The Colour Grading

So when it comes to effects… I actually didn’t go crazy with them at all. The only real effect I used throughout the whole edit was colour grading, and honestly, it made such a big difference with the mood of the video.

For the first half, I went with really bright, warm tones, lots of golden, natural lighting, overall, that dreamy vibe. I wanted it to feel kind of nostalgic, peaceful, almost like a memory you would want to live in forever. It gave the whole sequence this comforting, almost surreal feel, which fit the traditional music and setting perfectly.

I kept the colour grading constant for the entire first half of the sequence.

But once the transition hit, I started stripping those colours away, slowly, not all at once. Little by little, the warmth started fading out of the shots. The colours dulled, shadows got heavier, and the overall tone started shifting into something more cold and unsettling. It wasn’t a sharp change, more like this slow descent into discomfort, and that was exactly what I was going for.

The initial decrease in temperature, saturation, and now increased shadows.

Increased desaturation.

More increased desaturation.

Even more increased desaturation.

Here, we can really start to see the colours draining.

By the time we reached the last shot before the character wakes up, the background was basically black and white. Not completely desaturated, but just enough to give that eerie, lifeless feeling, like all the happiness had been drained out. That contrast between the bright beginning and the almost monochrome ending really helped sell the idea that something was wrong.

The final shot.

For our last shot, the 'waking up' shot, I kept the footage completely raw to symbolise realism. Also, the almost monochrome shot, to this one is so abrupt, just like the sound is so it all ties very well together.

There weren't any flashy transitions or crazy visual effects used, because I felt like the colour grading alone told the emotional story better than anything else could. I know it was simple, but to me it felt so much more effective than any other effect.