Colour Grading Exercise

Colour grading isn’t a new skill to be, but I only have a very basic understanding of it. I’ve used it for a few projects this year, one which I have reflected on already, as well as for previous projects in past years. I haven’t really done much ‘experimental’ or unrealistic colour grading, which is something I intended to do with at least one version of each clip. I still want to get better with the tool, as I think it’s a very powerful asset in film-making, and can drastically change the tone of a scene or shot, something I will talk about further on in this post.

Exercise 1

Original:

Version 1:

For this edit, I played around with warmer tones and exposure, attempting to give the scene a nostalgic, home feel. The warm oranges from adjusting the tint really bounce off the tile walls, and while the lighting looks a little unrealistic, I did try to balance it out by adjusting the whites and the blacks within the frame.

Version 2:

I did the polar opposite for this colour grade, really playing around with cold, blue colours, lending to a sadder vibe for the scene. I feel like it makes the bathroom look really empty and unused, maybe like something tragic has happened.  I didn’t really touch the blacks for this scene, but really pushed up the whites for that strong light source from the window. Tinting played a big part in this cut, and it was difficult to make it look cold and not too blue.

Version 3:

Out of all of the experiments with grading, this one felt the most out there, and I’m unsure about it. I played around with colour wheels, trying to give this a look of a rundown bathroom in an apocalyptic setting, with a slight tint of green and dark shadows to accompany. Personally, I’m not a fan of how it looks, to me, it looks a bit washed out and a bit too overexposed. Lowering the contrast played a big part in this cut, which stopped the shadows from taking over the whole scene.

 

Exercise 2

Original:

Version 1:

This is probably the ‘experimental’ colour grading exercise I am most proud of. I played around with the creative colour wheels, giving the light a swamp green glow, and really focused on bringing out the shadows and drowning out the blacks. This style of colour grading really reminds me of a horror film, with the deep dark shadows only allowing the audience to focus on the glow of the beast.

Version 2:

For this cut, I played around again with the colour wheel again, bringing out a pinky-red tint in the lighting, and reducing the contrast down to negative 80. This gave the scene a rose gold tint effect, something you would see in a pleasant flashback in a movie. Contrasting this with the edit above, it really shows the power of shadows, and how much more can be shown by bringing down the whites in a scene.

Version 3:

I am probably most familiar and comfortable with creating a colder, blue tinted scene using colour grading. I tried to play around with that style a bit more in this one, and be a bit more subtle. I only added a small blue tint to the scene, trying to make it look like the clouds are grey outside like this was a funeral scene in a film.  This involved bringing down the highlights, and using the creative colour wheel rather than the tint bar in the basic colour corrections tab.

 

Exercise 3

Original:

Version 1:

Here is another attempt to dampen the mood of a scene. I tried to make it look as if there was a storm approaching,  I did this by really pushing up the blue tint, and messing around with the contrast and highlights slider. this turned the somewhat grey sky a dark blue, and softened the colours of the foliage, creating an unsettling and dreary tone to the frame.

Version 2:

With this version, I attempted to again, do an opposite cut of the one above, creating a stylized, ‘art indie film’ summer vibe. I did this by creating a warm tone with the temperature and colour wheels in the creative menu, bringing out yellows and greens. I also played around with the saturation of the frame, as well as reducing shadows, giving the whole scene a glow. I really like the gold and bold colours in this one created by boosting the saturation slightly.

Version 3:

This is another ‘experimental’ colour grade, especially in comparison to the previous two. With this one, I really cranked out the green tint and green in the colour wheels of the creative tab, giving the frame the look and style of an old computer screen / GameBoy, with that digital, artificial green mask over the whole scene. I also played around with the exposure and shadows, making sure they weren’t too dark and disrupting the theme of the cut. I’m not sure what I would ever use this for, but I’m happy I made it.