Major Project: Role Research (Editor) Colour Grading

Major Project: Role Research (Editor) Colour Grading

As main editor on this project, it will be my responsibility to ensure this documentary is graded properly. Although I have dabbled with grading before, I have not done it to this level, so it will be an important learning experience. One that I am looking forward to.

In preparation for the grade, I  thought it best to take on some key colour research to help me decide how I might want to shape the filter of our documentary. I looked in to the main colours used in grading and what they denote. As well as looking at two pieces of source material that will inspire my grade.

Purple
Purple is one of the more interesting colours. It is not often used in grades due to its meanings somewhat limiting its application. Traditionally purple and move colours are associated with wealth, extravagance and power. Factors usually conveyed through clothing or on set decor rather than a grade its self. Purple is also associated with wisdom and can be reserved for scenes containing some kind of royalty. Again another reason why it is rarely seen. But similar to blue, purple can also be used to create a sense of mystery. Despite this I really don't see myself using purple as a primary or even secondary factor in my grade.

Yellow
Yellow is a very stimulating colour, often used in action montages or high energy sequences, it can be used to bring up the energy within a film (or a particular scene within a film) as well as increase the attention of the audience. Being a traditionally happy colour it can lighten the mood of a scene, but can also denote sickness of the mind and a sense of desperation. Because of yellow will be a big factor in my grade and although perhaps not the primary feature, will certainly feed into the tint of more high-risk scenes like the race sequence.

Red
Red is traditionally associated with anger, fury and an immense sense of danger. Often when a large amount of red is used in a film a=it can put an audience on edge or instil powerful energy within them. But it is lesser known that red can symbolise power, energy and passion. It can be used to asociate love and more positive emotions, as well as the traditional. Red is good for scenes which have a lot of on-screen action and can be used to symbolise a breakthrough or change in a characters mental state. Although interesting and more diverse than I first thought, I am not sure red will be a particularly useful colour to me in the grade, unless I need to intentionally heat up a scene.
Green
When people think of green, the most often thought that springs to mind is nature. Due to this many people use the colour green within their films or videos as such it brings a sense of harmony to a piece. usually in more uplifting sequences after a climactic ending perhaps, you will see green being used to denote the idea of freshness and new beginnings. It creates a feel of calm, and has mostly positive connotations, although if you consider . more negative examples green has been used in the past to symbolise greed, envy and addiction. Despite both these factors I would like to avoid using green for the most part unless it is to bring out things like grass.

Blue
Blue although traditionally associated with sadness, actually has a bit of a double meaning. Often Blue is used to symbolise trust and stability Creating a strong sense of calm and balance within a scene. During more mellow sequences blue instills a sense of safety in an audience. Whilst at other times it can be used to express a break down in a character. Used to symbolise when a character has reached their lowest point and is consumed by grief or depression. Blue can symbolise a lack of hope and a sense of loss will power. But being a darker colour, Blue is also great for creating a sense of mystery and intrigue. But (with a bot of luck) none of this will be a huge factor in my film so my use of Blue when grading will likely be limited to one or two scenes at most.


Orange
Orange is by far the most interesting colour to me. It seems to be the most versatile as it's blend allows it to connote similar meanings to previous colours whilst also bringing something new and different to the table. Similar to red orange is quite an intense colour often used during action sequences and high stakes films. But unlike red, orange does not overpower a scene, instead of giving it a more subtle tone that gets the audience engaged without ruining their immersion within a scene. Orange is used to highlight a sense of struggle within a character, and can be a colour used to reflect the difficulties that person is facing without obscuring the scene entirely, or looking too obvious like yellow. Orange brings out the energy and passion of both a scene and an audience, but subtly, so as not to raise the bar too high. Due to this Orange will be the primary contributor to my colour grade. It matches many of our scenes really well and is extremely versatile.  

Colour Grade Research-Icarus

The documentary Icarus was one that I watched in preparation for this project. I found it particularly relevant in a number of ways, and one of these happened to be the subtle grade it uses throughout. 

Being a relatively high stakes film with some clear action sequences early on, I noticed how the documentary used it's grading, particularly the yellow's and faint oranges within it's scenes to build up my energy and attention as an audience. 

The opening shots of the documentary in particular use a heavy amount of yellow and orange to instantly make its shots stand out and hook an audience. 

As we proceed the grade gets a little more subtle but still maintains those yellow and orange tones that keep the audience engaged with the subject matter. 

What's also interesting about this documentary is that it adds a fair bit of warmth to some of its scenes. This helps to lul the audience in to a false sense of security, keeping them in positive spirits and then dragging them "down the rabbit hole" as the film gets deeper and deeper in to the controversy's it seeks to explore. None the less the warmth is more eye-catching than some of the other grades I've seen regardless of their implications. 

Despite the limitations, they had with cameras, and the varying conditions as we progress through the narrative, they did a great job of matching skin tones in this film. Keeping them consistently warm, to highlight the intensity, pressure and seriousness of each character's situation. 

I intend to take on board much of what I've seen hear in my own grade. I like the orange and yellow tint that tricks you in to thinking happy thoughts, but then drags you along through the character's journey since the scenes feel so engaging. 

The warmth will help our documentary feel like a consistently linear narrative no matter what order we film in. 

Colour Grade Research-Twighlight

Icarus provided me with the main base of my colour grade, but looking at what I have planned for my edit, there is one sequence that stands out as being quite different from the others. That being the South Downs sequence. It is in a very different location to the majority of our documentary and has a very different emotional tone to it.

As such it is quite likely it will need a different colour grade to the rest of the doc.

Considering my above research and the emotional tone of the sequence I believe that blue's and green's will need to be the primary base of this sequences grade. Looking for some kind of source material to macth what I had in mind was difficult, but eventually, the Twilight movies and their stand out grade, came to mind. 

Twilight is well known for its highly emotive content, which while a completely different genre to our film, is quite fitting with this one scene in particular. So I began watching the film for inspiration.

I payed close attention to the way they bring out all the blue's especially in low lighting. Making everything have a soft feel to it. It grounds the characters more and we see further in to the depths of their emotions thanks to the not so subtle suggestive grade. 

But in bringing out the blue's the editors made sure not to neglect the green's, so although there is an obvious tint, things like grass and tree's still look quite accurate. This is pretty much exactly what i want to reflect in our South downs sequence. So I will be comparing my scenes and my uses of blue and green to this movie when I edit.