r/colorists•
Gorro7

Grading for broadcast (uk)

Technical

Hello everybody, I am need of your expertise.

I am suppose to be grading a commercial very soon that has a very vibrant red product and I have been specifically told “keep that red popping”! Now I haven’t really graded for tv before but looking into broadcast safe guidelines I’m starting to get the spookies in how to keep it “popping” while getting the advert to pass technically.

What tools are you using to ensure you are staying within a legal luminance and saturation range when grading? I’ve seen the broadcast viewer in DaVinci but when I compare adverts that have been released in the broadcast viewer it is showing up as too saturated.

Is there a technique that works for keeping the illusion of saturation while scientifically keeping it in range?

Now I’m probably missing something key here but any help in this would help me get some sleep before this ad.

By trade I am a DP so I’m aware that the camera used needs to have enough colour depth to achieve good tonality in the colours.

Posted Aug 5, 2026, 1:24 PM UTC

38
Loading comments…