Peep My Color Grading Reel

GrapeHunter

Active member
So a friend and I have been working on a script for a short horror thriller film and I wanted to get some test shots to see how well I could establish the feel I want. Please critique it, Im looking for anything I can do better. We are going for an older, warmer, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) looking film. It was shot on a GH3 with a cannon lens.
 
13658271:GrantLewisIsDNTM said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFu2UbJhgTE

if somebody could imbed that would be cool too

Didn't work for me but anyways liked the shots and the focus pulls, the color grading was nice and natural and had a good warm tone to it, although warm tones do invoke the feeling of comfort to footage so at times I found myself feeling mixed about if I should feel tense and nervous or relaxed and smiling. I might suggest giving the highlights the warmer tone and the mids and shadows a cooler one to give it a cold detached feel to I. May also suggest dropping your shadows or black point just a tad bit and possibly throw on a finely feathered vignette? The compositions and shots were great though, I know its not color grading but might I suggest stabilizing some of those shots? There's a handful that the shake really draws you into the film then a handful that detract from the actual shot like the more stationary ones. Hope that helps man! What lens were you using? And shooting in 1080? 4k?
 
I agree with hood living on the vignette,blue shadows etc. also I think that you should desaturate it a bit

like this shot from some random film

e3c8794a86ca18c2b6a342de12156861.jpg
 
13658293:Hoodliving said:
Didn't work for me but anyways liked the shots and the focus pulls, the color grading was nice and natural and had a good warm tone to it, although warm tones do invoke the feeling of comfort to footage so at times I found myself feeling mixed about if I should feel tense and nervous or relaxed and smiling. I might suggest giving the highlights the warmer tone and the mids and shadows a cooler one to give it a cold detached feel to I. May also suggest dropping your shadows or black point just a tad bit and possibly throw on a finely feathered vignette? The compositions and shots were great though, I know its not color grading but might I suggest stabilizing some of those shots? There's a handful that the shake really draws you into the film then a handful that detract from the actual shot like the more stationary ones. Hope that helps man! What lens were you using? And shooting in 1080? 4k?

Thank you for all the input! I don't have much gear and I only had a cam caddie on hand for stabilization, and that was the best i could do haha. Im going to make my own shoulder rig soon hopefully. I used a Canon EFS 18-55mm kit lens with an adapter on my GH3. Shot it at 1080 60fps.
 
13658377:GrantLewisIsDNTM said:
Thank you for all the input! I don't have much gear and I only had a cam caddie on hand for stabilization, and that was the best i could do haha. Im going to make my own shoulder rig soon hopefully. I used a Canon EFS 18-55mm kit lens with an adapter on my GH3. Shot it at 1080 60fps.

Ben had a good point on the desaturate. im used to seeing canons color log forgot panasonics have a slightly different tonal range.

What program are you using? in premiere use warp stabilizer and put it in no motion setting for the still shots. watch a youtube video on warp stabilizer settings and youll be like oh shittt this rocks. and also If the shot isnt in slowmo if you shoot in 30fps or 24fps it will give you smoother motion in your 'micro jitters' due to the frame being open longer.
 
13658472:Hoodliving said:
Ben had a good point on the desaturate. im used to seeing canons color log forgot panasonics have a slightly different tonal range.

What program are you using? in premiere use warp stabilizer and put it in no motion setting for the still shots. watch a youtube video on warp stabilizer settings and youll be like oh shittt this rocks. and also If the shot isnt in slowmo if you shoot in 30fps or 24fps it will give you smoother motion in your 'micro jitters' due to the frame being open longer.

I usually use premiere but i used fcpx for this one just due to time constraints. I will def check out warp stabilizer, thanks man! I know a lot of people overuse ws and it looks like crap but ill give it a try
 

I enjoyed it and i liked the audio.

Maybe it's just me but i felt like the fps was too high and it made it slightly awkward.
 
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