Color grading is the most overhyped filmmaking tool out there.

And I still love using it.

This week I want to talk about color grading:

• Why it won’t save your story
• The biggest mistakes filmmakers make when grading their films
• How color can elevate your story

Color grading is available everywhere. And showing off the before and after comparisons of the shots in your film is an easy way to get likes on social media.

The internet loves a good color grading video.

Bt once you understand what color can and cannot do, you’ll be better prepared to use it as a tool in your director’s toolkit.

Let’s roll.

The grade won’t save your story

“It looks great.”

It’s nice to hear that your film looks good, but it’s my absolute least favorite compliment to get. When someone loves your movie, they don’t say “It looks great.” They’ll share what they love about the story, the characters, or the world you built.

"It looks great" always comes as a last-resort compliment. It means they paid attention to the look of your film more than to your story.

At least for me, that is not my goal.

Color grading is a fascinating process, and you can easily lose days having fun with manipulating the look of your film.

But at the end of the day, color grading is a finishing tool. It’s the icing on your cake. If your cake is shit, there’s not much the icing can do to cover it up.

So take this as a warning: fixing it in the grade is rarely a great plan.

You can tweak, you can obscure things, or redirect, but a polished turd is still a turd.

Don’t fall for the hype.

The most common mistakes filmmakers make in the grade

There are lots and lots of pitfalls and mistakes to be made in the color grading process. It can be highly technical, overwhelming, and extremely enticing.

Here are the mistakes you need to be most wary of:

• Not color grading: Duh. But for real. Ever see those films that look completely washed out? Almost no color and no contrast? It used to be a thing for a while, and it’s not cute. Cameras record images that way to capture as much information as possible. Even if you don’t want to color grade, at least translate what the camera has captured into a color profile meant for viewing.
• Slap a LUT on it: LUTs are like presets for color grading. When you apply a LUT to your entire film, you apply the same settings to every clip in every scene. This is not color grading. What often happens is you put a LUT on a clip and you love the way it looks. So you decide to put that LUT on everything (like hot sauce). But this general approach rarely works. Scenes are shot differently, have different lighting, etc. So an overly general approach like this won’t yield consistent results.
• Losing your vision: When you can change the entire look of your image by twisting a few knobs, it is oh so easy to lose sight of what you’re doing. When you’re staring at an image for hours, tweaking and changing things you lose sight of what’s good and what’s not. The good news is that this one is easy to fix. Take a walk, freshen your eyes, and look at what you’ve done when you come back.
• Going too far: This one goes hand in hand with the last mistake. It’s very easy to take the grade too far and break your image. Grading is about elevating your cinematography, not completely changing it. Subtle changes are often much more powerful than a “bold look.”
• Everything is dark now: This is a trend, but deserves to be addressed anyway. Making everything super dark and moody might look dope on your expensive, color calibrated monitor. But most people won’t see your film like that. You’ve probably heard the complaints online: can’t see shit in the latest Batman movie, or that episode of Game of Thrones that played like a radio play for most people because it was so dark. Make sure you give your audience a grade that lets them actually see what’s going on in your film.
• Not watching the grade in different settings: Looking at your grade in the color suite is fantastic. Those calibrated screens are beautiful. But if you’re making a low-budget indie film, you have to take into consideration how the audience will experience your film. In old-ass theaters, on their mediocre TVs, on their laptops, on their phones. If you want to know how your film will look, watch it in as many settings as possible. It won’t look the same everywhere, and it won’t be perfect everywhere, but at least you will know what it looks like, and you can grade accordingly.

If you avoid these traps, you’re well on your way to a decent-looking film.

Color grading as the finishing touch

I’ve warned you enough for today. The truth is that color grading is a lot of fun.

It’s awesome to see your edit get a glow-up and a polish after you have been looking at it in an unfinished state for months on end.

To make the most out of the color grading process, think of it as a finishing touch, not as a complete do-over on your cinematography. Every great color grade starts with great cinematography.

I highly recommend you work with your DP before the shoot to develop a look for the film. This way you shoot with the look in mind and you can develop a LUT that lets you see the footage in a way that is close to how the finished film will look.

If you do this, the color grade will be about taking the work that’s already been done and bringing it those last few steps to make it look amazing.

If you’re sitting in on a grading session as the director, use the color to direct.

You can use color and light to direct the viewer's attention in subtle ways, and let the grade help you dial in the mood and feeling of a scene.

Color grading is super powerful.

As a director, it’s your job to find a way to use it to make your story better without getting lost in all the bells and whistles.

And cut!

That does it for this week. Here are the key takeaways I want you to bring with you into your directing career from today:

• Color grading can elevate your story, but won’t save it.
• Start thinking about color before you shoot, so it’s an integrated part of your cinematography.
• Focus on color as a storytelling tool, and be wary of going too far with your grade.

As always, thanks for reading.

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