How to Colour Grade Like A Pro in Video Editing?
The video editing world is robust and loaded with vibrant colours. It resembles the daily world that we live in. However, if you ever shot some good clicks, you’ll notice that what you see in reel life is quite distinct from what you see in real life.
While there might be many reasons behind this, the key reason underlying this difference is what you call ‘video editing’ theory. As a video editing professional, you will frequently work with the colour grading and colour-correcting phenomenon. This is a digital process of recreating the blissful colours that you see in your real life. With a bit more experience, you will be more realistic, cinematic, and surrealistic.
The benefits of a pro video editing course are unrivalled for video editing aspirants like you. Let’s explore how you can colour your video like a pro in video editing.
Colour Grading Vs. Colour Correction – What is the Actual Difference?
Colour grading is a process of grading colours in a film or a video so that they give your video a stylish look. On the contrary, colour correction is a process of correcting your video or film colours to get back to how you want them to look in your project.
What is Colour Grading?
Before you start with colour grading, you need to make a colour correction on your video or film. Sometimes, your raw footage tends to be overly saturated, so you need to balance out the colours in the video.
Next comes your colour grading. This is the stage where you start creating the aesthetics of your video or film. You need to understand that you can opt out of doing this if you wish your film to be more realistic.
However, the right colour grading always helps you convey a realistic visual tone or mood to heighten your visual narrative. For example, high contrast and darker tones are ideal for a horror film. And inverted tones go well with the sci-fi shootouts.
LUTs in Colour Grading
Now, you might be wondering about adding some cool graphics and effects to your video. While the answer differs for every look and the editor, one way to do it is by using LUTs.
LUTs are ‘Look-up Tables’ and have basically been a cheat sheet that filmmakers can easily use on their cameras. These LUTs are also used by the editors in their edits to impart to them the essential footage-specific look and grades.
Understanding How to Colour Grade
Before you start using the LUTs to edit your videos, let’s go through some useful tips to understand how you should colour grade. Here are five basic colour grading steps you will be learning in your pro video editing course:
- Start by normalising your folate as much as you can.
- Follow the next steps diligently to correct your colours.
- Opt for your desired style and look.
- Next, make colour adjustments in your editing program.
- Last but not least, double-check your skin tones and vectorscope.
You should do colour grading only after you have normalised and corrected your video. This ensures that you are working off footage.
Types of Colour Grading
Just like most post-production techniques, in colour grading, you develop your style. Some filmmakers have it as their signature style. Three key styles of colour grading are quite common:
Naturalistic Colour Grading
A natural documentary is a perfect representation of this style. Here you are, amping the already existing colours in your footage. This feature is different from your basic colour correction technique. It makes your greens greener and your reds redder.
Contrasting Colour Grading
Most modern films today rely on contrast colour grading techniques for creating visually appealing and emotionally resonating visuals for their audience. In this video editing feature, you manipulate the colours and brightness to create your distinct visual style. This feature often emphasises the differences between the dark and light areas in your visuals.
Genre-specific Colour Grading
Different genres have specific colour grading palettes. For example, you can use lighter and brighter colour palettes for romantic movies or neon and artificial tones for sci-fi movies.
Tools You Can Use In Colour Grading
The real trick behind efficient colour grading is using the right tools of the right quality. And truly, there are quite a good number of tools available out there for you. Some great tools supporting both colour correction and colour grading are:
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve
- Final Cut Pro
- Fylm.ai
- Magic Bullet Colorista
Do You Really Need Colour Grading?
Your experience in your video editing course will tell you that!
Well, from the perspective of an artist, colour grading is quite important in filmmaking. By grading your footage, you add unified styles to all your film aspects. And, of course, great films go much beyond the definitions of stylised colours. While the film’s colourist may not receive the recognition, it is still their job to impart the film its finishing touch. It is this finishing touch that resonates with the audience.
Conclusion
Colour grading is the very end phase of your post-production technique. You won’t have any opportunity to find your way back to the originals. So, make sure you spend ample time delivering the best and do not rush things here. Use colours sensibly to nudge the mood in your visuals or sense the setting of your backdrop image. But whatever you do, keep your patience. Do not overdo colour grading, or it may end up messing with your visuals.
Learning how to colour grade via a video editing course is fun and exciting. Moople Academy offers a 6-month tailored course on Motion Graphics, Video Editing, and AI. This is led by an industry-seasoned faculty using a production studio-developed curriculum and cutting-edge infrastructure. Moople has its dedicated student workstation and a strong alumni network where you can find the right mentors. Connect with the team today to learn more about the course.