Glossary
What is colour grading?
Colour grading is the post-production stage in which a film’s colour, contrast and tone are deliberately shaped, after correction has made the footage technically consistent.
Two distinct jobs are usually collapsed into one word. Colour correction is technical: matching shots so that footage from different cameras, times of day and lighting conditions looks like it belongs together. Colour grading is creative: deciding what the film should feel like, and pushing the image toward it.
For brands, the second job is the one that matters, because grading is where a visual identity is enforced. It is also why recutting a film without the colour pipeline is a real problem rather than an inconvenience — the film stops looking like the film that was approved, and nobody can point at which shot broke.
Correction and grading are different jobs
| Colour correction | Colour grading | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Technical consistency | Creative intent |
| Fixes | Exposure, white balance, camera mismatch | Nothing — it decides |
| Judged by | Whether shots match | Whether the film feels right |
| Skippable | Never | Only if you do not mind how it looks |
| Brand relevance | Low | High — this is where visual identity is enforced |
| Reversible later | Yes | Only with the original project files |
Why it matters commercially
- It is where visual identity lives. A consistent grade across years of films is what makes a brand recognisable before the logo appears.
- It cannot be replicated without the project files. Which is why asset buyouts and grading are connected questions.
- Ungraded footage looks like footage. Corrected but ungraded material reads as competent and anonymous.
- It is frequently the first thing cut from a budget, and the cut is visible to viewers who could not name what changed.
- It is where a multi-camera or multi-day shoot becomes one film rather than several.
In practice
DOT’s studio in Uithoorn houses a dedicated colour grading room alongside the edit suite. For Paul Meijering, grading is part of how a defined visual identity has been held consistent across a multi-year partnership — their material is recognisable as theirs before the logo appears.
See what is included at each stage on the services overview.
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