What is colour grading?

Colour grading is one of the processes in post production that is most misunderstood.

This is because most of the time, an effective colour grade is NOT noticed.

In most cases, the object of the exercise is to match every shot so that the balance of colour in all of them is the same. That’s the easier bit.  Then most experienced colourists will create a ‘look’ for the whole piece. That’s the difficult (or arty) bit!

At SPL Communications we are experienced in using Adobe Premiere Pro and Da Vinci Resolve for editing and colour grading. We also have calibrated monitor so we know what goes out is accurate as well as a Tangent Wave control surface for accurate colour grading adjustments.

Shooting for the grade

Most medium to high-end productions are highly-graded by specialists as the last stage of the editing process.

Shooting for the grade means that the assumption is that the film will be graded in post and will therefore be shot with that in mind.  In practice that means the film will normally be shot in ‘Log’ or some sort of picture profile which allows a greater range of picture manipulation to be applied at the editing stage.  So don’t be disappointed at the ‘rushes’ when you first see them as they may look washed out or muddy; like the saying goes, it’ll be alright on the night!