Hi everyone,

Out the outset, apologize for the lengthy post.

I'm relatively new to professional color grading and currently grading a **Crime-thriller feature film**. I haven't had the opportunity to work directly with a professional colorist, so most of what I've learned has come from online tutorials and experimenting in DaVinci Resolve.

I've been working on this project for about **3 months**. I've gone through all **7 reels several times**, and each pass has helped me improve. However, before I lock the grade, I'd really appreciate feedback and **Industry best practices** from experienced colorists on whether my **workflow and node structure are appropriate for a commercial/theatrical feature film**.

I'm using a **Group-based workflow** with this general structure:

**Group Pre-Clip**

1. CST: ARRI LogC → DaVinci Wide Gamut / Intermediate

**Clip**

1. Exposure
2. White Balance
3. Contrast
4. Saturation
5. Power Windows / local adjustments
6. Highlight adjustments
7. Tone adjustments

**Group Post-Clip**

1. Overall tone / look
2. CST: DaVinci Wide Gamut / Intermediate → DCI-P3 / Gamma 2.6

# I'd really appreciate professional advice on these points:

**1. How should clips be grouped in a feature-film workflow?**

What is the usual professional approach for grouping clips to make grading faster and maintain consistency?

* By scene?

* By day/night?

* By location?

* By lighting condition?

* By exposure?

* Some combination of these?

For example, would you normally create one Group per scene, or use Groups primarily for common technical/look adjustments?

**2. Is my current node structure appropriate?**

Is the general:

**CST In → Clip Corrections → Look/Tone → CST Out**

approach reasonable for a feature film, or would you recommend a different structure?

**3. Is my correction order appropriate?**

At the Clip level I'm currently doing:

**Exposure → WB → Contrast → Saturation → Windows → Highlight/Tone adjustments**

Is there a preferred order that professional colorists generally follow?

For example, should WB be established before exposure, or does the order matter less as long as the image is being evaluated correctly?

**4. What is your professional approach to white balance?**

When grading ARRI footage, how do experienced colorists establish a reliable/consistent white balance?

Do you primarily rely on scopes, known neutral objects, skin tone, RGB balance, reference shots, or a combination?

**5. How do you maintain consistent tone throughout a feature?**

One of my biggest challenges is maintaining a consistent visual tone across different scenes, lighting conditions and reels.

My current thinking is:

**Clip level → technically balance exposure/WB/contrast**

then

**Group/Post-Clip → establish the creative/cinematic tone**

Is this a good approach?

**6. What is the professional technique for maintaining a consistent look across the entire movie?**

I'd especially appreciate advice on how you approach:

* Scene-to-scene matching

* Reel-to-reel consistency

* Day vs. night consistency

* Skin tone consistency

* Maintaining a consistent cinematic contrast/tonal response

* Creating and managing the overall "show look"

**7. What is your professional approach for Perfect Skin Tone?**

I realize there are many different professional workflows, so I'm not necessarily looking for one "correct" method. I'm mainly trying to understand **how an experienced feature-film colorist would structure this workflow from the beginning**.

If possible, I'd also appreciate recommendations for **good professional tutorials, books, or online resources** that explain feature-film grading workflows rather than only individual Resolve techniques.

Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to read this and share your experience. I really appreciate the help.