Colour Grading in Video Production

Colour Grading Done Right

In a previous blog, Geoff described how added production values mean that you end up with a much better final film. It’s not a difficult challenge to point a camera and press record, but there’s a lot of additional effort and skill and knowledge required to produce professional, high-quality video.

At Groundbreak Productions, we pride ourselves on using the best equipment, crew, and processes for every film project, to ensure that we are a sought after video production company in Manchester. 

In this blog we’ll be looking in a bit more detail at one of the most important steps of video production, colour grading, and assessing exactly what it is, and why it is such an important part of the video production process. .

What is Colour Grading in Video Production?

Simply put, colour grading is the process of improving the appearance of an image. Wikipedia adds, “Various attributes of an image such as contrast, colour, saturation, detail, black level, and white point may be enhanced whether for motion pictures, videos, or still images.”

Colour grading can also include artistic effects like creative blending. After a film has been graded, it will appear more vibrant and almost ‘pop’ out from the screen. Colour grading is creating a mood or tone through colour or stylising an edit. When you grade an edit you are telling a story and instigating a mood. For instance, a warm orange tone generally promotes happiness or nostalgia. Blues create a darker mood and Greens you’d often find in horror or thrillers. Next time you watch a film try to take note of the colour schemes and the ‘feel’ of the scene.

My Film Doesn’t Look Like a Movie

It doesn’t matter how good your camera equipment is, the final footage won’t look as polished as a Hollywood movie without adding some colour grading – it is a major compontent of what makes good video production. In fact, you can do a simple search online to look at some before and after clips of when colour grading was added, when done right this can be the deciding factor as to whether your footage does end up looking like something from a Hollywood movie. 

Professional Video Production

Have a look at our video showreel and portfolios of commercials, visual effects (VFX), animations, and corporate videos to see what the finished product should look like. If you have any questions regarding video production, feel free to contact us on our contact page our call us and we’ll get right back to you! 

If you are a producer who would like to learn more about how to create world class videos such as the ones we produce at Groundbreak Productions, feel free to explore our producers guide which is over 2,000 words of insights towards how to create videos that truly stand out.