Color Grading
The post-production process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture or video.
In depth
Color grading (or Color Correction) is used to establish a visual mood. The most famous modern example is the 'Teal and Orange' look, which contrasts cool shadows with warm skin tones to make the image pop.
Example
“The greenish tint in 'The Matrix' which signals to the audience that they are inside the simulation.”
Origin and history
For most of cinema's history, 'grading' meant chemical timing of the negative — a colorist would adjust exposure and color balance during photochemical printing. The transition to digital intermediate (DI) workflows in the early 2000s revolutionized the discipline: now nearly every modern film passes through software like DaVinci Resolve, where colorists shape the entire visual identity of the film. The practice has become so important that lead colorists are increasingly credited as creative collaborators rather than technicians.
Why filmmakers use it
Color grading is the final layer of authorship on a film's image. The same scene can be made warm and intimate, cold and clinical, or stylized and surreal entirely through grading choices. Genre conventions live here: superhero films lean teal and orange; horror leans desaturated greens; period pieces add warm sepia tones. The audience may not consciously notice grading, but their emotional read of every shot is shaped by it.
More examples in cinema
- David Fincher's 'Se7en' uses an extreme low-saturation grade to make Manhattan feel diseased and oppressive throughout.
- 'Mad Max: Fury Road' pushes its desert sequences toward extreme orange and teal to create the film's distinctive heightened look.