Ever wonder what those wiggly lines on the video scopes are for?
Drivers check their spedometer, colorists check their scopes.
Scopes can seem intimidating at first but these are powerful tools for correcting, matching, and grading.
Here to get you acquainted is Darren Mostyn, showing you:
- an intro to scopes
- customizing scope views
- qualifier focus
- how to read a waveform
- what the parade scope says
- using the vectorscope
- getting to know the histogram
- what the heck a CIE graph is
Next, bring in some clips into your timeline and take a look at the scopes as you grade. Notice what happens when you use lift, or temp & tint controls, or curves.
Scopes are a colorists best friend for doing quality work quickly.
What questions do you have about scopes? Leave a comment below!

Gedaly is the Managing Editor of DVresolve.com. He is a professional editor, having cut national commercials for major companies, and does color & VFX for indie films at Mask & Feather. He’s also a filmmaker, writing and directing shorts & features. Gedaly is the co-founder of Working.Actor and former marketing strategist for large brands.