Tips to Mastering Color Correction in Premiere Pro for Anime Videos

The Secret Behind Anime

The world of anime has a myriad of titles that can please fans across the globe. Many titles end up having a cult of followers, like Pokémon, and any new movie or game from the big franchises generates heated debates about whether it lived up to the concept of the original anime in question.

But the secret behind them is art. For that reason, most live-action attempts to bring to life with real actors the universe of many anime had mixed reviews at best.

Graphic art is the core value of the anime universe, and mimicking that atmosphere with live action, for example, hardly depicts the immersive experience of watching classics like Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto and many others.

Let’s explore what professionals are doing to make the most of the best tools to produce these masterpieces in 2023.

Tips to Mastering Color Correction in Premiere Pro for Anime Videos

It’s common sense among designers that color correction is the key to video editing. It most certainly can make a world of difference in the quality of final work with anime videos. Adobe Premiere Pro is a popular video editing option, due to the fact that it offers modern features which can be a game changer when making a professional-looking color correction and many other common tasks in the day of a video designer.

Footage Analysis

The analysis of the footage is the very first step before actual color correction. Check out if the colors are too saturated or perhaps desaturated, also check if the exposure has excessive brilliance or darkness, and or if there are any noticeable color shifts.

Optimizing the Use of The Lumetri Color Panel

The Lumetri Color panel is the most relevant to be used during your color correction tasks. Mastering the myriad of various sections can be useful, but essentially, the most relevant ones would be Basic Correction, Creative, Curves, Color Wheels, HSL Secondary, the Vignette tool and some others depending on your working style and preferences.

Initial Tricks: Adjustment of the Exposure and Contrast

Start by adjusting the exposure as well as the contrast of your Anime project. Use the sliders tool at the Basic Correction feature at the Lumetri Color panel to alter whatever you need at this stage, such as the Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Contrast, Whites, and Blacks.

Adjust the Saturation and the Vibrance:

In anime videos, the colors are the secret behind the art of the titles that made them legendary in Japan and generated millions of fans and a cult of followers for different franchises. And conveying emotions and atmospheres of different scenarios takes a keen selection of colors.

It’s important to Adjust the Saturation and Vibrance sliders in the Creative section of the Lumetri Color panel to make sure that you achieve the best result possible with adequate saturation levels.

How to Correct the White Balance

The white balance is key to achieving an accurate color representation in your projects of anime videos. Use the White Balance selector (eyedropper tool) at the Basic Correction area to sample a neutral color (such as white or maybe gray) from your footage. This will adjust automatically the Temperature and Tint sliders to achieve an accurate white balance.

Using Curves and Color Wheels

The Curves and Color Wheels sections of the Lumetri Color panel allow you more accuracy. Curves allow you to adjust the lightness and contrast of the specific color channels (RGB). The Color Wheels allows you to make the final touches on the shadows, midtones, and highlights of the project as well as secondary features.

Using HSL Secondary for Selective Color Correction

The HSL Secondary section at the Lumetri Color panel helps you when you need to isolate and adjust specific colors during your editing session. This can be used for alterations of hue, saturation, and the luminance of a particular color – without affecting the overall color balance of the footage.

Other interesting ideas include creating and adding a vignette to your project, as it’ll convey a more professional look, and comparing each alteration to see if the result is better or if you should discard this potential change.

Summary

There’s no right and wrong when it comes to color correction. The end result is highly dependent on your personal preferences and those of your audience.

There’s no absolute truth when it comes to art, and anime videos are just like that. One thing, however, is certain: the atmosphere that can be achieved by quality graphic art within the anime world is unbeatable by live action, at least in the eyes of the fans of most big franchises.

The biggest attempts to obtain major box office with live action movies got mixed reviews at best, which shows us that anime videos remains a form of art with so many fans globally due to its unique final result and immersive experience.