Colour grading

Colour grading is done by a colourist or the editor at the end of post-production, once the edit is locked. First exposure and white balance are matched across shots, then the look goes on. It happens on a calibrated monitor, because an ordinary laptop shows you different colours than the phone your viewer is holding.

For a product video for a furniture maker we filmed two days, Tuesday under cloud and Wednesday in sunshine. Without colour grading one table would read warm and the other bluish, though it is the same oak. That is exactly the moment a shopper doubts the colour on your website and does not buy. Colour is the one thing a customer can compare against the real object in their hands.

Technically it is two steps. Correction makes the shots match, grading gives them character based on the moodboard and the brand palette. For a one minute video that is half a day to a day of work. From you we need the brand manual and the actual product, so we can check the shade against real life.

Where it gets sold unnecessarily: aggressive cinematic looks on corporate video. Orange and teal looks great in a showreel and terrible next to a product photo on the same page. And the old rule from set still holds: blown highlights never come back. Colour grading is not a repair kit for bad light.

Before grading we ask for one thing: the real product, or the exact brand shade. Then we review the finished video on a phone rather than a monitor, because that is where most people will see it. Try that today on your most recent video and the difference will surprise you.