Colour grading & look development · Working

Colour grade

Also called: color grade, grading

ELI5

The creative and technical shaping of colour, contrast and tonal relationships across the finished work.

“The colour grade changes the audience’s experience, so judge it against the whole scene.”

You may encounter “Colour grade” in editing, colour, post & delivery conversations or materials.

Why it matters: Explains how recorded material becomes a finished, approved and technically deliverable work.

Colour correctionColour correction normalises and balances images; grading also develops the creative look. In practice the terms often overlap.
ConformA common picture-post progression.
Final deliveryA common picture-post progression.

When the words have to travel

Bring the script, brief or half-formed thought. We help find the shape people need to understand.

Sources & evidence · 4

Supporting source families. This entry is an editorial synthesis rather than a quotation from one canonical glossary.