Color grading

Color sets the mood and makes mixed footage feel like one piece. Eddie grades by description.

Grade by prompt

• "Warm it up and boost contrast."
• "Give it a filmic look."
• "Match the color across the two cameras."

See it live

The player shows your grade, so you can check it before you export.

Film grain, haze and split tone

Three looks go on top of the color grade, for the whole edit or for one camera:

• Film grain — a moving grain texture, from fine 35 mm to coarse 16 mm.
• Haze — a soft glow around bright areas and lifted blacks, like a diffusion filter.
• Split tone — one tint in the shadows and another in the highlights, for example teal and orange.

Ask Eddie: "add subtle film grain", "a soft dreamy haze", or "a teal and orange split tone". Say "subtle" or "heavy" to steer the strength.

In export

An MP4 render bakes the grade into the picture. A timeline export does not always carry it:

• Some edits only: Final Cut Pro (FCPXML) and Premiere XML. The grade is an editable correction. The export notes say when it is left out.
• Never: the Premiere project (.prproj), the Premiere Production delivery, the Resolve project (.drp), the Resolve FCPXML, the Blackmagic Cloud delivery and OTIO. Grade in your editor.

Film grain, haze and split tone show in the player and in MP4 renders only. No timeline export carries them.

Working with flat log footage? See Log footage, LUTs and Rec.709 conversion.

Tip

Grade after you've locked the cut and angles, so you're coloring the final set of shots — especially in multicam.

Related: Crop and reframe, Render an MP4.