Circuit Training – From Camera Rushes To Final Look

Circuit Training – From Camera Rushes To Final Look

Its time for my next instillation of my colorist circuit training. If you haven’t seen this series before please do check out the links above to see the other insights in the series.

My goal is to push you and your eyes to make you a better colorist. Grading is like going to the gym!

We can all sit down and grade nicely shot footage for 6 hours easily, but its only when you push yourself outside of your comfort zone  and take on difficult shots will you become a better colorist.

This insight will be focusing on my grading process and a step by step of how I got from original camera rushes to the final look I decided on. This is more about the WHY I did things rather than the HOW.

I could teach you how to create this look on this shot but of course those settings will only work on this shot.

If I share why I made these decisions it will help you apply this way of thinking and building looks to many shots.

Lets Take A Look At My Grade

In this scene our lead actor is getting out of his car in the desert. My gut instinct before I even touch the grading controls is that this shot will be bright, warm and have a mild bleach bypass effect.

This is due to the memory of movies like se7en and shows like breaking bad giving me a mental image of what a shot in the desert “should” look like.

The goal for my circuit training practice is to not assume anything and try as many variations as possible!

The shot is also from an Arri Alexa so I’m confident I’ll be able to push the grade in any direction I’d like to.