Hey guys my name is Denver Riddle, I’m a
colorist and filmmaker and if you’re wondering
how can I get the the look of my films to
stand out and to look big budget well I’m
going to reveal how to do that in this Final
Cut Pro X tutorial….
Final Cut Pro X is the easiest, fastest way to edit.
If you’re just picking it up or you're a lifelong user, you already know this.
It's a fast modern editor with live previewing while you're scrubbing,
simple drag and drop editing, beautiful titles and transitions
and the magnetic timeline that keeps everything in place and organized like magic!
But what about the way your film actually
looks?
For that you’ll want to color grade your
films and if that’s something that you're new to
or if it seems overwhelming to you.  Well not to worry.
I’m going to break down the grading process
in this tutorial and we’re going to create
this amazing look together, which you can
download as a LUT or look up table to apply
to your own footage.
Now while I’m going to be using the built-in
native tools I also want to mention an alternative
for content creators who don’t want to specialize
as a colorist but still need a professional
look with on screen color grading, lightroom
style controls, false color mode for landing
the correct exposure and real time previews
of LUTs and presets, you can find out more
about the Cinema Grade plugin, I’ll have
a link for it in the description below.
And finally while YouTube is a fantastic resource
for learning about so many different kinds
of subjects if you are looking for a step-by-step
guide that takes you all the way through discovering
the art of color grading and getting the big
budget Hollywood film looks I want to let
you know about a free training workshop I’m
going to be doing where I reveal my top color
grading secrets, I’ll also have a link for
it in the description below.
Alright, let’s do this thing!
So to get started we’re going to work in
the Color & Effects workspace.
For that let’s go to Window, workspaces…
Color and Effects.
This will bring out the inspector and the
video scopes.
All the color tools we’ll need can be access
through this icon on the inspector panel.
Before we jump in and start grading this thing,
let’s discuss basic terminology for how
we define color.
The three basic terms that we use to define
color are Hue, Saturation, and Luma.
Hue is the name we call colors.
Saturation is the intensity or vividness of
a hue.
And Luma is the brightness or shade of hue.
It’s also important to know how to read
the scopes, which can be super beneficial.
I’m going to change the view to show the
three scopes that I use the most.
These are the luma waveform, RGB
overlay waveform and the vectorscope.
The luma waveform let’s us correct for exposure.
If I overlay an image on top of the waveform,
you can see that the trace the stuff you see
here actually corresponds with the image of
the girl dancing.
The trace at the bottom represents the shadows... and the trace at the top represents the highlights.
The RGB Overlay Waveform is helpful for correcting
white balance issues, it reads the same as
the luma waveform but it also shows the color
channels in red, green and blue.
This makes it easier to spot imbalances if
either the image is too cool or too warm.
The Vectorscope, corresponds directly with
the color wheel, and I’ve overlaid it here
for convenience.
It shows what colors are in the image as well
as their saturation.
The further the trace extends from the center
of the scope, the more saturated or vivid
the colors are.
Here’s a simple but powerful workflow for
color correction: We first correct the exposure
or brightness of the image, second the white
balance or color temperature if there are
any issues and lastly the saturation by either
increasing or reducing it.
This will make more sense as we actually do
it!
I’ll choose this clip as our Hero Shot.
Let’s first make a correction to the exposure
of this image using the color wheels.
To the right of each color wheel you’ll
find the exposure control.
The shadows control affects the darkest parts
of the image, the highlights affects the brightest
parts of the image, and the midtones control
affects everything else in between.
The fourth wheel is the master control which
adjusts the entire image and there are some
circumstances where you use it.
Now looking at this you can see it’s really
flat, this is a very common way to see it
if you capture in a Log or flat profile.
So how we’ll correct this shot is we’ll
adjust the shadows while watching the waveform.
We want to bring the trace and the shadows
down until the darkest parts of the image
sit right above zero.
Then we’ll bring up the highlights so the
brightest parts of the trace sit right about
here near the top.
Then I’ll bring the midtones down.
This gives us good contrast and exposure.
This is the first step.
Next we’ll fix the color temperature, since
our image looks too cool.
We can clearly see the blue trace dominating
the middle of our Waveform.
Our goal here is to neutralize or white balance
the whites.
I’ll achieve this with the temperature control
which adjusts the color balance along the
orange to blue spectrum.
In this case I’ll drag it to the right adding
warm colors and I’ll keep dragging until
the red, green and blue traces begin to align,
turning white.
Now you’ll see that the blue and green traces
are align, but not the red one.
To fix that we’ll use the tint control which
adjusts the color balance along the green
to magenta spectrum.
I’ll drag it to the right adding red, and
then adjust again the temperature control
until the trace turns white.
For out final step let’s boost the color a little bit
by increasing the saturation with the control
on the left side of the master color wheel.
Here’s what the clip looks like before and
after the correction.
Doesn’t that look awesome!
If it does… go ahead give this video a like!
Alright!
Now that our hero shot is color corrected,
let’s move on.
In this next shot we’ll repeat the procedure,
going for a nice balance of exposure with
the shadows, highlights and midtones controls.
The color temperature in this shot looks off
too, so we’ll use again the temperature
and tint controls.
Lastly we’ll add some saturation too.
Moving to the third shot, we wanna match it
to the first shot for obvious reasons, since
this is pretty much a wider version of the
shot.
To give us a good starting point let’s copy
the correction from the first clip to this
one.
We’ll go to the first shot select it and
use the keyboard shortcut command C to copy.
We’ll then come
back to this clip… go to Edit and choose
Paste Attributes from the dropdown menu.
Make sure the Color wheels effect is checked
and click Paste.
This copies the correction and gives us a
good starting point, but you’ll see that
we still have some matching issues.
The image is too dark.
To help with matching we are going to set
up a side by side view with the Comparison
Viewer so we can see both images and their
traces in the waveform at the same time.
To do this let’s go to window… show in
workspace… then comparison viewer.
This opens a new window to the left of the
Viewer, that’s were our reference image
will show.
Now the scopes are showing between the viewers,
let’s change their position by enabling
the vertical layout.
Now let’s enable the scopes for the Comparison
Viewer and set them to vertical layout too.
If we needed to compare our shot to the last
frame of the outgoing or the first frame of
the incoming shot just make sure the comparison
viewer is set to timeline and click on Previous
Edit or Next Edit.
In this case we want to use our first frame
as a reference, so lets change the comparison
viewer to saved mode, move the timeline playhead
to the frame we want as a reference and click
Save Frame.
Now if you happen to save several frames, you can open the
Frame Browser to select the right one.
Let’s close the Frame Browser and move the
playhead back to the third clip.
Now that this is setup, we can see both images
and their traces at the same time.
To match the traces we’ll bring up
the general exposure using the control on
the right side of the master wheel.
We can see in the Waveform that both traces
look like they’re at the same level.
That’s a nice looking match.
Now we can disable the comparison viewer and
the vertical layout for the scopes.
In the interest of time I’ve already gone
ahead and performed color correction to these
remaining clips.
But in this last shot you’ll see that the
yellow pole looks greenish compared to the
ones on the other shots.
Well what’s really cool, is that we can
fix that one color with a Color Mask.
So I’ll add another Color Wheels Effect,
click here to select Color Mask… and now
lets click and drag over the pole to qualify
or isolate it.
We can click here to view our mask and if
we need to add a little more, we can do it
by holding the shift key and dragging.
You can see we are grabbing a bit of the girls
clothes and the background wall as well, so
we can further qualify adding a shape mask
and position it around the pole so we're using both together.
Let’s disable the View Mask option and now
we can drag the master color wheel control
until the pole losses that green tone…
Bam!!
But, if we play the clip back, you’ll see
the camera moves making our mask move out
of place, so we want to address that.
Lets select Shape Mask 1 in the inspector
panel and on the right hand side you’ll
see the add keyframe button.
Let’s click on it to create our first keyframe.
And what we have done here is save the mask
parameters on this current frame.
To view the keyframes of our mask in the timeline,
select the clip, and use the keyboard shortcut
Control-V.
Then click here on the Color Wheels 2 effect
and choose Shape Mask 1 from the dropdown
menu.
Here we can reposition the keyframes or delete
them by right clicking on it and choosing
delete.
Now let’s move the playhead a few frames
forward and reposition the mask… and when
we do that, a new keyframe is automatically
generated.
I’ll keep doing this until the end of the
clip, making sure the mask always stays on
the pole…
And that’s it, the mask is tracked to the
pole… pretty awesome, right?
Okay now it’s time for the really fun part
and that’s creating an awesome look for
these clips.
The Orange/Teal Look is a really popular look
because it uses principles of color contrast
to make the skin tones or our talent pop out
from the background.
And frankly it just looks awesome so you’re
going to love this!
I’m gonna show you a quick way to apply
the SAME look on top of all of these clips
and this will save you time and ensure you
have a consistent look across the board.
To do that, we’ll highlight all the clips,
then right click and select new compound clip.
We'll give it a name, in this case Orange/Teal and click ok.
Now when we make a color adjustment to the
compound clip it will apply the same correction
to all the clips uniformly.
Pretty sweet, right?!
If you’re getting something
out of this Final Cut Pro X tutorial let me know in the
comments below.
Alright now let’s create the look.
This time we’ll use the color curves for
more precise control.
You can do that by selecting them here.
Now a quick crash course on the way this works
in case you haven’t already used these in
Photoshop is bottom point adjusts the shadows,
the top point adjusts the highlights and we
can make as many points as we want on the
curve in between to shape the tonal range.
In this case we don’t want to affect the
highlights or the shadows too much so we’ll
create contrast in-between these areas known
as the undertones and midtones.
I’ll make a point here in the midtones and
drag it up.
This improves our exposure but makes the undertones
look a little washed out.
So let’s add another point here and drag
it down to adjust the density of the undertones,
there that looks nice, now we have a much
richer contrast.
Now for color we want to push teal into the overall
image but without affecting the skin tones.
So let me show you how we’ll do this, we’ll
add another color wheels effect and add a
Color Mask.
Let’s select our talent’s skin… enable
the View Masks option and refine the mask
by adding other warm colors from her coat.
Now the trick to make this actually work is we currently have our skin tones selected
is we want to invert our selection (like so), we'll disable the
view masks option and now we can use the master
color wheel to introduce teal into the image
without affecting the skin tones.
Now we are onto something… right?
But we are not there yet.
Because we pushed teal into the entire tonal
range our shadows also look teal, the skin
tones need some extra saturation too and because
the yellow poles where out of our color mask,
they’ve become greenish.
To fix all this issues will add a Hue/Saturation
Curves Effect.
First I’ll show you a great trick to clean
shadows.
Let’s go to the Luma Vs Sat curve.
The way this tool works is the shadows are
to the left and the highlights are to the
right, and then anywhere that we place points
on the curve, we are able to adjust the saturation
for that part of the tonal range by either
pulling up to increase the saturation or pulling
down to decrease it.
So this is a really cool way for selectively
reducing the saturation in the shadows without
affecting anything else.
We’ll place a point here so nothing above
is affected and then we’ll drag the left
point all the way down to reduce the saturation
in the shadows.
Voila our shadows are nice and clean and the
skin tones and everything else kept their
saturation.
If I toggle the Hue/Saturation Effect off
and back on again… you can see the difference
it made in pulling the teal out of the shadows
on the walls, her hair and the trash can.
Okay, so don’t forget that cool trick.
Now let’s jump into the Hue vs Sat curve
to add some pop to the skin tones.
I’ll use the eyedropper tool and click on
the skin tones to auto set the range of points
on the curve.
Then dragging up on the center point we can
make the skin tones pop without affecting
anything else.
We’ll then just refine the curve to make
sure that all the warm colors that we find
on the skin are saturated evenly.
Finally to fix the poles color, le’ts go
to the Hue vs Hue curve and use again the
eyedropper tool to select that yellow greenish
tone… and drag the center point up, effectively
changing its hue towards red.
As a final touch, I want to apply one of my
favorite LUTs from Ascend that’s available
for download when you sign up for the free
workshop.
For that let’s go to the effects panel and
under the “color” section you’ll find
the Custom LUT effect.
I’ll drag and drop the effect on the compound
clip.
Go to the inspector and use the LUT browser
to select the ASCEND 3Strip LUT.
Now at first it’s too strong but that’s
okay because we can dial it back to taste
with the mix slider.
What an awesome look!
Now I know that I covered a lot of things
here, but my purpose was to help you get started
with seeing a difference in your films today.
If you’re looking for alternative that gives
you real time previews of your favorite LUTs
and onscreen color grading I suggest checking
out Cinema Grade.
And if you’re intent on using the native
tools and want more guided help I want to
invite you to our 1-hour color grading workshop
where I reveal the top color grading secrets
used in Hollywood for how to the best color
grade in Final Cut Pro X.
You’ll find a link for those of those in
the description below.
In the web class I reveal how I went from
being a wedding videographer down to 0 wedding
bookings during the recession of 2008 to improving
the look of my films and landing client work
with some of the biggest brands like Facebook.
I reveal the same techniques that have had
the biggest impact on my career, so if you’re
serious and want to be guided every step of
the way you won’t want to miss it.
I also want to point out that if you want
to learn more about our Color Grading Academy
it’s the only way you can do that.
People ask if we do formal training, well
this is your opportunity to discover that
and we’ll have a special offer for it at
the end of the presentation.
So be sure to save your seat, click the subscribe
button and then the bell for more grading
videos!
I hope you enjoyed this Final Cut Pro X tutorial
as much I enjoyed creating it for you and
I look forward to seeing you at the training.
Have a great day!
