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FilmSkool — a free film school

How a Pro Colorist uses film grain

A working feature colourist on using film grain deliberately — where it sits in the node tree, how much is actually appropriate, and why grain applied at the wrong stage reads as noise rather than texture.

Cullen Kelly · 16 min · Advanced · COL · Color · 2023

What you take away

Grain has to be applied in the right colour space and at the right point in the chain, or it stops looking like film and starts looking like a broken codec.

Watch it

Filed under

Films to study for colour

Books on colour

Kit for this lesson

Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve Studio — The paid Resolve, bought once, kept for ever
Calibrite Display Pro HL — Calibrates the monitor you are trusting
Tangent Ripple — The cheapest set of real trackballs
Dell UltraSharp U2723QE — The sensible 4K second monitor
Blackmagic DeckLink 8K Pro — Clean video out to a reference monitor
BenQ SW272U — 4K, hardware calibration, a grading-adjacent price

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Introduction to gamuts | Color science | Computer animation | Khan Academy — Khan Academy Labs · 2m · Intermediate
Masterclass in color grading with Mark Todd Osborne — Lowepost · 32m · Advanced
CIE chromaticity diagram | Color science | Computer Animation | Khan Academy — Khan Academy Labs · 2m · Intermediate
How Professional Colorists Read Scopes featuring Darren Mostyn — timeinpixels · 15m · Intermediate
Halation effect: What is it and why is it important for the film emulation? — Dehancer · 13m · Intermediate
I wish I knew this when I started color grading | DaVinci Resolve — Waqas Qazi · 14m · Beginner
Learn professional color grading and look development in DaVinci Resolve. — Lowepost · 27m · Intermediate
5 Things You may be Doing that are Ruining Your Grades | DaVinci Resolve Tutorial — Waqas Qazi · 13m · Intermediate

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