My name is Matti.

Today we're gonna talk about teal and orange.

Is it good?

Is it bad?

Is it just a trend?

Should you be doing it?

Let's find out.

Let's get into it.

(electronic music)

So, in filmmaking, there's ton of trends that come and go.

For example, the trendy zoom transitions,

and those different transitions

that we talked about in previous videos.

Some people would say that

the teal and orange look or color grade

is just a trendy thing that's going on right now,

but I'm gonna tell you why

the teal and orange look is here to stay.

When I first started color grading and making films,

I'd try all sorts of wacky things.

I'd be like, "Oh, this looks really cool"

and I'd put purple in the shadows,

or I'd be like, "Oh, this is really good,

"I'm gonna put red in the shadows",

and then I realized there's a really good reason

why the teal and orange look

is so popular and so widespread,

and it actually has to do with the science of color.

And before we get into it, I just wanna remind you guys

that the Cine LUTs Pack, these are presets for your videos,

are on sale right now for only $10

and also all of my courses are on sale for $20,

even the color grading course.

$20 right now for the next couple weeks,

so go and check those out.

So, in every film there's one constant with colors,

and that's skin tones.

No matter what your complexion is,

all the skin tones lie in a really small

section of the color wheel.

We're all in the same color space

when it comes to skin complexion.

And some skins are darker and some skins are lighter,

but we're all in the orange section of the color wheel.

You can see here, I took a whole bunch

of different skins complexions and

put them into Adobe Color,

and if you haven't used Adobe Color before,

this is a really handy tool.

You can take a screengrab from any video or any movie

and you'll be able to find out exactly

what colors are being used in that movie.

What colors are in the shadows, in the highlights,

what's going on with respect to the color grade.

It's really handy.

So, we upload this picture of different skin complexions

and look how similar they all are.

They all fit in this one little sliver of the color wheel.

It's really interesting to me.

So, all the skin tones are in the same area,

no matter what the complexion of your talent is.

Now, in filmmaking or color grading,

you can use light and shadow to create contrast

or using luminence to create contrast,

but you can also use color,

and the way we create color contrast

is by using complementary colors,

which is basically just opposite colors.

Not only do they fit well together,

but they also make each other pop.

So, for example, if you have this green background

and you have a red dot in the middle,

it's gonna really pop out of the middle,

whereas if you make that same circle yellow,

it doesn't pop as much as it does when it's red.

Okay, so where are we going with this?

Well, if you go into Adobe Color

and you choose 'Complementary'

for those skin complexions that we put in,

Look where the complementary color is.

It's teal,

and this is where teal and orange comes from.

It's not actually just a trendy thing,

it's actually the science of color

and our skin complexion.

The teal and orange look actually really

enhances the storytelling,

because it really focuses the viewer's attention

to the characters because of that color contrast.

Usually you end up putting teal

in the shadows and maybe the highlights,

and in the midtones where the skin tones lie,

you push a little bit of orange.

So your background ends up being more blue,

and your subject ends up being orange,

and this means color contrast.

Your subjects are gonna pop out of the image

more than anything else.

You're always gonna be drawn to those faces

because of that color contrast,

and that's why it enhances the story,

and that's why the teal and orange look is so popular.

It's actually not a trend, it's science.

And we humans are super-critical of skin tones.

If the skin tones are a little bit too green,

right away, we think, "Oh, this guy's sick"

or "Something's wrong with this person",

or if we go to magenta, then we're thinking

"This person's an alien or something.

"This does not look natural at all."

There is a little bit of wiggle room.

You can move around the skin tones a little bit,

but you can't go too far,

or else it's gonna look really unnatural.

So, that's why you're really limited

to this teal and orange look.

You could go a little bit more yellow-blue,

or you could go a little bit more green-red,

but it's always gonna be in this

same section of the color wheel,

and that's because of our skin complexion.

It always stays the same.

The only trendy part of this is

how you use this information.

For example, you could go to the extreme Transformer look,

that really saturated teal and orange,

or you could do a much more subtle version

like in The Revenant.

It's still there, but it's much more subtle

and you won't right away notice that

"Oh, this is teal and orange",

but the science behind the teal and orange look

will always be the same.

So, quickly, without any LUTs or anything like that,

just using some color wheels,

this is how you would pull off the teal and orange look.

First off, you would want to get your contrast levels right,

and then you would add teal to the shadows.

Then, next, you would go to the midtones

and drag it to the opposite orange area,

and then you would take the highlights

towards the teal area,

or if you want a more warm look,

you could also take it towards the orange area.

I would usually bring it more towards the teal,

just to cancel out some of that

correction in the midtones.

And then notice once you change the highlights,

the midtones change a little bit

so you have to kind of

go back and forth and finesse the look,

so that it looks pleasing to the eye

and you're happy with it.

And the further away from the middle

you drag the color wheels,

the more intense the look is gonna be.

For me, I usually like a much more subtle look.

Just a little bit of teal and orange.

That works best for me.

Everyone has a different style

and look that they're going for,

so you can go more extreme or go more muted.

There's no right or wrong answer there,

but one thing remains the same

and that's the color of our skin.

We're all on the same sliver of the color wheel,

so that's never gonna change

and that's why the teal and orange works and is so popular.

There's a reason why every single Hollywood film

pretty much uses this kind of color palette

in some way, shape or form.

So, next time you're color grading your film,

stick to the science, stick to what works,

and use that color grading to enhance your storytelling

instead of distracting the audience

with weird colors that just don't work.

If you enjoyed this video,

hit that 'Like' button, subscribe to the channel,

and go check out the Cine LUTs Pack

and some of the teaching courses

like the color grading course that I have.

They're all on sale.

Guys, enjoy the filmmaking process,

and go get some of those Travel Feels.

(electronic music)