A Simple Hack for Group Color Grading in Premiere Pro

Why clip label colors are such a powerful post-production tool

OK, so I have a confession to make.

Group grading, as you know and love in DaVinci Resolve, isn’t actually possible in the same way in any other video editing application.

True group grading, as it is in DaVinci Resolve, lets you group shots and then apply the same grade to all of them. When you tweak one shot, it ripples out to the rest of the group.

Yet, the humble tool ‘Select Label Group’ can help you get most of the way there, and some version of it is available in all of the ‘big four’ video editing applications.

It’s also useful for a wide range of other tasks, as well.

How to speed up your color grading workflow in Premiere Pro

I stumbled into this workflow after receiving an edited timeline from another editor of a multi-camera interview that I needed to polish. This included color correction.

Normally, I would keep each camera on its own track, grade one shot, and then paste it onto every other clip in the same track. (This is especially true for a studio interview situation where the lighting isn’t changing.)

But, it wasn’t possible in this case, and I didn’t have time to unpick the timeline and separate the different angles onto unique tracks.

Instead, I used label colors to instantly group each angle and apply grades to every shot in each group in one go.

The principles of how to apply and use this feature translate directly to Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve.

I’ve linked to some useful tutorials on each of these, which are well worth watching, regardless of which NLE you edit in.

Key takeaways from this Insight

By the end of this Insight, you should understand how to:

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Questions or comments? Leave a comment!

What’s your color grading workflow in Adobe Premiere Pro? Do you have a clever way to use Label colors? Hit the comments and let me know!

– Jonny