Fix It In Post? Why Doing Things In-Camera Matters

“Some people think you can do everything [in the grade], but you can’t,” says renowned industry colourist Jean-Clément Soretof Company 3. “You can create the illusion of something, but not completely reinvent it.”

We’re all familiar with the trope of fixing things in post. But in a discussion moderated by Academy Films director Henry Scholfield at last week’s British Arrows’ Art of Craft Festival, directors, cinematographers and Jean-Clément made a strong case for doing as much as possible in-camera and the importance of making early decisions around lighting and colour.

For Jean Clément, it's the colourist’s job to extend the director’s work and extenuate what they’ve already shot. “You want to be moving in a direction from the start,” he said, building on what’s been captured rather than correcting it.

It’s something The Corner Shop director Sara Dunlop, known for her sensitivity to colour agreed with. “Colour starts with what’s in the frame. If there’s no colour there, there’s nothing to work with. I don’t love the idea of changing colours later in the grade. Maybe that’s old school, but you make those decisions upfront, with the agency. You agree on it then. Going back and changing it later, it’s torture.”

“Light is everything,” said Great Guns cinematographerIvan Bird. “Light is life.” His approach is rooted in discipline – it’s all about shooting at the right time and chasing the right light.

And yet, committing to the image captured in-camera is sometimes at odds with client and agency expectations. Sara has noticed a growing discomfort with darkness in modern work. “There’s definitely a growing fear of darkness,” she said. “There are always comments like, ‘It’s a bit dark in that corner.’ And it’s like, yes, it’s supposed to be. That’s where the craft comes in: it’s about guiding the eye, shaping atmosphere and deciding how much the viewer sees… If you reveal everything, you lose emotion.”

As the conversation moved beyond colour into the role of lenses, composition and lighting, a resounding question emerged from the panel, just because you can change everything later in post with today’s tools, should you?

When everything is possible, decision-making becomes harder, slower, and more diluted by competing voices in the grade. The panel agreed that creating clear constraints, rather than having an abundance of options, sharpens intent. It’s a reminder that direction begins long before the grade.

“You get into the grade and something is already there,” said Sara. “When we shot film, you were looking at quite rough images and waiting to get into the grade and go, ‘Ah, now let’s make it look great.’”

The shift into digital has turned colour grading from a space of discovery into a place of correction and removed a crucial stage of creative exploration. Sara is pushing back on this, choosing to “create really beautiful images in camera… but not imposing too strong a look,” leaving space for the grade to become a moment for collaboration.

“When the best work happens, everyone’s moving in the same direction, it’s not about competing for authorship.”

It’s a reminder of the importance of collaboration in the grade, at a time of increased revisions and more opinions.

The panel spoke to the renewed interest and resurgence in shooting on film. With its fixed constraints and limited rolls, it means there’s no safety net or assumption that things can be fixed later. Rather than limit creativity, that constraint focuses it. And it reintroduces more opportunities for happy accidents to occur within the process, for unexpected textures and imperfections that add to the project. “We used to double expose in-camera without knowing what we’d get,” Ivan remembered. “Imagine saying that to a client today.”

The biggest takeaway was to commit to colour earlier on and be “true to the colour you chose at the beginning,” concluded Sara.