For the first time ever, Davide Greco, CSI, ICG, offers his color grading courses to an international audience.

Since 2014 Davide has been sharing his knowledge and experience from feature films, commercials, documentary and music videos in Switzerland. Now he opens the doors for his one-on-one courses to an international audience.

In Switzerland his courses are already known for not only being instructive, but also containing a lot of practical exercises. Davide puts great emphasis on quality in his courses and is not afraid to share his knowledge and tricks.

Color Grading Course: Basic and Advanced

One-on-one online live sessions. DaVinci Resolve.

Day 1: Basics

Introduction

• What is the job of a colorist?
• Introducing color theory with the color wheel so that the practical exercises are comprehensible.
• The purpose and functions of the color wheels.
• Getting to know how working with real clients looks like: Workflow with XML and Scene Detection (just in case you don't know).
• Roundtrip.

Practice

Color Management

• Why you should work with Color Management.
  
• What workflows are available and what are their advantages and disadvantages.
  
• Basic knowledge about color spaces.
• Get to know the terminology.

Primary Color Correction

• White Balance: Neutralizing images. Using color wheels: lift, gamma, gain and offset. You learn what matters for which purpose.
  
• Detecting and cleaning up color tints.
• Defining contrast and color saturation.
• Knowing scopes: Waveform, Vectorscope, RGB Parade etc.

Shot matching

• How to match multiple video sequences that have different brightness and color values.

Secondary Color Correction

• What is secondary color correction and why is it important.
• Creating a mood, e.g. changing a summer mood into an autumn one.
• Isolating and adjusting distracting colors to develop a harmonious color scheme.
• Neutralizing unpleasant skin tones with several techniques.
• Overcoming problems with color isolation: For example, how do we isolate skin tones when the wall in the background has the same or similar hue?

You will be surprised how much you can already improve the footage with secondary tools. With further tips and tricks, you can learn at this early stage of the process how to create moods that trigger emotions an how to give your images already some kind of a look.

Vignetting

• When to use it and why.
• Using vignetting as a stylistic tool for effects.
• Learning different forms and application techniques to create moods.
• Learning how to guide the viewers perception.

Basic Look

• What is the difference between color correction and color grading? I tell you why color correction is not enough.
  
• Implementing the basic looks (warm and cool). Here I take on the role of a director who has special requirements that you have to implement.
• How to work more efficiently when implementing the look for a scene or for a project.

Practice Part 2

Master Exercise

Now you will learn to implement what you have learned in part one on a commercial provided by me. This commercial has issues like: Clipped highlights, brightness and white balance inconsistency. Plus, it is only 8bit 4:2:0. This is the perfect scenario to learn how to become better and reveals what you’ve already learned and where you can still improve pretty quickly. Of course we will have feedback sessions for every step: Primary correction, secondaries, vignetting and basic looks. On top I show you 3 different methods how to deal with clipped highlights so your work will still look smooth and well done.

Conclusion Day one

On the first day of the color grading course, you got to know much more than just the basics. In addition to the theory and philosophy behind color grading, you gained a lot of practice and know-how that can already be applied to your next projects. You will already achieve convincing results.

Day 2: Advanced

One-on-one online live session. DaVinci Resolve.

Practice

Look development

• We will analyze various screenshots and trailers from Hollywood productions and we ask the question "Why do these images look so cinematic?"
• We'll analyze the color schemes, the brightness and color saturation values, we'll also pay attention to how bright and how dark certain regions of the image are etc.

These analyses will help you understand what is important for creating cinematic images. With the gained insights we will implement the characteristics of a cinematic mood accordingly.

• I will not only share the techniques that I use over and over again, but I will also show you how to create convincing looks with simple but very effective method.
• We will figure out how to create the Teal and Orange look in many different ways convincingly. You will learn it with and several ways without qualifier, without any PFE-LUT and without plugins! These techniques can be applied for a wide range of looks, not only for the T&O.
• PFE-LUT workflow to create looks.

More looks

• Beauty look: I show you live how I do it and why I do it that way. I reveal how I manage a footage with a white background who has lens vignetting and a slight color issue. I show you how to make it pure, smooth and totally clean.
• Dreamy look. Techniques how to develop surreal and romantic moments. I show you also how to implement a glow effect without plugins.

As a practical exercise, you will implement all the mentioned methods and looks yourself. This will not only help you to develop your own looks in the future but also how to combine different techniques to fulfill your clients needs.

Conclusion Day 2

The second day has the goal to further develop the basics. Through the various exercises, inputs and techniques that you have learned, you will be able to develop your own approaches and looks in the future. The newly acquired know-how will give you a new perspective on color grading. The learned techniques can be used in all genres: Commercial, documentary, feature, music video etc.

Another goal is to make you aware of the importance of matching story and color grading in order to develop expressive looks. At the end of the day, this is a key skill for a colorist.

As I like to say >>For me, color grading is not only creating beautiful images, I want it to tell stories and evoke emotions.<<

Procedure

• After your purchase, I will contact you within 24 hours to set our appointment. Please check your spam folder.
• You will receive the Davinci Resolve project with all timelines and footage aligned to the course.
• The dates will always be suggested in CET time zone. As soon as everything is confirmed, I will send you the Zoom link.

Duration and Prices

The one-on-one live courses start at 9.00 am and end at 5.00 pm. (CET time zone) If the time of the timezone is absolutely inconvenient for you, we will certainly find a solution.

• 1- day course “Basic”(mandatory for beginners): CHF 799.-
• 1- day course “Advanced”: CHF 999.-
• 2- days course: “Basic & Advanced”: CHF 1598.–

Advantages of a one-on-one course:

• Very intensive and informative because I can focus only on you.
• I can explain everything very precisely and profoundly.
• You can ask as many questions as you like.
• If you have special desires, I can adapt the content of the course to your needs.
• You learn much faster.
• Immediate feedback and suggestions for solutions.
  
• You get a one-on-one course certificate.
  
• If you have any questions about the content you have learned, or you like a feedback on a project you are currently working on after the course - I'm still available for you as a consultant. At no additional cost.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am here to help.

Do you want to transform your color grading skills and learn in a one-on-one environment with a professional colorist to reach the next level, then you are in the right place here.

APPLY NOW – Basic Course
APPLY NOW – Advanced Course
APPLY NOW – Basic & Advanced Course

Do you prefer bank transfer instead of credit card? No problem. Send me an Email and I will send you the information you need: info@davescolor.ch