How to Write AI VFX Prompts for Cinematic Color Grade

Colour grade prompts in FXbuddy describe the visual aesthetic of the output, not the technical operations to achieve it. Instead of "push shadows to teal and warm the highlights," you describe what you want the clip to look like — the film stock, the genre aesthetic, the shadow colour, the contrast behaviour. The AI engine handles the technical transformation.

The most effective colour grade prompts borrow vocabulary from cinematography and film photography rather than colour science. "Kodak 500T quality, pushed one stop, slightly flat midtones, halation on windows" communicates more to the AI than "increase saturation and cool the shadows." The AI has been trained on a vast range of visual media and recognises aesthetic references.

Colour grade prompts work best as a finishing layer after you've handled any VFX or environmental changes. If you're relighting a scene to golden hour, relight first — then apply a colour grade prompt to the result to refine the look. Combining both in a single prompt can work but tends to produce less controlled results in each domain.

What FXbuddy needs in a colour grade prompt

• Overall look: cinematic film, teal-and-orange, bleach bypass, cross-processed, muted indie, high contrast thriller
• Shadow colour: teal shadows, warm orange-brown shadows, blue-grey shadows, lifted grey shadows
• Highlight behaviour: blown highlights, halation, preserved highlights, cool blue highlights
• Contrast and lift: high contrast, low contrast, lifted blacks, crushed blacks
• Saturation: desaturated, vibrant, muted, skin tones preserved only

5 example prompts you can copy

Common mistakes

• Technical operations instead of aesthetic descriptions: "Increase saturation by 15% and push blue channel in shadows" is colour science language that the AI doesn't process the same way. "Vibrant, punchy colours with teal in the shadows" describes the aesthetic target.
• Conflicting instructions: "High contrast but also soft and muted" is contradictory. High contrast implies deep blacks and bright whites; soft and muted implies lifted blacks and reduced saturation. Pick a lane.
• No shadow colour specification: "Cinematic grade" without specifying shadow colour produces an average of many possible cinematic looks. Shadow colour is the most distinctive element — specify it first.
• Combining grade with major VFX changes: Asking for "golden-hour relighting AND a teal-and-orange grade AND add rain" in one prompt dilutes each effect. Separate major categories into distinct prompt passes.

Tips for better colour grade results

• Naming a film stock ("Kodak Portra 400 quality," "Fuji Velvia for landscapes") primes the AI with a specific aesthetic reference that's faster to communicate than describing every colour decision.
• Genre references work well as aesthetic shorthand: "late-90s thriller grade," "Malick-style golden-hour indie," "80s music video cross-process," "Nordic noir TV aesthetic."
• Specify what to protect: "preserve natural skin tones" prevents the AI from pushing skin too far in any direction when applying an otherwise heavy grade.
• For sequences, apply the same grade prompt to all clips and then do a brief manual matching pass in Lumetri. The AI grade gives you a close starting point; the manual pass handles any remaining clip-to-clip variations.
• A slightly desaturated grade almost always reads as more cinematic than a fully saturated one. If in doubt, include "slightly desaturated, particularly in the midtones" as a baseline instruction.

Frequently asked questions

Can FXbuddy apply a specific film look like a LUT?

FXbuddy doesn't apply LUTs directly, but its AI engine can generate footage with the visual characteristics of named film stocks and cinematic looks. Describing the look — "Kodak Vision 500T film stock quality, pushed one stop, slightly desaturated shadows, halation on highlights" — gets you closer to a specific film look than a LUT name alone.

What is teal-and-orange grading and how do I prompt for it?

Teal-and-orange is a colour grading technique that pushes shadows toward teal and skin tones toward orange. To prompt for it: "cinematic teal-and-orange grade — push shadows toward teal, maintain warm orange on skin tones, lift midtones slightly, deep contrast. Hollywood blockbuster aesthetic."

Does colour grading in FXbuddy replace Lumetri Color or DaVinci?

FXbuddy's AI colour work is a creative tool for establishing a look — it's not a replacement for a colour science pipeline. For final deliverables with precise colour accuracy requirements, FXbuddy is best used for creative look development, with Lumetri or DaVinci handling the technical grade. Many editors use FXbuddy to establish a look and then match it in their grading software.

Can I use colour grade prompts on clips that already have a LUT applied?

Yes. FXbuddy processes the clip as it appears in the export. For the cleanest results, apply FXbuddy's colour changes to the original ungraded footage and apply any technical LUT afterward. But if you're working with pre-graded clips, the AI can still shift the look further.

Related prompt guides

Also see the AI Style Transfer effect page for a full workflow combining grade and visual style.