Basic Creative Look Development

Look development is an essential part of a good color grade.

Creating an overall look for a movie or video is an important part, but can also be difficult. It needs to work for your whole timeline.

So how do you manage that?

Part of the trick is to use broad tools and constantly check how it works on many different shots.

There are some simple tools you can use in Resolve to help you do most of the work of look development for your timeline.

In Part #1 of this series from Cullen Kelly, you’ll learn about:

  • What is a look?
  • Anchoring middle grey with an exposure chart and qualifier
  • Applying contrast with Custom Curves
  • Creating color contrast with split toning in Custom Curves
  • Reducing intensity of the look with Key Output Gain

But wait, there’s more!

In Part 2:

  • Adjusting hues with Hue vs Hue curve
  • Controlling Color density with Hue vs Lum curve – and why it’s not ideal
  • Creating Color density with a Layer Mixer and RGB Mixer

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