Grading FPV footage: from flat clip to cinematic finish.

An FPV camera is small, light and fast, and what it records is built for flexibility, not for looking finished. The footage is flat, the shadows carry noise, and two clips from the same afternoon can disagree about the colour of the sky. The grade is where those clips become one film.

It starts on location

A good grade begins before the aircraft leaves the ground. We fix white balance and exposure settings for each location, avoid changing them between flights, and keep the sun, and so the colour of the light, in mind when we plan the order of shots. Clips that start close together in the grade are far easier to finish than clips that have to be rescued.

The order we grade in

• Technical conversion. Bring every clip into one working colour space so that what we see is what we deliver.
• Exposure and white balance. Set a consistent black, white and neutral grey before any creative decision.
• Match. Compare shots side by side and bring the sky, the ground and the skin tones into agreement.
• Contrast and tone. Shape the shadows and highlights so the picture has weight without crushing detail.
• Colour. Add the look: the warmth of the horizon, the depth of the sky, the separation between subject and background.
• Finishing. Tidy noise, add a light grain if it helps, and check the edges of any power windows or masks.

Protect what the client recognises

A brand colour, a livery or a familiar landscape has to look right before it looks stylish. When we grade a vehicle, we check the paint against a reference and keep it believable, then let the sky and the ground carry the mood. A look that fights the subject will not survive the first review.

Grade for the story first and the look second. If the viewer notices the grade before the shot, it has gone too far.

Deliver for every screen

A film is watched on a phone in sunlight, a laptop in a dark room and a television in between. We check the finished grade on more than one display, keep the darkest shadows readable and avoid highlights that clip on small screens. The master is kept in 4K, with 1080p and social versions made from it.