Jump to content

Cinematic color grading

LIQUIDFOX00200
 Share
Go to solution Solved by xQubeZx,

Its not easy. Color grading is an art. But some tips to get a ”cinematic” look is to usally shoot in 24 fps, 21:9 instead of the standard 16:9 but you could just add letterboxes in post. Try and shoot the footage in a log profile which will make it easier to grade. (Or at least give you ability to do so niceley) 

 

How you grade the footage is the hard part. Often these big series try and find a overall baseline look that can be seen in all shots. Let’s take House of Cards for example. (as I recently saw several seasons of it). They have gone for a very clean and ”clinical” look imo. Kinda cool white balance too in most of the shots. They have probably shot it with some very sharp lenses that doesn’t have much flaring or things that make them unique. Like think very sharp lenses without any ”defects” so everything looks perfect. The perfect symmitrical shots that come up all the time is also a kinda ”clean” thing I find they use to create a baseline ”look”. 

 

The movie Interstellar uses a very different approch. You can clearly see the use of old (or new speciality) lenses that create a ton of flares and imperfections that gives the movie a very different feel than if it was shot on perfectly sharp lenses. They also have a warm whitebalance while on earth but in space they resort to a cooler white balance to ”show” the coldness and emptiness of space. 

 

So really, think about what you want to show with your scene and then use colors that would tell or bescribe that feel. Also find a baseline color grade. For example do you want very deep blacks or do you want to go for a more faded look where you bring up the black point. Do you want it to be very contrasty or a more ”soft” edit. 

 

But all in all, the colors are extremely important. However it seems like most blockbuster movies go for a edit that is kinda faded, like no super deep blacks, often a quite blue white balance and a lot of flares and a not super sharp image all the times. You could analyze things like these for hours or even days. It’s very complicated. 

Posted

How to get a cinematic look in editing videos like Hollywood movies, Netflix, Marvel movies/serials (Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist etc), Stranger Thing, Game of thrones, other best serials,etc????

Can I  get instant cinematic look??? 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Solution

Its not easy. Color grading is an art. But some tips to get a ”cinematic” look is to usally shoot in 24 fps, 21:9 instead of the standard 16:9 but you could just add letterboxes in post. Try and shoot the footage in a log profile which will make it easier to grade. (Or at least give you ability to do so niceley) 

 

How you grade the footage is the hard part. Often these big series try and find a overall baseline look that can be seen in all shots. Let’s take House of Cards for example. (as I recently saw several seasons of it). They have gone for a very clean and ”clinical” look imo. Kinda cool white balance too in most of the shots. They have probably shot it with some very sharp lenses that doesn’t have much flaring or things that make them unique. Like think very sharp lenses without any ”defects” so everything looks perfect. The perfect symmitrical shots that come up all the time is also a kinda ”clean” thing I find they use to create a baseline ”look”. 

 

The movie Interstellar uses a very different approch. You can clearly see the use of old (or new speciality) lenses that create a ton of flares and imperfections that gives the movie a very different feel than if it was shot on perfectly sharp lenses. They also have a warm whitebalance while on earth but in space they resort to a cooler white balance to ”show” the coldness and emptiness of space. 

 

So really, think about what you want to show with your scene and then use colors that would tell or bescribe that feel. Also find a baseline color grade. For example do you want very deep blacks or do you want to go for a more faded look where you bring up the black point. Do you want it to be very contrasty or a more ”soft” edit. 

 

But all in all, the colors are extremely important. However it seems like most blockbuster movies go for a edit that is kinda faded, like no super deep blacks, often a quite blue white balance and a lot of flares and a not super sharp image all the times. You could analyze things like these for hours or even days. It’s very complicated. 

FX-8350 GTX760 16GB RAM 250GB SSD + 1TB HDD

 

"How many roads must a man walk down?" "42"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

 

 

Watch this video. It’s long I know. But it takes up some great points for color grading. 

FX-8350 GTX760 16GB RAM 250GB SSD + 1TB HDD

 

"How many roads must a man walk down?" "42"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
6 hours ago, LIQUIDFOX00200 said:

Ready made luts??? Can I buy or download them??

Sure you can probably buy them but that won’t always give you the look you want. But if you have these expensive programs why don’t use them? If you are just going to use luts you won’t need davinci resolve at all really. 

 

And how hard is it to google ”cinematic luts for premiere”? Because that is all you need to do if you want a lut

FX-8350 GTX760 16GB RAM 250GB SSD + 1TB HDD

 

"How many roads must a man walk down?" "42"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author
3 hours ago, xQubeZx said:

Sure you can probably buy them but that won’t always give you the look you want. But if you have these expensive programs why don’t use them? If you are just going to use luts you won’t need davinci resolve at all really. 

 

And how hard is it to google ”cinematic luts for premiere”? Because that is all you need to do if you want a lut

Thanks for help

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
22 hours ago, LIQUIDFOX00200 said:

How to get a cinematic look in editing videos like Hollywood movies, Netflix, Marvel movies/serials (Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist etc), Stranger Thing, Game of thrones, other best serials,etc????

Can I  get instant cinematic look??? 

 

what camera are you using and what are your recording settings for the color?  color grading is an art and one of the main purposes is to tell the story slash set the mood of the scene using color.  if you are not using the right method to film you will have a hard time color grading.  if you are already filming in the camera with a color space like REC709 you will not be able to do a lot of grading and you probably will not be able to use most LUTs otherwise they will oversaturate the colors.

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Photography and Videography

×