Video & Sound Production / project 2

22/4/2026 - 26/7/2026/ Week 1 - Week 14

GUAN YAXIN / 0370687

Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

LECTURES

week 6 - week 7

Color Correction

1. What is Color Correction?

Color Correction is the process of adjusting footage to make it appear natural, balanced, and consistent.Its primary purpose is to correct technical problems such as:

Exposure issues

White balance inconsistencies

Color casts

Contrast adjustments

Saturation corrections

Matching colors between different shots

For example, if one shot appears too blue and another appears too yellow, color correction ensures that both shots look consistent and belong to the same scene.

2. What is Color Grading?

Color Grading is the creative process that takes place after color correction.

It involves manipulating colors to create a specific mood, atmosphere, or visual style that supports the story.

Examples include:

Warm orange tones for nostalgia and comfort

Cool blue tones for loneliness or mystery

Desaturated colors for sadness or realism

High-saturation colors for excitement and energy

Color grading helps filmmakers influence how audiences feel when watching a scene.

3. Key Differences Between Color Correction and Color Grading

4. The Post-Production Workflow

A professional post-production workflow generally follows these steps:

Step 1: Color Correction

Fix exposure

Correct white balance

Remove unwanted color casts

Match shots

Step 2: Color Grading

Apply creative color choices

Establish mood and tone

Strengthen visual storytelling

Create a consistent cinematic look

This workflow ensures that the footage is both technically accurate and visually engaging.

5. The Role of LUTs

LUT stands for Lookup Table.A LUT is a preset color profile used to quickly apply a specific visual style to footage.Common LUT styles include:

Teal and Orange

Hollywood Blockbuster

Vintage Film

Cinematic Warm Tone

However, LUTs should usually be applied after color correction to achieve the best results.

6. Importance in Filmmaking

Both color correction and color grading contribute significantly to filmmaking.

Color Correction

Improves image quality

Maintains consistency

Creates a natural appearance

Color Grading

Establishes mood

Supports themes

Enhances audience emotions

Creates a recognizable visual style

Together, they help transform raw footage into a polished and professional film.

week 8

Audio Editing Summary

1.Frequency Range

The frequency range that the human ear can hear is about 20 Hz–20 kHz, which can be divided into seven main areas, each of which will affect different types of sounds.

2.Sound Level

Sound pressure is measured in decibels (dB SPL).

80 dB is generally considered the maximum safe listening level for prolonged exposure.

三、Mono vs Stereo

Type Description

Mono Uses one audio channel.

Stereo Uses two channels (left and right), creating spatial depth and direction.

Key Point

Stereo provides a more immersive listening experience than mono.

四、Adobe Audition Workflow

Download the audio practice files.

Create a Multitrack Session.

Import the audio.

Open Effect Rack.

Apply Filter & EQ → Parametric Equalizer.

Add Reverb if needed.

Export as MP3.

五、Common Audio Effects

1. Phone Call Effect

Goal: Simulate telephone audio.

EQ Settings:

Reduce Bass

Reduce Treble

Boost Midrange (500Hz–2kHz)

Reason:

Telephone speakers mainly reproduce mid frequencies, removing most low and high frequencies.

2. Muffled Sound

Goal: Simulate speaking behind a wall, blanket, or inside a closet.

EQ Settings:

Keep Bass

Reduce Treble significantly

Boost Midrange

Reason:

High frequencies are blocked, leaving mainly low and mid frequencies.

3. Reverb Effect

Goal: Simulate different acoustic environments.

Important Parameters:

Decay Time: Controls how long the reverb lasts.

Pre-Delay: Delay before the reverb begins.

Perception: Adds natural room irregularities.

Dry: Original (unprocessed) sound level.

Wet: Reverberated (processed) sound level.

Reason:

Reverb simulates sound reflections from walls and other surfaces, creating a sense of space.

INTRODUCTION

on class exercise: Color Correction

Exercise 1 : Lalin Edit + Color Correction

This exercise is further deepened on the basis of the previous Lalin clip. The teacher asked us to re-edit Lalin into a 40-45 second short film, and then make color correction and grading.

I reintroduced the previously used Lalin material into PR. This time, the goal is different from before, not simply telling stories, but presenting an emotionally coherent fragment in more than 40 seconds. 

Therefore, I will pay more attention to the expression of emotions rather than the integrity of narrative when choosing shots.

This is the focus of this exercise. I'll start with the white balance and correct the blue or yellow lens a little bit to make the skin look normal. Then adjust the exposure and contrast. Some shots are too dark and some are too bright, which need to be adjusted one by one. Saturation should also be paid attention to, not too bright or too gray.

In the process of adjustment, I found that the most troublesome thing is to make the colors between different shots look uniform. In the same scene, the colors of shots from different angles may be different, which needs to be repeatedly compared and fine-tuned to make them look like pictures in the same time and space.

After the basic correction, I began to try to do color grading. This part is more interesting, because you can create an atmosphere according to your own ideas. I tried several different tone styles, and finally chose a warmer tone, which I think is more in line with the temperament of Lalin's story. However, I also remind myself not to push too hard. Too exaggerated color adjustment will make the picture look unnatural.

After all the adjustments, I watched the short film several times from beginning to end, and made sure that the colors of each shot were uniform and the overall tone was in line with the mood of the film before exporting the final version.

Quiz: https://forms.gle/DKf1VjbVAypyggjt7

Exercise 2: Movie Trailer

This exercise is to make a movie trailer, and the material was taken by our group before. The editing method of the trailer is very different from the general plot editing. This time, I have a new understanding of the rhythm. In which I worked as a radio receiver. I am responsible for recording the sound with another classmate on the spot. In the whole process, I felt the charm of teamwork. In short, it was a very interesting journey.

Our group took a lot of material. I'll import all the PR first, look at it one by one, and mark the fragments that I think are available. The trailer doesn't need a complete story, but it needs to pick the shots that have the most visual impact and can best reflect the type and atmosphere of the film, so I mainly choose some clips with full emotions and strong picture sense. 

In order to make the trailer more impactful, I added sound effects to some key movements and transitions-such as impact sound, ambient sound, transition sound and so on. These sound effects combined with pictures and music can enrich the audience's sensory experience.

The rhythm of the trailer depends largely on the background music. It took me some time to find the right music first, and I chose a obvious emotional ups and downs. Then drag the music into the timeline, According to the rhythm of the picture, adjust the starting and ending position, editing point and climax of the music. Because I have edited the video clip, I can only change the background music to match the camera change. For example, the atmosphere shot is matched with more soothing music fragments, and the action shot corresponds to music with faster rhythm and stronger emotions, so that the music is consistent with the emotions of the picture, so as to enhance the overall audio-visual expressive force and enhance the overall impression.

I noticed that BGM needs to be debugged, instead of a simple import, so I edited the music here, and the effect of fading out and fading in, so that the background music is emotional and ups and downs according to the content of the picture, and becomes more natural and relevant to the theme.

When the shots are connected, I encounter some problems of rhythm mismatch, such as the length of some shots can't match the music beat, or the switching between adjacent shots seems abrupt. I repeatedly adjusted the entry and exit points of each shot and tried different editing schemes before I gradually found the right rhythm.

Referring to the theme and atmosphere of the film we are going to shoot, I also subtitles were added according to the lines.

And then put some thought into the subtitle part, and designed the title, 

actor information and release date, trying to imitate the style of the real movie trailer. 

After finishing the above work., I finally do a unified color correction for all the selected clips, and handled the problems of exposure and white balance first. Then do grading, and set a unified tone style for the whole trailer, so that it looks more cinematic and matches the type of film.

After all, I played it several times to check whether the colors are uniform, whether the subtitles are misplaced, whether the sound and pictures are synchronized, and whether the overall rhythm is smooth. Make sure there is no problem before exporting the final trailer.

FEEDBACK

WEEK 6

General Feedback : Mr.kannan introduced the course to us and taught us how to do some basic operations in pr.

Specific Feedback : no

WEEK 7

General Feedback : This week, our teacher explained the relevant knowledge about the frame and storyboard in detail, and let the students deepen their understanding of the concepts such as lens category and camera angle through practical operation, and also let us know the basic logic of the three-act structure in advance.

Specific Feedback : no

WEEK 8

General Feedback : no

Specific Feedback : no

REFLECTION

Experience

In the first exercise, I re-edited Lalin into a 40-45 second short film, and made color correction and color grading. I adjusted the white balance, exposure, contrast and color temperature, so that all the lenses maintained a consistent visual effect. At the same time, I try different color styles, so that the tone of the picture can match the mood of the short film, and at the same time avoid excessive color matching and maintain the natural feeling of the picture.

In the second exercise, I made a movie trailer using the materials taken by the group. I chose the appropriate background music according to the film type, and added sound effects, subtitles and ending information. At the same time, I used the common editing methods of movie trailers, such as quick editing, rhythm synchronization, dramatic transition and movie subtitle design. In addition, I also made color correction and color grading for all the materials, so that the whole trailer has a unified visual style that conforms to the theme.

Observation

Through these two exercises, I have a clearer understanding of the difference between color correction and color grading. Color correction is mainly used to solve technical problems and make all shots present a natural and unified picture effect; Color grading is a creative post-production, which can create the mood, atmosphere and overall visual style of the film, thus strengthening the story expression. At the same time, I found that the editing method of movie trailer is different from that of general plot editing. The trailer does not need to tell the story completely, but by controlling the clip rhythm, background music, sound effects and subtitles, it can quickly establish suspense in a limited time and attract the audience to continue watching. Therefore, the synchronization between picture, music and editing rhythm plays an important role in enhancing the appeal of the film.

Findings

These two exercises let me have a deeper understanding of the post-production of film and television, which includes both technical and artistic creation. I realize that high-quality color correction can lay the foundation for subsequent color classification, while reasonable color classification can further strengthen the emotional and visual narrative of the film and make the picture more appealing.

In addition, making movie trailers has also improved my ability to edit according to the rhythm of music. I learned how to choose the appropriate background music, design subtitles, match sound effects, and use quick editing, montage and transition techniques to enhance the film's sense of film and attraction. These practical experiences have improved my post-production ability of Adobe Premiere Pro and laid a more solid foundation for making related projects.