
Whether it is a commercial advertisement, music video, or a full-fledged film, color grading plays a massive role in connecting the audience with visual narratives. But what is color grading exactly, and how has it evolved with time? These are the questions that our detailed guide will answer besides shedding light on other related aspects. So without any delay, let us dive right into it:
What Is Color Grading?
Color grading is the process of making adjustments to video footage’s color in the post-production phase to obtain a particular visual tone or mood. The process aids in crafting the desired atmosphere and conveys specific emotions.
Let us understand it better with examples – a vivid, warm color palette may suggest joy and romance, whereas cooler, muted shades might evoke detachment or tension. By tweaking and refining color, cinematographers and video editors transform the raw or original footage into a final product that is cohesive, visually enticing, and most importantly, something that aligns perfectly with the vision of the director.
What is the Difference Between Color Correction and Color Grading?
A ton of individuals often get confused between color correction and color grading. Although both techniques include the modification of color properties that are associated with video footage, they cater to different objectives. Here is a compact yet detailed comparison table to help you understand the differences more clearly:
| Color Correction | Color Grading |
| Adjusts the footage to make natural, precise colors. | Applies or implements stylistic color choices to set the mood and tone. |
| Fixes problems such as incorrect white balance, exposure, etc. | Amplifies storytelling via creative color adjustments. |
| Vital for maintaining consistency across all scenes. | Used to give rise to emotions, guide the focus of the audience, and emphasize themes. |
In essence, the former rectifies technical issues, whereas the latter shapes the project’s emotional impact.
Why Color Grading is Important?
Color grading is vital for creating visual narratives, providing creators the power and authority to fine-tune any video and direct viewers’ emotions. It ensures consistency across numerous scenes, evokes feelings, and betters the process of storytelling by guiding the focus of the audience. Here are two ways in which the process of color grading contributes to any creative project:
Enhancing Mood and Atmosphere
Color grading aids in successfully evoking an extensive range of emotions, such as tension, warmth, melancholy, etc. Let us take a look at a few examples to understand this better:
- The Matrix utilizes a green tint for creating an artificial, digitized world, and setting up a sense of tension or unease.
- La La Land significantly contrasts thanks to its vivid and romantic hues, thereby effortlessly encapsulating the whimsical, highly emotional journey of the main characters.
Hence, it would be safe to say that with skillful color use, filmmakers and other creatives can set the scene and reinforce the emotional depth of any story.
Establishing Visual Consistency
The maintenance of visual consistency across all scenes is very important to make sure that the audience gets a captivating visual experience.
The Grand Budapest Hotel truly stands out thanks to its carefully crafted pastel color palette, thereby delivering a very cohesive, dreamlike visual feel throughout the movie.
Color Grading Process
The process of color grading can be broken into two basic steps, namely primary color correction and secondary color grading:
- Primary Color Correction: The primary color correction process includes making overall adjustments to video footage’s brightness, contrast, color imbalance, etc.
- Secondary Color Grading: The secondary color grading step includes fine-tuning specifica areas, such as making adjustments to the clothing of a specific character without impacting the entire scene.
Tools and Software for Color Grading
To make adjustments to color, professionals take the help of specialized color grading software and tools. Here are two of the most popular options amongst creatives when it comes to performing color grading tasks:
- Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve: Widely known in the post – production world for its powerful color grading tools, Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve includes advanced Look-Up Tables or LUTs and powerful color wheels.
- Adobe Premiere Pro: It offers color correction and color grading features such as Lumetri Color along with integration with Adobe’s other post-production tools such as After Effects for additional flexibility.
Both editing software options offer a powerful suite of tools for performing professional color grading tasks. However, these tools come with hefty price tags, which is why they may not be the best option for everyone, especially those who are on a tight budget.
Fortunately, there is a perfect alternative: access the tools on Postudio, an all-in-one virtual creative studio that features some stellar post-production tools, including Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, along with a solid pay-for-what-you-use model. With Postudio you can pick any software you want, any hardware you want, for the duration you need and work on your grading, video editing, graphics, etc. Scroll to the end to read more about this marvel.
Color Grading Workflow: Step-by-Step Process
The process of color grading may feel overwhelming in the beginning, but breaking it into multiple simple and basic steps makes the entire process much more manageable, especially for beginners. Here is a detailed, step-by-step look into the general technical process:
Step 1 – Importing the Footage: Before the process of color grading begins, import the raw footage into the desired video editing tool. This is the stage to gather all important clips and make sure that they are in the right format for editing.
Step 2 – Color Correction: After importing the footage, color correction is the foremost step. It involves balancing the colors and evening out the shades. To begin the process, make sure that the exposure and white balance are right.
Step 3 – Adding a New Adjustment Layer: After color correction is done, it is advised to add a new adjustment layer on top of all the clips. The layer facilitates in implementing color grading edits without having an impact on the original clips.
Step 4 – Applying Style: Post applying adjustment layers, use the video editing tool’s color panel to add the desired visual style. For instance, you can include a warm wash consisting of sunset tones when grading a wedding video. Similarly, you can go for bluer shades when working on a project whose theme is gritty and serious.
Step 5 – Inspecting Clips: Once all the desired color changes have been made, it is a good thing to go through all the clips to ensure that no specific tweaks are required.
Step 6 – Sharing for Review: Followed by the inspection process comes the review stage. Share the final version of the footage with the client for receiving feedback and make adjustments accordingly.
Step 7 – Exporting the Final Footage: Exporting the final footage in the correct format is the last step in the color grading process. The correct settings depend on the distribution platform (e.g., YouTube, website, OTTs, social media platform, etc.)
Types of Color Grading Styles in Movies
Monochromatic Color Grading
Monochromes are constructed around specific tones. They work together with saturation level in order to craft highly striking visuals with very dominant primary colors. By making colorists implement this form of color grading featuring dominant primary colors, cinematographers and filmmakers utilize it to convey vital messages or set a specific mood or tone.
- Example: The Matrix is an exceptional example of a film featuring monochromatic color grading. Almost every scene that is set within the movie’s world features a green hue. Different shades of the color permeate almost every element in the frame in order to give rise to an unnatural or lulling effect.
Cinematic Color Grading
Cinematic color grading focuses on rich, deep shades, crafting a very dramatic, larger-than-life visual aesthetic that is generally associated with blockbuster Hollywood movies. This form of color grading usually utilizes a “teal and orange” contrast in order to make sure that characters’ skin tones stand out in addition to amplifying backgrounds’ depth and intensity.
- Example: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is a great example of a film where this form of color grading was used. The film leverages a bold contrast between the warm desert landscapes along with cool shadows, thereby heightening the action-packed sequences.
Vintage and Retro Color Grading
This form of movie color grading provides the footage an old-fashioned or vintage, nostalgic appearance by desaturating colors, minimizing contrast, and adding sepia or grain tones. This particular form of color grading is perfect for providing the feel of a specific time period or an era that has been long bygone.
- Example: The Godfather (1972) depends heavily on vintage color grading to craft its iconic signature look. The movie features a very warm, orange-brown shade that provides it an old-school, vintage feel, evoking the classic 1940s era in which the narrative takes place. The film’s color grading also aids in amplifying the film’s raw, gritty feel, thereby creating a feeling of authenticity or realism that captivates the audience.
Applying Color Grading Techniques in Different Media
Film and Television
In both movies and TV series, color grading establishes the tone or mood for the entire project. Shows such as Breaking Bad leverage a distinctive palette to showcase the desolate, sun-baked Albuquerque environment, whereas Blade Runner 2049 utilizes stark contrasts and neon colors to effectively set a futuristic feel.
Commercials & Online Content
When it comes to commercials and online content, color grading enhances a product’s appeal as well as its memorability. For instance, in the tech industry, Apple usually takes the help of sleek, bright colors to focus on innovation and advanced, cutting-edge design.
Social Media Content
The advent of social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram has resulted in the adoption of different color grading tactics in personal and branded content, crafting appealing and visually consistent feeds.
Expert Tips for Effective Color Grading
- Understand the Visual Goals of the Project: Color grading must align with the project’s overall narrative. Working closely with filmmakers and cinematographers makes sure that the color grading provides support to the storyline’s mood and tone.
- Collaborate with Creative Teams: Effective communication between every department is very important. Editors, DPS, as well as colorists must work together if they wish to achieve the desired look.
- Experiment and Learn Consistently: New tactics are constantly emerging, and thus, it is essential to remain up-to-date with the latest and greatest software tools in addition to innovative grading methods.
Unlock Professional Color Grading with Postudio
Postudio is a popular all-in-one, pro-level creative studio. The cloud post-production platform allows individuals, creative teams, as well as full-fledged enterprises to create, collaborate, edit, and manage content directly on the cloud. The comprehensive platform, with its top-notch pay-for-what-you-use model, exceptional tools, and solid features, offers a seamless experience to users when it comes to different post-production tasks such as video editing, color correction, audio editing, color grading, etc.
One of its most remarkable features is that with Postudio you can get access to any software of choice (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Cinema4d, After Effects, etc.), any hardware (whether it’s a 32 gb system to edit a short YouTube video or a 128 gb one to grade a complex 4k feature film) for the duration you need. All you need is an internet connection and a browser. Postudio drastically reduces your entry barrier to the post-production world and makes the tools more accessible to creators everywhere.
When it comes to the benefits of performing efficient color grading tasks on Postudio, colorists can also collaborate smoothly with other creatives/clients/directors, thanks to the platform’s real-time collaboration capabilities. Users can access industry-leading post-production software which boast some highly advanced color grading tools and features. The central storage space makes it easy for all collaborators of the project to have access to footage from a single space. No more transfers, drive links, etc. Moreover, the platform’s simple and easy-to-navigate interface makes it a convenient, creator-friendly tool for everyone.
For Whom is Postudio Ideal?
Postudio is the ideal choice for novices as well as seasoned post-production professionals who wish to be free from the chains of antiquated technology. To put it broadly, Postudio is perfect for video production firms, post-production houses, agencies, individual content creators and everyone in the professional video space.
If you too are on the lookout for a post-production platform that checks all the boxes, right from having industry-favorite tools and compute power to offering real time collaboration, get started with Postudio now!
Frequently Asked Questions
How to color grade a video?
To color grade a video, use a video editing tool like DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere Pro. Apply LUTs and adjust color wheels to obtain the desired look.
Is color grading easy to learn?
Although learning color grading is not a walk in the park, it can be learned, especially with the help of a user-friendly tool such as DaVinci Resolve.
What is color grading in film and why is it important?
Color grading amplifies storytelling by aligning a film’s visual tone with its narrative.
