How to create Game of Thrones look with LUTs

FFMPEG SECRETS
by Patrick Zadrobilek

How to create Game of Thrones look with LUTs

The WinterKnights look can be used to achieve the grading style of a very popular dark, mystified and medieval tv series from the 2010s.

There are no real restrictions on which lighting conditions the LUT can be used, because of it’s very versatile characteristics.

How to prepare your material for propper LUT usage

Bring your material into a de-log state by either:
apply the right camera BASE LUT available for free
by tuning shadows to 0% IRE and white to 100% IRE and gamma to apx. 2.0-2.5 (depending on your materials gamma)

Use material with good quality
the better the quality of your original material, the better the grading quality
meaning very good 8-bit content or better 10-bit material
original material should not have blacks crushed below 0% IRE or whites clipped above 100% IRE if possible

Be aware that the Base LUTs correcting only brightness distribution and saturation, but not colors. This is done later with one of the styling LUTs.

NTown’s Base LUTs are available for free in our List of most popular camera Base LUT Downloads.

Many grading applications are able to apply multiple LUTs.
The first LUT should always be the “correcting” BASE LUT to get your material into a “de-gamma” state to get out of that desaturated-flat look.
Then your material is ready to get a styling LUT which does the color grading for you.

Apply the styling LUT

To finetune the style, adjust the gamma or gain if the image appears to dark, or lower the exposure or gain if the image is too bright.
It always a good idea to keep an eye on the waveform monitor or the histogram and keep the majority of the image information in the middle or lower third.

Click link below to buy this LUT collection.