Color Grading: Don't Make this Mistake!
When it comes to color correction and color grading with DaVinci Resolve, everyone believes that you can only make technical and artistic mistakes.
In this article, I'm going to talk about one of the biggest mistakes a professional colorist can make: Believing that the project is his!
Why am I saying this?
I happen to notice more and more often how some colorists, after having developed their own personal style, try to reproduce and impose it on every single project. Almost as if it were a trademark.
I think developing one's own personal style is really important for a colorist.
On the contrary, I think that trying to reproduce that particular style on every single project you get your hands on is the worst thing on the face of the Earth, especially if you try to make your vision prevail at all costs over that of the dop and the director.
Think about it: the colorist is the last link in a very long chain.
Do you have any idea how much work there is behind a film project and how many departments have been involved?
Think about what would happen if each department tried to replicate the same style every time.
Exactly, we'd shoot the same movie over and over again.
So why try to flatten out all those nuances that make a project unique by using the same style over and over again?
Let me tell you something...
Where I lived as a kid, there was a bakery with an almost endless selection of pastries. They had cakes of every flavor, shape and size.
I still remember how I felt after tasting them: they all had the same damn taste!
What do I mean by that?
Don't become that bakery!
You can't treat 10 completely different stories the same way.
I firmly believe that color correction and color grading are nothing more than an extension of what has already been done on the set.
The colorist must be at the service of the project, trying to fully understand the vision of the dop and the director and reproduce it in order to improve the story they are trying to tell.
If the look the director has in mind is modern, very contrasted and saturated, there's no point trying to impose your desaturated look, with very soft contrasts and 16mm grain just because that's your style, your "signature".
I must say that when a client comes to the studio and says "do as you please", my style is the first thing I think about.
I want to be honest with you: nine times out of ten I decide not to use it anyway because I realize that it would not be the optimal way to tell that particular story at its best.
My clients now know that I will treat their project objectively and I will be an extra tool in their hands, not an obstacle.
Conclusion
Next time you try to impose your style, remember these three things:
1 - The project is not yours, it's the clients.
2 - You're an artist, not a production line.
3 - Don't become that bakery ;)
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