#color breakdown

[thewrongmoon]

Color Grading in Stranger Things

Soooo I wanted to make this post because I'm someone going into the field and I've been seeing some debate on the topic. Mostly around "production errors." I think the term "production error" is kind of misused in a lot of cases? For me things boil down to one of four things: 1. actual production errors, 2. intentional details, 3. coincidences, or 4. things that just happen and/or are normal in the production process.

The fourth one is the category I see most with the color grading "errors" in the show. I think there's an inclination to apply real world logic to film/tv a lot of the time, but you have to remember that that doesn't necessarily extend to things like color grading and lighting. Lighting and color grading are both things that can change slightly between shots in the same scene. And this isn't an error (most of the time.)

Making these subtle changes usually is done with the intention of making the viewer subconsciously feel something. You can get away with quite a bit because viewers will not notice these subtle changes on their first watch; there's just so much new information that your eyes are absorbing that the color or lighting set up being slightly different isn't usually something you'll immediately notice (unless maybe you have some expertise in the topic/work in the field.)

The reason for these changes can vary. Each lighting setup and color palette has a different feeling, emotion, symbolic meaning. I'd say a lot of the time they're based in color science but they can also have a more narrative based meaning (example: director deciding that in the film he makes that the color yellow = danger. They start to associate the color with every precarious scene. Subconsciously the viewer begins to become fearful whenever the color yellow is on screen.)

I think showing actual examples from the show would help kind of demonstrate what I'm talking about so let's get into it!

Exhibit A:

Image one: Around 10 minutes 30 seconds into the episode

Images two and three: Around 13 minutes into the episode

So I noticed that this shot became more blue in time when I was making my movie theatre blush analysis (see that here) But actually, rewatching the scene, the shot of Mike only looks slightly more blue than the previous shot of them. The shot with Will looks very noticeably more blue, though. These shots were obviously filmed on the same day, maybe even at the same time with multiple cameras rolling. They also have the same lighting set up (split lighting.)

So, is this a production error? No. If the intention was to make the shots of Mike and Will have the same color grading, you would literally have to be the most incompetent person alive to mess that up. Copying the same color grade from one shot to another is the easiest thing ever. You will not be hired as a colorist if you don't know how to do this.

Why make these shots slightly different, then? I'm not the guy who did this grading so I can't tell you with 100% certainty, but I have a couple ideas: The one I see the most is tying this to Will's visions in S2. The bottom two images are after Will has another vision. We see this blue color grading when Will is in the upside down and having visions. Blue also has a cold connotation, and we see Will get goosebumps, shiver and tremble in this scene.

Exhibit B:

Okay this one is a lot more subtle. Also this one has to deal more with lighting than color grading though I'm sure both play a part in this.

So in the scene where they bury the body, the light setup is extremely bright and high contrast. If you look at their shadows in particular you can see how dark they are. There's almost no fall of on the shadows in the first picture. I think the whole set of scenes has a yellow filter to imply a hot, arid environment, but it's more noticeable in the first and last image. The first two images also have a lighting set up where the main light is right in front of them, putting Will specifically in a Rembrandt lighting setup. This lighting is meant to kind of represent the sun beating down on you, it's hot. Will and Jonathan are also really sweating, so it's obvious that this is what the intention was with this lighting setup.

When Mike and Will sit down to have their heart to heart, the lighting very subtly changes. The main light is now a back light, though there's also a light above them as indicated by where the shadows lay. But the lighting is also a lot softer. The shadows have more fall of, which leads me to believe they either used a soft light or a reflector. Softer light can be an indication of a more romantic scene. When they're broken out of their moment, the lighting grows less soft and everything starts to get more yellow.

Exhibit C:

So I think this whole thing was confirmed to be recorded in one take, so I'm operating on the idea that they didn't change the lighting in this scene in between shots. But they possibly could have? The fill light on our right looks slightly dimmer than in the shot before.

But I mostly think this is a difference in color grading. Mike's face is darker and has more contrast. Once again, not a mistake but an intentional decision. This is the scene where he's trying to desperately get El to fight Vecna. I think the contrast was accentuated to add more drama to the scene. Mike's cries of "Fight!" grow more desperate, his voice is cracking, he's clearly scared. High contrast lighting is more dramatic, more cinematic, more high stakes.

A discussion on the more technical side of things:

So not every one of these things is explainable by them intentionally wanting to set the mood or having a narrative reason behind the slight changes. Color grading is one of the final parts of the production process, so the footage you have to work with is all you're gonna get. And mistakes do happen in some footage. Some scenes are shot on different days, sometimes a light breaks or is set too dim, etc, etc. The colorist is responsible for helping to match these shots together in a way where the error isn't noticeable and doesn't break the immersion of the viewer. But you have to work with what you have!

Also, I did mention copying the grade from one shot to the next, but please don't think that that is like "oh i just have to grade one shot, copy it to all of the other ones and then I can be done!" because that's not really correct either. You'll still want to tweak the grade slightly for each new shot. Each shot probably has different lighting, a different set of people or objects, and other things you have to consider.

But I hope this was a helpful break down of the process! Honestly if I went back and rewatched more scenes I could probably find more examples of this, I only really have Mike and Will scenes because I've analyzed those the most, lol. Just know that not everything is as linear as in real life, film/tv is an artistic medium so it's gonna break some rules occasionally.

[complete-clownery]

Lol (still not done but I wanna post it so bad cuz im a bit proud of this)

[canisalbus]

hello! i've written a short little machete fic, and i wanted to share it with you as thanks for all the incredible art and generous question-answering you've been doing these last few months. i hope that if you give it a look, you enjoy it. <3 keep up all your amazing work! archiveofourown [.] org / works / 50945128

✦ A Voi ✦

[veveisveryuncool]

the too-clever fox, finally caught

this is a very sorry to my followers for who i will become tomorrow (feral over sonic prime s3)

[sinlizards]

i love love love the way you paint back lighting!! do you have any tips/ a step by step for the way you do it?

ended up making a whole painting just to break it down and explain my general process for subjects lit from behind so heres that + a timelapse!

main thing for drawing anything with a strong light source behind is to make the main subject Darker and more desaturated to convey that the light is behind them rather than to their sides (face cant be properly lit if the light is behind). Also making the Main highlight the brightest hue in the image helps to intensify it. I tend to use teeth/eyes as a good comparison point

some people have a tendency to make the sclera white out of habit but darkening that+ the rest of the whites helps the image read as Darker compared to the brighter highlight

[luniise-kel]

very self indulgent comic :3

(I did a breakdown of this comic here!)

((so im putting up a disclaimer bc a lot of people have been slightly freaky about this comic so 1. this is based on a personal experience and 2. some of you guys are thinking its sad for the wrong reasons. yes, its sad and yes its with akechi but, yall r making this out to be the saddest thing to ever do. i explained it in the breakdown but hes just practicing his smile emote. i dont normally like to tell people how to interpret my shit but please dont be too weird about it! again think about this however you want but kept in mind i know a lot of people (myself included) who have done this exact thing. oki ty

tl;dr: comic is sad! akechi isnt faking a smile! pls dont be weird about it!))

[wybienova]

D.I.Y.

[astericias]

quick silly mayor scar doodle

[primal-con]

Funny original caption here

[callimara]

EVERYONE LOOK AT HER

LOOK AT MY SPIDERSONA

her canon event was having to decide on a color scheme for her suit. So much wasted textiles... so much money spent

[mikesbasementbeets]

byler in every episode -> 2.09. the gate

[pigskinmask]

Me when the magna-medicinal

[sualne]

"..................."

[chanrizard]

SKZ CODE Time Out MT#1 Part II ⁘ hyung to hyung communication

[sluttyhenley]

Put him on the defensive and lead him right where he's dying to go.

A FEW GOOD MEN (1992) dir. Rob Reiner

[wizard-laundry]

the holidays are always tough when you've lost someone