Of the three most important aspects of video post-production, colour grading is arguably the most unheralded and yet the most subtly powerful for conveying the mood and tone of a brand.
The power of editing and the film cut has been known for over a century, with the Kuleshov effect highlighting that the power of video comes not necessarily from an individual clip but in the context of a montage of clips.
Similarly, the soundtrack to a video sequence has the power to transform the interpretation of a particular scene, one that is known to a lot of people who regularly watch videos and particularly adverts.
On the other hand, colour grading has a tremendous power to shape the mood of a particular sequence and can leave a very specific impression on viewers.
How Does Colour Grading Work?
Colour grading is the stylistic alteration of a wide range of attributes in order to provide a particular effect, which include but are far from limited to saturation, white balance, contrast, level of detail, visual noise and colour tint.
Adjusting any aspect of the image will have a psychological effect on how it is subconsciously interpreted by a viewer in much the same way that colour psychology in logo design creates a similarly subconscious effect,
Colour grading is often achieved through multiple interlinking variables that provide a complete effect, but here are some of the main concepts of colour grading and how they affect brands.
Colour Temperature
Arguably the most widely used colour grading principle and one that has a psychological basis in interior design, colour temperature is the perception of an image as either “warm” or “cool”, usually by shifting the colour balance towards oranges for the former or blues for the latter.
A brand might opt for a warmer colour balance if it wants to create a sense of cosiness, intimacy and emotional resonance, as is common for many adverts aimed at families or couples.
It often evokes a sense of nostalgia, which is why it is also often used for Christmas advertising.
By contrast, a colder colour temperature creates a somewhat more sterile, cold, and calmly rational perception, which benefits brands which want to project stability and security.
Cooler colour grading is often perceived as modern if not outright futuristic.
Colour Saturation
Colour saturation is one of the most impactful uses of colour grading, as the level of colour in a particular shot will cause a viewer to subconsciously focus on different elements of the scene.
At one extreme, highly saturated colours are often distracting and cause a viewer to focus on the world and how it makes them feel. By contrast, monochromatic images inherently lead a viewer to focus on central details.
An extreme and early example of the effect this can have is the contrast between the sepia of
Kansas and the highly saturated and vivid colours of the Land of Oz.
In the former, the audience focuses on Dorothy and her family, with the background details fading into insignificance, whilst the brightness of the Emerald City is as captivating as the characters themselves in the colour sequences.
There are various levels to this in branding, with more muted colours often associated with grittiness, realism and individualism, whilst vivid, saturated colours are associated with the wider world and a perception of fantasy.
