u/PetShopTroy

Hey everyone! I color grade my own films and I get a lot of practice color grading my videos for YouTube (where I talk about movies). This is from that YouTube work. But I'm curious why my vectorscope looks like that?

My approach to color grading is always the same: contrast/saturation, balancing the image and then getting skin tones correct. I keep it simple. Or try to. And for the vector scope I always thought you wanted it to line slightly to where it looks like it's pointing at 11:55 AM or p.m. But why is it looking different than that? I don't see anything that's off. I tried to include screenshots of what I'm using… Color adjustments, color wheels, hue/saturation, color curves. I'm in Final Cut Pro X of course. Thanks for any thoughts!

Hey everyone! I’ve been working on clips to upload to Actors Access. My goal is to narrow this down to a tight selection of 2 or 3 strong, distinct clips that best fit my casting type.

I’ve edited them all together into one video file with a 3-second black screen between each piece. The first three clips are under one minute, and the last one runs a little longer just to show the full vibe.

I know there's an imbalance here (three dramatic, one comedy), but these are the specific roles I feel most comfortable playing.

Here is the lineup in order:

1. Dramatic Monologue – Last Days of Judas Iscariot
2. Tongue-in-Cheek / Dramatic – Fargo (Series, Lester and Lorne scene)
3. Comedy – Curb Your Enthusiasm (Larry and Leon scene)
4. Dramatic / Intense – Mulholland Drive (The Cowboy scene)

If you were me, which 2 or 3 of these would you choose to upload? Or none of them?

Thanks for the help!

Hey everyone! I just finished my first hour trailer for my second short film, called “the listener“. I’m not gonna go back and change anything at this point, but for future reference, if anyone has any thoughts or feedback, I’d be open to it. If you’re interested in watching the full film, it’s on my YouTube channel. You can find a link to it in my bio thanks!

Hello everyone! I'm a director/actor and I am color grading my second film. So I'm still very much learning! But I'm very interested in learning to get better at color grading so I'm coloring my films at the moment. I've watched so many tutorials and I found one that I really liked that simplified things I think down to the basics to focus on: 1) contrast/saturation, 2( balancing the image (blacks are black and whites are white) and then 3) getting the skin tone right. Those are the three things I'm trying to focus on and using hopefully the appropriate scopes.

The film is 12 minutes long and I have collected a few images from the first three minutes or so. I'd appreciate any feedback. Sometimes I look at the vectorscope or something and I think… Why is it doing that ha ha. So I've attached a still from four different shots, but I've also attached a screenshot of the scopes in case that helps.

It's hard to do this. But I actually find it quite enjoyable. I just don't know as much as I would like. One of the difficult things is matching things. That's my big concern. I probably should have several big concerns but right now I'm just kind of curious if people think these are wildly off in terms of matching between shots. Of course some of these are outside. Some of them are inside so it's hard to match. And I'm using totally natural lighting because I'm filming on location without permits.

One thing I wanted to add because I'd be curious to know what people think of this… In terms of process, I don't wanna start from scratch on every shot. So what I did was, I first did the white balance on a bunch of shots at the beginning and then I started color grading. I got to a place where I liked one of the shots the best in terms of color and then what I did was I then copy and paste it most of the attributes from the shot I liked and applied to the other ones. And then adjusted accordingly. I would do trial and error. Sometimes I would paste certain attributes, but not others. But I'd be curious to know what people think of that process.

Hello, everyone! I just finished editing my second short film and I was hoping to get some initial thoughts on any basic color grading suggestions that experienced colorists might have. I took several screenshots from the film to share. I have not color graded anything yet. Everything (including photos) is still raw footage from my Fuji XS 10 camera and FUJI XC 35mm lens. I edit and color grade using FCPX (for now).

I'm not a beginner to color grading, but it's difficult. I've watched many videos and read many things about it, but it's still hard to do. One thing I've learned is to just move incrementally, stay consistent and/or with intent (as relates to story). I'm looking for any suggestions on the basics right now.

Typically, I lean on color wheels, color adjustments, and curves tools. I normally try to look at the RGB levels, if that makes sense (I don't know the terms). In my last film I gave everything a slightly bluish tone. It was OK. I'm still kind of thinking about how I want this film to look, color wise. I'll share a synopsis below because I think that plays into it. Again, I wrote and directed everything so I'm coming at it from that perspective.

One question I have: typically do professionals go clip by clip, possibly establishing and using presets (self made presets) and adjusting them accordingly for similarly lit scenes? Or do you just start from scratch on every clip? Or do you make a new compound clip and do it all from there? That last one seems like it wouldn't work because of lighting changes. Most of this film is outside but not everything. And because it's outside I used natural light almost exclusively.

Another challenging thing is establishing the look that I want in addition to the basics. And it's hard to know how those play with each other, if that makes sense. The harmony between the two. Again, I'm still learning. Generally speaking, I'm a big fan of 1970s films. I love the way they look. I don't want to copy that exact look, but I love the idea of having an element of that tone. (think Blow Out, The Conversation). But I'm also a huge fan of the look of films by Tarkovsky and Hylnur Palmason.

Thanks! Any thoughts you have would be appreciated.

The Listener (2026), synopsis:

"A solitary man wanders the streets of Detroit recording the city's sounds in search of purpose, only to find his agency after a mysterious woman forces him to abandon his quest and finally experience the world without a filter."

Hi! I went in to perform at my talent agency a few weeks ago and they really liked my performance. We all agreed I needed to update my headshots so that they could push me more for film/tv roles. So after I finished, they had me go with a photographer into another room and they took these headshots I'm posting now. I think they viewed these as decent temporary ones until I have the money to get professional headshot.

(Just wanna say the person who took these is great and I think she did a good job.)

But I need to ask your opinion: do you think these photos are good enough for what I'm going for? Good enough for the moment? Not good enough?

Thanks!

I’ve been running a channel focused on narrative film analysis and cinema theory. My retention is solid—the Average View Duration shows that the content is hitting the mark once people click. However, my CTR is currently the bottleneck holding the channel back. I struggle with thumbnails!

I’m trying to establish a repeatable look. I’m going for a minimalist, cinematic style that feels more like a film poster. Attached are a few drafts for an upcoming video on the movie Cure. Any feedback you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.