Hollywood Color · Newport Beach
Color Grading Services in Orange County Hollywood Technicolor Lineage
Graded to a Hollywood Technicolor standard. Hollywood color, made in Newport Beach.
Get My Quote (949) 449-4472What is professional color grading?
Professional color grading is the final stage of production. It takes footage shot under real-world conditions — mixed light, blown-out skies, shadows that are too dark — and makes it look exactly the way the director intended. It also gives a body of footage one unified visual language. It is a craft, not a filter.
The final stage
Color grading is not a filter
Color grading is the final stage of production and the most misunderstood. Most people think of it as a filter — a warm preset, a desaturated look, a cinematic LUT applied at the end of the edit. That is not color grading. That is a workaround.
Real color grading is a craft. It is the process of taking footage shot under real-world conditions — with mixed light sources, with cameras responding differently to different colors, with skies that are blown out and shadows that are too dark — and making it look exactly the way the director intended when they framed the shot. It is also the process of giving a body of footage a unified visual language, so that a film shot across three days in five locations looks like it was conceived as a whole.
We have been color grading to a Hollywood Technicolor standard since we founded this company in 2003.
Lineage
What Hollywood Technicolor Lineage Actually Means
Our color grading carries a Hollywood Technicolor color grading lineage. That lineage sets the bar for every frame we finish, and we have graded to that standard since we founded this company in 2003.
You see it in the details. Blacks with real depth. Skin tone that reads as skin. Primary colors that hold their saturation. Highlights that keep their detail instead of blowing to white. The difference between this and a consumer color correction workflow is visible to any eye.
The platform
DaVinci Resolve The Industry Standard
We color grade in DaVinci Resolve, the industry-standard platform for commercial and feature film color grading. Resolve allows node-based, non-destructive color correction that gives us complete control over every element of the image independently — rather than applying a global grade that treats the entire frame identically regardless of what is in it.
Get My QuoteStandard on every shoot
Color Grading as Part of Every Hilo Production
Every production we shoot includes full color grading as a standard deliverable. We do not deliver log footage and call it done. The color grade is not an add-on — it is part of what makes the footage look the way it does when you receive it. It is the last step of our post-production process, and it is where footage from cinema-grade cameras with cinema lenses earns its keep.
Your footage
Standalone Color Grading Your Footage, Our Grade
We accept projects for standalone color grading — footage shot by another production company or videographer that needs a professional grade applied. If you have footage that looks technically correct but does not have the cinematic quality you expected, color grading is frequently the difference.
Requirements for standalone grading
- Footage shot in RAW, LOG, or flat color profile (not processed/Rec.709 out of camera)
- Frame rate and resolution specifications discussed at project intake
- Reference materials or style direction for look development
Need the edit done too? See our video editing services.
Straight answers
What Color Grading Cannot Fix
We will tell you honestly what grading can and cannot accomplish.
Grading can fix
- Mixed color temperatures
- Underexposure within reason
- Overexposure within reason
- Inconsistency between cameras on multi-camera shoots
- General tonal imbalance
Grading cannot fix
- Focus problems
- Motion blur from incorrect shutter settings
- Digital noise from ISO that is too high
- Severe overexposure where highlight detail is gone
- Footage shot in a flat JPEG or highly processed in-camera profile with no highlight or shadow detail left to recover
We evaluate footage before committing to a grading project and tell you what is recoverable.
See the grade
Graded to a Hollywood Technicolor standard
Questions
Color Grading FAQ
What is color grading?
Color grading is the final stage of production. It takes footage shot under real-world conditions — mixed light sources, blown-out skies, shadows that are too dark — and makes it look exactly the way the director intended when they framed the shot. It also gives a body of footage a unified visual language.
Is color grading just a filter or a LUT?
No. A warm preset, a desaturated look or a cinematic LUT applied at the end of the edit is a workaround, not color grading. Real color grading is a craft.
Can you grade footage shot by another production company?
Yes. We accept standalone color grading projects. Footage must be shot in RAW, LOG, or a flat color profile (not processed/Rec.709 out of camera). Frame rate and resolution are discussed at project intake, and we ask for reference materials or style direction for look development.
What software do you grade in?
DaVinci Resolve, the industry-standard platform for commercial and feature film color grading. Its node-based, non-destructive correction gives us control over every element of the image independently.
Is color grading included in every Hilo production?
Yes. Every production we shoot includes full color grading as a standard deliverable. We do not deliver log footage and call it done.
What can't color grading fix?
Focus problems, motion blur from incorrect shutter settings, digital noise from ISO that is too high, severe overexposure where highlight detail is gone, and footage with no highlight or shadow detail left to recover. We evaluate footage before committing to a grading project and tell you what is recoverable.
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Your footage is only as good as its final color
Whether it is ours or yours, we will make it look the way it should. Call (949) 449-4472 or email director@hilomotionpictures.com.
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