Shadowing Practice: Cinematic Color Grading in Davinci Resolve - Free Powergrade - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

314 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

The End

Over the past couple months since I've been posting here on YouTube, I've been getting a ton of requests on how I color grade.

And to be honest, nothing I do is original.

that I do and have learned is from pro colorists

and non-pro colorists and I take bits and pieces of information

that I've learned in the past couple years and I utilize it into my workflow.

In this video I'm going to show you exactly what power grades I've used in the past

and if you don't want to spend money I'm going to show you a power grade

that you can use and download for free

and I'm going to walk you step by step on how to do it all within Dimenshi's native tools.

Let's get started starting off with the first one film vision

by sir was one of the first power grades i ever used comes with luts

and different camera log profiles

and for 60 dollars it's honestly a solid value the look it gives your footage it feels very intentional

and you can tell

that they put a lot of time into crafting it the

only downside is with all the nodes turned on it can slow your system down

but if you can handle it it's a powerful tool that delivers a beautiful stylized image.

Fun fact, this is actually where Gox got a lot of his inspiration for his color style.

Number two, CinePrint 16.

CinePrint 16 by Tom Bowles is one of the most unique power grades I've used

so far and for $47 it's a solid buy.

It nails that 16 millimeter CinePrint look, especially with its color palette and those rich stylized greens which is really hard to get sometimes.

It's also really easy to use which I love personally.

The only downside is that it can get a little noisy and for me it's not the most versatile.

I wouldn't use this for client work but for personal and creative projects it delivers a super distinctive look that stands out.

Number three film unlimited.

Film unlimited is hands down the best power grade I have ever used and the most versatile.

It's priced at just under $100 but honestly it's worth every dollar.

Unlike cine print 16 the look isn't over stylized

and makes it super versatile

and I've used it on pretty much everything what really stands

out to me is the way it handles blues there's this perfect blue tint in the shadows

that just feels so cinematic and it makes grading feel

so effortless the only catch is the price but

if you're serious about your look it definitely delivers

and that's the beauty of filmmaking it's not always about the colors it's about making something that actually connects.

But here's the thing, in order to make that vision come to life, you're gonna need the right resources.

And that's why I want to talk to you about what Artless is doing.

These guys are giving out a hundred thousand dollars to creators like you, me.

All you gotta do is just submit your crazy idea and hope to god you win.

If you got a concept that you've been dreaming about, this can be what makes it real.

I've been using Artless for years, even before I started working with them.

And it's a place where I get all of my sound effects, stock footage, all of my soundtracks, and even their new AI tools.

They even got LUTs.

And if you're a creator, this is an all-in-one place that you can get everything in one platform.

If you were to click the link in the description, I can give you two months off for free.

I know it sounds crazy that they're giving out $100,000, but this is their third year actually that they're doing this

and this year that person can be you and then you can buy all the power grades you want

all right let's get back into this color grading tutorial okay

so if you want to just save money

and want to use something that's totally free that's built in all within da vinci

and you don't want to pay for anything this is how

you do it i have a link in the description so

that you can download all of the videos and the power grade

so you can follow along with me and also if you don't know how to import a power grid, I'm not covering that, but I will link a tutorial in the description.

Let's get started.

Okay, before we jump in, let me go through the project settings and show you my settings real quick.

This is what they are.

Just copy and paste them.

I'm working in a timeline color space of Rec.

709 Gamma 2.4 and the output Rec.

709A.

Now, if you're using Film Unlimited, you would be working in a timeline color space of DaVinci Wide Gamma Intermediate.

This is just what I've done research on and this is what works

and this is what gives me minimal color shift on my exports.

Let's go into the general options and make sure that everything looks like this on yours.

Main thing is use legacy log grading ranges and curve.

Check and then use S curve for contrast.

That's just going to give you guys more of a filmic way of changing the contrast with the color wheels.

So cancel that.

Another one we're going to go into preferences

and then we're going to go into general and just make sure that if you are working on a Mac, this is what it's looking like.

If you're not using a Mac, have this checked off.

And then if you're not using a Mac as well, this one should just be Rec.

709. Once you imported the PowerGrade, you end up with this a very simple node tree

and I'm going to show you what each node does first

one I have the noise everybody knows what the noise does

so I usually have it at like five right here

and I'll just bring this up

and down anywhere from zero to ten I don't go any higher than

that the CST in so this tells you what flavor we're working with go ahead

and put the color space that you are working with I use Canon Cinema Gamut and Canon Log 3.

This is shot on the R5C so this is what I shot that in.

So you're just going to go with the CST in right here and then now basically glow.

I have this set to soft light.

I think soft light really does some really good looks to it.

I usually take the saturation down because usually glow adds some saturation

but you always add it later after your process so this white balance node is in a gamma and linear profile

and it just works so much wonders been using this for

so long and every time i show people this a lot of people don't know about this

and a lot of people have used uh the temperature wheels

to kind of like white balance stuff don't use the log wheels use the primary

and use only in the game channel right here

and you're going to see it once you play around with stuff you're gonna be able to

really see like where your white balance is um because

if you were to use a different node and like let's just say

if you were to use something like this

100

and then you were to use this like look at the difference to

101

that like you're not really getting anywhere with that and then

102

if you just take this guy off turn it back on command d

103

that joint and then you start seeing like look it is just

104

so much softer and you're moving it just as much as i was on the other one

105

and if you want to find to it just go into the channels right here

106

and if you want to make it warmer you want to put like you know some magenta

107

or some green in there you know just go to each channel

108

and then you could also put the brightness down with this

109

and it does it in such a beautiful way

110

that a non-gamma linear way would do

111

and then the exposure go into the hdr panel

112

and i'll go into my color space and then i'll tell this guy

113

that the flavor is canon c log 3 cinema gamut and then i will just look at my

114

parade and i'll go into my you know my blacks look pretty good right now

115

and i'll lift the shadows bring those highlights down

116

because there's a little bit of uh i feel like almost clipping right here i mean it's sitting

117

if we're looking at it right now it's probably sitting at the almost 900 part yeah

118

so we're actually really good that's you never want your highlights above $8.96.

119

So that's pretty darn good right there.

120

Lift my blacks, my darks a little bit like that.

121

And yeah, I mean, I think that's pretty solid right there.

122

This is my other favorite tool that I just, when I found this out, I was blown away because it's just such an easy tool.

123

I only focus on the richness and the density of colors.

124

I don't ever add colors, especially when you're working with like greens and reds those colors are

125

so hard to like work with and I learned a little

126

while ago that if you just focus more on the density of it then it looks more saturated

127

and it just doesn't look overpowering

128

so this guy is in the color space of HSV

129

and all you do in this node right here is you go down to the primary color wheels

130

and in the green channel you're just going to lift it

131

up okay I usually bring it up to like 120

132

and like look at that I mean you could crank it

133

and it like looks pretty cool but I'm not gonna go all

134

that way I'll probably lift it up like that

135

and then I mean if you before and after it brings it to life

136

and like the skin tones aren't like getting washed out it's just giving

137

that richness towards that red and it looks so just natural.

138

The radials, this I don't ever use as much unless I'm going to put like some more emphasis on this.

139

I will probably invert this and probably just create a vignette.

140

I don't know how to say that.

141

And, you know, do something like that.

142

But in most cases, I'm not going to use that.

143

It all depends on the clip.

144

If I want to put more emphasis on something, if I want to add a linear gradient, The saturation, I won't ever use this saturation tool.

145

Never.

146

I never use that.

147

Stay away from it.

148

I'm so glad they came out with this because these tools just work in a way different color environment for me.

149

And they react different than other methods.

150

And I think like when you add the saturation, when you take the saturation out just really softly and you just add more density to that.

151

Like, look at that.

152

That I'm loving that already.

153

That type of stuff gets me excited already.

154

So this is all built in DaVinci, and it's crazy that you can just use all of these tools for free.

155

The contrast right here, I'll just kind of just work with this contrast and pivot.

156

And this kind of just I'll really just look at it at the end of my my color grade

157

and I'll just kind of see like where I need to do it.

158

The tone curve this one I just you know always keep

159

it checked on it just gives it a very just filmic look and like kills like the highlights off a little bit.

160

That's it nothing very fancy and then the greens too

161

which will go into a green color after this clip to show you what this would do and the grain.

162

So here we go.

163

This is the film look creator.

164

You can go ahead and take the color blend off or you can leave the color blend on.

165

It's up to you and then you can kind of just mess with these.

166

Basically all what we're doing right here is in here just kind of times two

167

and it's not a bad look but this is just the grain

168

and you can just really customize it it gives it a

169

little bit of sauce to it um i sometimes just don't

170

use grain anymore i i don't know why

171

but sometimes you just want to put some grain

172

so that's there for you to put

173

so the cst out obviously we're going into davinci wide gamut

174

davinci intermediate to a rec 709 now here's the cool part

175

basically this whole look is kind of made out of the

176

2383 look these luts right here are built into da vinci so i mean if you go into reveal selected lut

177

like this is all built into da vinci okay

178

and basically we're going to convert this rec 709 to a

179

cineon log profile we're going to make a compound node

180

and there's three things

181

that you you want to just check off okay I usually

182

keep it at 2383 D55 that's a warmer white point or

183

if you want to go cooler you know D60 or D65

184

which will go a lot cooler you can go I mean all of these look really good

185

and basically what the 2383 but is and what it's emulating basically all the movies that you've seen in the 90s.

186

A lot of cinema movies have used this film stock for their movies.

187

It's cool that DaVinci has that LUT in there and you can use it for free.

188

I think it just has that very cinematic filmic look if you can make the richness look really good on the colors.

189

So one of these you can just kind of you know pop on and then here is another thing.

190

I know I said this is all for free but this is something that I actually do on my own.

191

My buddy Sam Newton just dropped some LUTs and I use this little finishing.

192

I use a finishing LUT after a LUT.

193

I know it's a very non-traditional way to do it

194

but that's just the way I do it and you don't have to do this by any means.

195

I use this very subtly and then I'll go right here

196

and I'll throw the gain down to like 0.300

197

and it's a very subtle look look at that very subtle

198

but like you don't I mean it looks fine without it

199

boom boom boom I mean it looks fine without it that's

200

pretty much how I do this uh it's a very simple

201

way I know other people have showed color grading tutorials on stuff like this

202

but the one thing that kind of bugs me is

203

that they they'll show a hero clip but they won't show different scenarios

204

so let's go and grade some really harder clips like a drone shot

205

and some other scenarios

206

so this one is actually a perfect one to demonstrate the

207

greens this is shot on the coast of Oregon with an Air 2S

208

and let's drop this grade up in here okay so

209

if you guys do know drones are probably the hardest things

210

to freaking edit for some reason I always have trouble editing them

211

and they're just so annoying so let's go into here the luminance mapping

212

and the saturation compression in

213

and out always helps with drone footage I asked chat I've asked other colorists

214

and they've confirmed this so make sure that these guys are checked on

215

because what drones do is they end up having like these unwanted look of like really punchy colors

216

and it's kind of annoying.

217

We have this really green image and a very misty image.

218

It's obviously a high dynamic range image.

219

So what we'll do is we'll go in here and we'll bring the exposure down a little bit like right here.

220

Okay from the gain wheel.

221

Remember from the gain wheel because this guy is in a linear color profile

222

and we're just going to simply just color balance it any way we go you know um

223

and i kind of just move it around and then

224

if moving it around is not working then i'll go in to each channel

225

and then i'll just kind of like configure it right you know

226

when wherever i want it

227

so um kind of we could even go like right there you could even bring up the exposure right now

228

and then um now let's go into the exposure go through the hdr and then let's go dgi

229

d log and then let's bring up the shadows a little bit

230

and let's bring down the lights see how that works works so good right there we're not even clipping Okay, cool.

231

Now my favorite tool, density.

232

Pop this guy in there.

233

You see that?

234

Just in the green channel.

235

Bam.

236

And then the greens too.

237

We'll turn that guy on.

238

And what basically this green does is it really just works with greens and just brings them more on the cooler side,

239

brings the saturation down and the luminance to give you more of like that filmic look.

240

Honestly, green is the hardest color for me to edit.

241

Over the years, I've just learned how to work with them a little bit.

242

This is what I do.

243

And if you guys really want to know, it's just

244

really just kind of pulling these guys down

245

and then just kind of manipulating the greens on the more cooler side

246

and then the luminance and the saturation down that's it

247

so you turn on and off that whenever you want and

248

so basically I mean like you could even go as far

249

as doing something like this in the radial in most cases you know like

250

if you really want to get down with a clip then you could do it you know

251

so um you just come in right here but i kind of like

252

that like that look of just i don't know it's just really bright right here

253

so like it kind of gives it like that nice contrast of like

254

that light and glow coming in

255

and i think the greens look really nice obviously i'm going really fast right now

256

so like i would probably do a little bit more here

257

you go with the grain too like i said you could turn on the color the color blend

258

but look the color blend looks actually really good you could even just throw like the subtractive

259

saturation um and just really just do whatever you want with it

260

and then you could go into the 2383 and check this on

261

and off and then see

262

which one works best for you i mean these are all built into da vinci uh oh

263

that was double lut and i think the warmer is gonna always just do it for me

264

yeah I don't know I think the middle ground is gonna gonna do really well for me yeah let's do

265

that okay let me show you what I do sometimes on the arctic sun I will bring the opacity down

266

bam and then now I see like it's a little too blue right now

267

so then what I'll do is I'll just kind of like warm it up.

268

Yeah and now it gives you that little punch of contrast but you don't really need to put this on.

269

You could do this with or without it.

270

Okay so this is shot on the FX3 Instacotra

271

and this is going to be a great representation of the white balance node.

272

Let's go ahead and tell DaVinci what we shot this in.

273

Sony S Gamut 3 Cine and then S Log 3

274

and right off the back I mean look at the white balance like this was probably shot at like 6000 Kelvin.

275

This white balance node gamma linear all you're gonna do bring it down right here.

276

Bam.

277

Like if you were going to use the white balance node

278

or the white balance slider then look at

279

that I mean it kind of looks decent

280

but there's still a little bit of washed out colors in there

281

and that looks just very nice no unwanted looks right here

282

so bam you guys know what these things do already

283

and I'm just going to show you how fast I would grade something like this

284

so I'll go right here kind of mess with white balance

285

a little bit to bring it a little bit warmer right there probably bring the density down a little bit

286

and mess with the glow bam probably look at one

287

of these see what the cool looks like warm I kind of love the warm bam

288

and bring this down add some green greens probably don't do anything mess with the yellows a little bit

289

and honestly I mean

290

if you want to this would be the time to do

291

a radial filter shift h to see where you're selecting bring this guy lower and we'll just invert it real quick.

292

You could or you could not.

293

You could even lift it up to kind of even things out.

294

It's all up to you.

295

I would be done right there.

296

And in the Socotra video that I just posted, I used everything like this.

297

This is kind of how the whole node tree was looking like.

298

And I used Arctic Sunrise.

299

and I brought it down to like right here and that looks decent.

300

Bam.

301

So that's that.

302

I think a lot of people make color grading a super complicated process and it really shouldn't be.

303

It's very simple as long as you have a work base and a workflow that you're comfortable and familiar with.

304

You just got to know how some of these programs work

305

and sometimes they're a little bit confusing but that's why I'm making this tutorial

306

because I just really want to show what I've learned in the past

307

and it took me a couple years to learn so

308

that you don't have to put in that time

309

and effort this is all free but

310

if you want to buy those other power grades they're actually really good

311

and I'm not shitting on them I'm not talking shit about them they're actually worth their money

312

and when you plug in those power grades you obviously see the difference

313

if you don't want to spend money here it is take it and uh i hope you guys like this video

314

let me know what you guys think comment subscribe thank you

Download App

Everything you need to speak fluently

AI PronunciationScore every sentence

IPA PracticeMaster every sound

VocabularyBuild your word bank

Vocab GameLearn while playing

Scan QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

✨ Recommend Video

205 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Cinematic Color Grading in Davinci Resolve - Free Powergrade”. This video has 314 sentences and 3859 words to shadow. The speech runs for 23:28. The speaker talks at a natural 164 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
node noun	/noʊd/	A knot, knob, protuberance or swelling.
saturation noun		The act of saturating or the process of being saturated.
gamma noun	/ˈɡæ.mə/	The third letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ), preceded by beta (Β, β) and followed by delta, (Δ, δ).
filmic adjective	/ˈfɪlmɪk/	Of or relating to movies; cinematic.
gamut noun	/ˈɡæm.ət/	A (normally) complete range.
tutorial noun	/ˌtjuːˈtɔːɹɪəl/	A self-paced learning exercise; a lesson prepared so that a student can learn at their own speed or convenience.
glow verb	/ɡloʊ/	To emit heat and light without a flame.
blend verb	/blɛnd/	To mingle; to mix; to unite intimately; to pass or shade insensibly into each other.
drone noun	/dɹoʊn/	A male hymenopteran (ant, bee, hornet, or wasp), whose sole primary function is to mate with the queen.
colorist noun		One who colors; an artist with a talent for coloring.
luminance noun	/ˈluːmɪnəns/	The quality of being luminous.
radial adjective	/ˈɹeɪdi.əl/	Arranged like rays that radiate from, or converge to, a common centre.
richness noun	/ˈɹɪt͡ʃnəs/	The state or quality of being rich; wealthiness, wealth, riches.
stylize verb	/ˈstaɪlaɪz/	To represent (someone or something) in a particular style.
versatile adjective	/ˈvɜː.səˌtaɪl/	Capable of doing many things competently.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
bring up verb		To mention.
check off verb		To mark items on a list (with a checkmark or by crossing them out) that have been chosen for keeping or removal or that have been dealt with (for example…
give out verb		To utter, publish; to announce, proclaim, report.
go through verb		To travel from one end of something to the other.
wash out verb		To wash the inside of something.
blow away verb		To cause to go away by blowing, or by wind.
bring down verb		To make (a ruler or government) lose their position of power.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

I don't know how to say that.
That I'm loving that already.
We'll turn that guy on.
It's all up to you.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	I've been posting · you've been dreaming · I've been using
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if you're using Film Unlimited, you would be · if you want to this would be
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have learned · I've learned · I've done
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is shot · was blown · are built

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 119 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'll, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: intentional /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəl/, compression /kəmˈpɹɛʃ.ən/
Long words — get the stress right: kinematic /kɪn.əˈmæt.ɪk/, intermediate /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/, opacity /oʊˈpæsɪti/, overpower /oʊ.vɚˈpaʊ̯.ɚ/, manipulate /məˈnɪp.jʊ.leɪt/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like node, saturation, gamma.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Cinematic Color Grading in Davinci Resolve - Free Powergrade - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

ZV-E10 Low Light - Best Picture Profile

5 Things Under $20 Every ARCHITECT Needs

How To MASTER The Low Fade and Beard in UNDER 30 Minutes

Video

Piracy is COMPLETELY justified: Louis tries NetFlix & remembers why

How To Land Your First Junior Dev Role

How To Change Object Color In CapCut PC

셀럽 인터뷰로 배우는 영어 | 카일리 제너의 GRWM

How To Edit Videos Viewers Will Watch To The END.

Apple Freeform - Apple’s Most Underrated App!?

Cillian Murphy’s Closet Picks

Hell ya brother 🪂

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?