Color Correction Look Book: Creative Grading Techniques for Film and Video

Chapter 10. Flat Looks and Film Flashing

I don’t want to imitate life in movies; I want to represent it. And in that representation, you use the colors you feel, and sometimes they are fake colors. But always it’s to show one emotion.

—Pedro Almodovar

Film flashing can be thought of as a rationale for looks involving a reduction, rather than an expansion, of image contrast. In the years since, a grading style referred to as the “flat look” has begun to make the jump from commercial spots in London to short-form and series work around the world; the first season of the HBO series Girls (colorist: Sam Daley) was notable for the use of a muted, lower-contrast look that serves as a good example of this sort of stylization. However, before delving ...