Learn How to Make Your Footage Look More Cinematic in Adobe Premiere Pro

Filmmakers are always looking for ways to make their footage look more cinematic. And while any seasoned vet would tell you that good lighting, camera movement, and set design are the key elements for pulling it off, they're not the only ways to give your images that sought after "film look." In this Adobe Premiere tutorial, Peter McKinnon shows you how powerful color grading can be in making your shots look that much better.

It's a bit of a myth that you need the latest camera and a whole bunch of expensive gear to make your films look, well, like a film. I admit, I certainly believed that when I first started out. However, so much more goes into making a film look cinematic, rather than your run-of-the-mill home movie. And yes, while post-production software like Premiere Pro can give you an aesthetic boost when you need it, it's incredibly important to understand that that kind of fix-it-in-post philosophy will lead to more problems than solutions, because it's difficult to fix poor exposure and a boring story in post.

If you truly want to make your film more cinematic, invest in lighting, use a dolly, slider, jib, or stabilizer to move your camera around, be intentional when you dress your set and your actors, and most importantly, have a good story to tell. These are the essentials that will give you a good foundation to work from when you do head into post to do your grade, and once you do, McKinnon's advice in this tutorial will really do you some good.

Source: Peter McKinnon