What is Cinematic Color Grading? A Beginner's Guide

Creating a cinematic look in your videos involves more than just great shots and angles; color grading plays a crucial role in enhancing the overall feel and storytelling. Cinematic color grading helps transform raw footage into visually captivating scenes by adjusting the colors and tones. This process adds depth, mood, and a professional touch to your videos, making them more engaging for your audience.

In this article, we'll provide a complete guide on how to do colour grading for a cinematic look.

What is cinematic color grading

Cinematic color grading is the art of altering and enhancing the colors in your video to achieve a specific aesthetic or mood. It involves adjusting the brightness, contrast, saturation, and color balance to create a visual style that supports the narrative. With the manipulation of these elements, filmmakers can evoke certain emotions and guide the viewer's attention to key aspects of the scene.

Types of color grading in film

Here are some well-known types of film's color grading:

Teal and Orange: The blockbuster look

The teal and orange color grade is a staple in Hollywood blockbusters. This style emphasizes skin tones by making them pop against teal backgrounds, creating a vibrant and dynamic contrast. It enhances the visual impact of action scenes and is often used to evoke excitement and energy.



Monochromes: Dominant color grades

Monochrome grading focuses on using a single dominant color to set the mood of a scene. This technique can create a cohesive and immersive atmosphere, highlighting specific emotions or themes. It’s commonly used in dramas and artistic films to add depth and intensity.



Bleach Bypass: A desaturated look

Bleach bypass is a technique that retains the silver in the film emulsion, resulting in a high-contrast, low-saturation look. This style creates a gritty and raw aesthetic, often used to convey a sense of realism or intensity. It’s frequently seen in war movies and thrillers.



Black and White: Timeless and classic

Black and white color grading is a timeless choice that strips away the distraction of color, focusing the viewer's attention on composition, texture, and contrast. It brings a sense of nostalgia and is often used in historical films or to create a classic, elegant look.



Best tools for color grading

After learning the essential types for color grading in film, practicing and refining your skills is crucial. Several video editing software can assist you in adjusting colors and other parameters during post-production. To help you achieve a professional look, we've compiled a list of top programs that offer high-quality color grading capabilities. The following are the best programs to use:

CapCut desktop video editor

CapCut offers a user-friendly interface that is perfect for both beginners and advanced users. It includes powerful color grading features such as color wheels, curves, and LUTs. In addition, it offers auto-adjust tools that automatically adjust colors and other advanced video and audio editing tools such as transcript-based editing, auto caption generation, AI movement, motion tracking, etc., allowing you to make precise adjustments and effortlessly apply cinematic looks to your videos.



DaVinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve is renowned for its industry-standard color grading tools. It features a node-based workflow, allowing for complex color corrections and visual effects. Moreover, its advanced features include face tracking, auto color balance, and support for HDR, making it a favorite among professional colorists.



Final Cut Pro (Color Board)

Final Cut Pro X includes a color board, which offers basic to advanced color grading tools. You can adjust exposure, saturation, and color temperature with ease. The software also supports HDR and integrates well with other Apple applications, making it a robust option for Mac users



Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro's Lumetri Color panel provides a comprehensive set of color grading tools. It includes traditional color wheels, curves, and sliders for detailed color adjustments. Premiere Pro also integrates seamlessly with other Adobe Creative Cloud applications, enhancing its functionality and flexibility.



4 simple steps on how to color grade

Now that you know some video editing software for effective cinematic color grading, here's a straightforward guide to color grade with the CapCut desktop video editor. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced editor, these steps will help you achieve stunning results with ease.

Step
1. Normalize your video clips
2. Before using color grading, it's crucial to normalize your video clips. This involves adjusting the exposure, white balance, and contrast to create a balanced starting point. To do it, use the basic adjustments panel to set these initial values. Additionally, you can blur the video background to eliminate certain distractions.
3. 

   

Step
4. Color-correct your video
5. Next, focus on color correction. This step ensures your video looks natural and consistent across different scenes. Use color correction tools to tweak the brightness, contrast, saturation, and temperature. This process fixes any color issues and sets a solid foundation for grading.
6. 

   

Step
7. Color-grade your footage
8. Now, it's time to add your artistic touch. Color grading involves applying specific color tones to convey a particular mood or style. For this, you can use LUTs (Look-Up Tables) or manually adjust the color wheels and curves to achieve your desired look.
9. 

   

Step
10. Adjust the final colors

Lastly, fine-tune the final colors to ensure everything looks cohesive. Check your video on different screens and make minor adjustments as needed. This step ensures that your overall look is polished and professional.



8 tips for achieving cinematic color grading in your videos

Achieving cinematic grading can make your videos look more professional and visually engaging. However, to truly capture your audience's attention, you need to master specific techniques. Here are eight key tips to help you achieve this stunning look.

1. Understand your narrative and mood
2. Before diving into color grading, understand the story you’re telling and the emotions you want to convey. The color scheme should reflect the narrative and enhance the mood of your video.
3. Use LUTs for consistency
4. Look-up tables (LUTs) are pre-set color grading profiles that help maintain a consistent look across your footage. They can save time and ensure a cohesive color palette in your video.
5. Adjust exposure and contrast first
6. Start by correcting the exposure and contrast to ensure your footage has a balanced and natural look. Proper adjustments here lay a strong foundation for further color grading.
7. Enhance colors with curves
8. Using curves allows for precise control over the colors and tones in your video. You can enhance specific colors and adjust the highlights, midtones, and shadows to create a dynamic and rich visual experience.
9. Match shots for seamless transitions
10. Consistency between shots is crucial for a professional look. Ensure that colors, lighting, and exposure match across different scenes to avoid jarring transitions.
11. Create depth with color
12. Use color to add depth to your scenes, making them more visually interesting. Adjusting background and foreground colors can create a sense of dimension and draw attention to key elements.
13. Focus on skin tones
14. Pay special attention to maintaining realistic and flattering skin tones, as they are crucial for audience engagement and character believability.
15. Use scopes and analyzers

Scopes like the waveform monitor, vectorscope, and histogram help ensure your color grading is accurate. They provide detailed visual feedback on color balance, exposure, and saturation, guiding you to achieve professional results.

Conclusion

In conclusion, color grading for a cinematic scene is a crucial aspect of filmmaking that enhances visual storytelling by setting the mood, tone, and style of a film. By mastering the essential steps and utilizing professional tools like DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, and even beginner-friendly options like CapCut, filmmakers can achieve stunning, professional-quality results. As a beginner, understanding the basics and practicing regularly will help you develop your color grading skills.

FAQs

1. What is cinematic color grading and why is it important?
2. Cinematic color grading is the process of adjusting the colors to get a specific aesthetic or mood. It's important because it helps convey the story's emotional tone, guides the audience's attention, and creates a more immersive viewing experience. Using video editing software like the CapCut desktop video editor, you can easily achieve this look.
3. How can I achieve a cinematic look with color grading?
4. To achieve a cinematic look, select any advanced video editing software, such as the CapCut desktop video editor. Start with color correction to balance your footage, then use LUTs to apply specific styles. Adjust contrast, saturation, and color temperature to enhance the mood and fine-tune specific colors for the desired effect.
5. What are the best tools for color grading to achieve a cinematic look?
6. Some of the best tools for cinematic color grading include DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Final Cut Pro, which offer professional-grade features. CapCut desktop video editor is also a user-friendly option that provides effective color-grading tools suitable for both beginners and professionals.
7. What are the essential steps in color grading for a cinematic look?
8. The essential steps include color correction to ensure consistency, applying a base grade, and using LUTs for specific looks. Enhance contrast and saturation, adjust specific colors, and add vignettes for a polished, professional appearance. You can practice these steps with the CapCut desktop video editor without any extensive skill.