TL;DR: Colour grading in the UK costs £200–£4,000+ per day depending on whether you use an in-house editor, a Soho colourist, or a senior feature-level operator. Most branded corporate or documentary work lands between £800–£1,800 per day. Budget a minimum of £500 for any polished short-form project.
What Is Colour Grading?
Colour grading is the process of adjusting hue, saturation, luminance, and contrast in a finished edit to achieve a consistent, deliberate visual look. It differs from colour correction — which fixes technical exposure and white-balance errors — by adding creative intent: a warm documentary feel, a clinical blue-teal corporate palette, or a cinematic log-to-HDR transform. Without grading, even beautifully shot footage looks flat and inconsistent across different camera angles, lighting setups, and locations. Professional grading on DaVinci Resolve or Baselight is the final step that turns raw footage into a broadcast-ready or cinema-ready master.
What Drives the Price?
- Operator tier: An in-house editor who grades on the side charges a fraction of a dedicated colourist's day rate.
- Software platform: Baselight operators (rare, typically post-house staff) command a premium over DaVinci Resolve freelancers.
- Project length: A 2-minute brand film and a 90-minute documentary require very different day-rate commitments — typically 1 day vs. 8–15 days.
- Deliverable format: SDR-only grades are faster than simultaneous SDR + HDR10 + Dolby Vision trims.
- Turnaround speed: Rush turnarounds of less than 48 hours attract 25–50% surcharges from most London colourists.
- Number of versions: Each approved revision (director's cut, social square, vertical Story crop) adds incremental grade time.
- Camera formats: ARRI ALEXA, RED, and Sony Venice RAW files demand more meticulous node management than compressed H.264 from a DSLR.
Vendor Tiers and Day Rates
| Tier | Day Rate (excl. VAT) | Typical Deliverable | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-house editor / self-grading | £200–£400/day | Online correction + basic LUT | Social content, internal comms, tight budgets |
| Freelance colourist (mid-level) | £400–£800/day | Full creative grade, SDR master, 2 revisions | Branded content, event films, short docs |
| Soho post-house colourist | £1,200–£2,000/day | Primary + secondary grade, HDR option, QC report | Broadcast, high-end brand campaigns, streaming |
| Senior / award-winning colourist | £2,000–£4,000+/day | Full HDR suite, Dolby Vision trim, studio QC | Feature films, prestige TV, luxury brand work |
DaVinci Resolve vs. Baselight
DaVinci Resolve (Blackmagic Design) dominates the independent and mid-tier market. A full Studio licence costs around £240 once — making it the go-to for freelancers and smaller post-houses. The software is capable of Dolby Vision and HDR grading and handles virtually every camera RAW format. Approximately 80% of UK freelance colourists work on Resolve.
Baselight (FilmLight) is the industry standard in premium Soho facilities and network broadcasters. Licences cost £30,000–£80,000 per seat, which is why Baselight operators almost exclusively work inside established post-houses with day rates starting at £1,200. The system's ACES colour science and real-time HDR pipeline make it the benchmark for long-form work. If your distributor requires a Baselight-verified deliverable, budget accordingly.
For most MKTRL production clients — brand films, documentaries, event highlights — Resolve at the freelance or mid-tier level delivers broadcast-quality results at £400–£800/day.
HDR and Dolby Vision Uplifts
Standard dynamic range (SDR) grades are the baseline. Adding an HDR10 pass typically costs an extra 20–30% on a post-house rate, because the colourist must re-balance highlights and shadows across both masters. Dolby Vision dynamic metadata adds another layer: a Dolby-certified facility, a Vision IQ tool licence (approx. £8,000/year), and a frame-by-frame metadata pass. Expect a Dolby Vision uplift of £500–£1,500 per project on top of the base grade. For streaming-platform deliveries (Netflix, Apple TV+), Dolby Vision is mandatory.
When to Pay More
- Your project is destined for a streaming platform, broadcast network, or cinema release — the QC requirements alone justify a post-house day rate.
- You're shooting on LOG or RAW formats (ARRI, RED, Sony Venice) and need a proper colour-managed pipeline, not a quick LUT drop.
- The creative brief specifies a signature look (bleach bypass, specific period-accurate palette) that requires nuanced secondary grading and sky replacement.
- You have more than 3 deliverable aspect ratios — a Soho colourist will have tooling to automate this far more efficiently than a freelancer.
- Your client is a luxury brand where off-brand skin tones or inconsistent product colour are a contractual risk.
Red Flags When Hiring a Colourist
- No show reel variety: A colourist whose reel shows only one look is not versatile — ask for examples across 3 different visual styles.
- Quoting per minute, not per day: Per-minute pricing sounds cheap but incentivises speed over quality. Day rates are the industry norm for professional work.
- No mention of revisions: Ensure your contract specifies at least 2 rounds of client amends included in the base fee.
- No QC deliverable: A Soho-level job should include a QC report (loudness, video levels, metadata). If it's not mentioned, ask explicitly.
- Unclear deliverable format: Confirm codec, bit-depth, colour space, and HDR specification before signing off — disputes over deliverable specs after grading are costly.
Typical Package Examples
| Project Type | Days Estimated | Typical Budget Range |
|---|---|---|
| 2-min brand film (social + web) | 1–1.5 days | £400–£1,200 |
| 30-min corporate documentary | 2–3 days | £800–£2,400 |
| Broadcast 1 × 52 min episode | 4–6 days | £4,800–£12,000 |
| Feature film (indie) | 10–20 days | £12,000–£60,000+ |
Frequently Asked Questions
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What's the difference between colour correction and colour grading?
Correction fixes technical problems — exposure, white balance, consistency shot-to-shot. Grading adds creative intent: a stylised look, a specific mood, or a branded palette. Most professional workflows include both as sequential steps within the same session. -
Can my editor do the colour grading as well?
Yes, and for social content or internal videos it's often the right call. For broadcast, streaming, or premium brand work, a dedicated colourist will deliver significantly better results and is worth the separate budget line. -
How long does a colour grade take?
A typical 2-minute brand film takes 4–8 hours. A 90-minute documentary takes 6–15 days. Variables include the number of camera sources, the complexity of the look, and the number of revision rounds. -
Do I need HDR grading?
Only if your deliverable requires it. Netflix and Apple TV+ mandate HDR. YouTube and social platforms accept SDR. If you're unsure, ask your distributor for their technical spec document before briefing the colourist. -
What files do I deliver to a colourist?
A locked edit (XML, EDL, or AAF), the original camera files (RAW or LOG), and your sound mix or scratch audio reference. Never send a colour graded proxy — the colourist needs the original sensor data. -
Is Soho post-house grading always better than freelance?
Not automatically. A highly skilled freelance colourist with 10+ years of experience on DaVinci Resolve will outperform a junior post-house operator. The premium for a post-house covers the facility, the QC infrastructure, and the Baselight tooling — not necessarily a better creative eye. -
How many revision rounds are standard?
2 rounds is industry standard. A first-pass approval plus one round of client amends. Each additional round is billed at an hourly rate, typically £80–£150/hour for freelancers and £200–£400/hour at a post-house. -
What's included in a "package" rate vs. a day rate?
Day rates are time-based — you book the colourist's time. Package rates fix a deliverable (e.g. "grade a 3-minute film with 2 revisions") at a set fee. For defined-scope projects, a package is more predictable; for longer or open-ended projects, a day rate gives the colourist flexibility to do the work properly.