Overview

Learn the essentials of color correcting and color grading video footage with this powerful post-production software

Why Do We Colour Grade?
Opening Davinci Resolve for the First Time
Exporting Your Film from Premiere
Importing Footage with XML or Flattened QT
Finding Still Images as References
Log and Raw Terminology
Exploring Nodes
Playback Speed and Creating Caches
Practice: Preparing Our Media for Grading
Primary Controls
Learning to Use Scopes
First Correction - Changing Levels
Second Correction - Changing Colour
Matching Colour and Contrast between Shots
Giving Your Film a Feel
Practice: Balancing Then Giving Shots Feeling
Meaning of Secondaries and Using the Qualifier
Power Windows and Drawing Shapes
Tracking with Power Windows
Curves as Secondaries
Parallel vs Serial Nodes, and Alpha Channels
Using Keyframes
Practice: Keys, Trackers, and Keyframes
Luts
Easy Teal and Orange Split Tone Look
Bleach Bypass Look
Cross Processed Look
Low Contrast Vintage Film Look
Assessing and Recreating Looks from TV
Using Colour Theory in Your Work
Practice: Experimenting with Creative Looks
Remote Grades, Groups, and Colourtrace
Organizing the Node Tree
Useful Terms
Grading Control Surfaces
Practice: Being More Efficient
Delivery Interface and Exporting
Exporting with Handles to Return to Premiere
Export Colours and Why They Change
Databases and Project Archiving
Practice: Exporting Our Work

As a professional colorist, Alex Berry’s job is to help capture a viewer’s attention by enhancing the mood and emotion of a film. What used to be a luxury reserved for only the most high-budget film projects has now become a necessity for any professional project in the audiovisual industry.

In this 6-course Domestika Basics, Alex Berry shows you how to add balance and stylize your video footage with the basic and advanced features offered in the free post-production software DaVinci Resolve.

Get started by meeting your instructor and learning about the concepts and purpose of color grading. Explore the interface of DaVinci Resolve and learn how to prepare your video footage for coloring.

Then, learn the different tools needed to start balancing and correcting color. Discover how to measure and compare adjustments using scopes and levels to match footage between different shots.

See how to make precise adjustments to color with secondary controls like keys, power windows, curves, and keyframes. Discover the Qualifier tool and learn how to make adjustments to specific areas of an image.

Learn Alex’s favorite techniques for giving your film a unique stylized look. Explore LUTs and see how to use scopes to deconstruct and emulate looks you find in the real world.

Maximize your productivity and learn how to be more efficient with your color grading work. See how Alex organizes his workflow with remote grades and node trees.

Finally, learn how to export your video footage and share it with your clients. See the best way to backup a project and database in DaVinci Resolve, and the problems you may encounter with third-party software.

Technical Requirements

To take this course, you will need a computer with DaVinci Resolve installed (free download available online). A basic understanding of video formats and non-linear editing software is nice to have, but is not essential.