Colour Is a Decision, Not a Filter
Colour is usually the last thing discussed and the first thing an audience feels. By the time a film reaches the grade, most of its colour has already been decided — in the wardrobe, the walls, the props and the lighting. The grade is where those decisions are resolved, not where they are made.
The look starts at the art department
If you want a film to feel warm, the warmth has to exist on set. A grade can push an image, but it cannot invent separation between a subject and a background that were the same colour when you shot them. The cheapest colour tool on any production is a conversation between the DP and the art department during prep.
Protect the skin
Almost every commercial grade is ultimately a negotiation with skin tone. Push the image toward teal and skin goes grey; warm it aggressively and everyone looks sunburnt. The usual answer is to keep skin honest and move everything around it — which, again, is easier when the set was not lit with mixed colour temperatures nobody flagged on the day.
Shoot for the grade, not in it
Log, raw and flat profiles exist to preserve latitude, but they only help if exposure is disciplined. A correctly exposed log image gives a colourist room to work. An underexposed one gives them noise in the shadows and a conversation about how much can realistically be recovered.
Know when it is finished
A grade can be iterated indefinitely, and after enough passes everyone loses the ability to judge it. Reference the original intent, view it on a calibrated display, check it once on a phone, and then stop. The last ten percent is where a film is finished — it is also where films get over-worked into something nobody asked for.
