Colour work happens in two passes, and keeping them separate is what makes a grade hold together.

Correction: make it accurate

Correction is about getting each shot to a neutral, consistent starting point:

  • Exposure, so highlights aren't clipped and shadows still hold detail
  • White balance, so whites look white under every light source
  • Matching, so two angles of the same scene look like they were filmed at the same moment

In DaVinci Resolve I watch the scopes rather than trusting my eyes alone. A waveform and a vectorscope don't get tired after eight hours.

Grading: give it a feeling

Once every shot is neutral and matched, the creative grade goes on top. Warm and golden for a wedding, cool and contrasty for a tech commercial, muted for a serious documentary. Because the shots are already consistent, one look can be applied across a whole scene.

Protect skin tones

Whatever the look, faces should still look like people. Resolve's vectorscope has a skin-tone line; keeping skin close to it keeps a stylised grade believable.

Check on more than one screen

Most viewers will watch on a phone. I review the final grade on a calibrated monitor and on a phone before export, because a grade that looks moody on a big screen can look murky in a feed.