This workflow is specifically optimized for high-end mobile acquisition pipelines and tested on source files with the following specifications:
- Resolution: 4K UHD (3840×2160) at 30fps
- Codec: HEVC / H.265 (~46 Mbps)
- Colorspace: ITU-R BT.2020 wide color gamut
- Pixel Format: 10-bit yuv420p10le source files
By leveraging 10-bit BT.2020 footage, the grading pipeline can aggressively compress tonal response and enhance color separation and saturation while minimizing visible banding and digital artifacts.
The look emphasizes:
- Rich landscape contrast
- Dense blacks
- Vibrant foliage rendering
- Warm cinematic highlights
- Slide-film inspired color density
Designed primarily for smartphone LOG workflows inside Kdenlive.
The Technical Breakdown (Scopes Analysis):
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- Crushed Shadows (Hard Clip): Stacking the creative LUT twice multiplies the RGB cube values, driving the minimum black levels straight to absolute zero (Red: 0, Green: 2, Blue: 0). This accurately replicates the narrow exposure latitude and deep, ink-black shadow drop characteristic of Velvia slide film.
- Warm Highlights: The RGB Parade shows a clear Red-heavy dominance in the highlights (R: 220, G: 190, B: 187), giving landscape elements, soil, and stone textures a rich, amber warmth.
- The Chromatic Axis: The Vectorscope reveals a tight, stylized stretch strictly along the Yellow-Green (Yl-G) to Cyan (Cy) axis, cleanly separating the warm foliage from the deeply polarized teal skies without introducing digital chroma muddying.
The Effect Stack Order & Parameters (Crucial):
- Apply LUT (Cinematic/Creative Look) — 1st Instance
- Apply LUT (Cinematic/Creative Look) — 2nd Instance. VERY IMPORTANT: This double-stack drives the aggressive contrast expansion and dense color packing directly from the flat LOG source.
- Soft Glow (Blend Mode: Screen / Shadows: 0.00 / Blur: 0.50 / Brightness: 0.50 / Sharpness: 0.85). Generates a subtle, creamy lens halation strictly on the post-LUT highlights (e.g., metallic and sky reflections).
- Gaussian Blur (StepsX: 1, Planes: YUV, Vertical Sigma: -1). Just a touch to strip away the harsh, artificial micro-contrast and digital over-sharpening typical of small mobile sensors.
- Video Noise Generator (Replicating organic film grain structure. Component #0 Strength: 3 to 4 (Luminance-only grain, perfectly scaled for 4K delivery). Component #1 & #2 Strength: 0 (Eliminating artificial digital RGB/chroma noise). All components noise seed: -1 (Ensures active, dynamic frame-by-frame grain movement). Flag Component 0: Uniform Noise
BEFORE (using LOG)
AFTER:
Download XML from here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1THx7Tp_axM06dIrLq-OCr7FHfS6XS_6N/view?usp=sharing
Inside the XML, the LUT paths are pointing to a local Windows directory (c:/Program Files/.../CINEMATIC.cube). After installing this custom effect, make sure to click on the two Apply LUT effects in your Kdenlive interface and manually re-link them to your own copy of the CINEMATIC.cube LUT file, otherwise the color transformation will not apply!