Colour Grading and Finishing

COURSE OVERVIEW

Build your creative colour grading skills to make your mark in the film, television and games industry.

This one year MA gets you Industry ready as you work through the post-production process honing your skills from grading, finishing, through to delivery. You'll leave with a cross-genre showreel and a number of film and television credits.

With a high graduate employment rate, this course will help you launch your career as a colourist.

What Our Students Say

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"You have people who are actively in the industry teaching you how to do the job. I think it’s grown me as a filmmaker, as a creative and as a person."

Nigel Tadyanehondo

NFTS graduate

Programme Specification Full Course Outline

The NFTS has recently made some exciting changes to this course. Our A Fresh Take page tells you all you need to know!

On this course, you’ll work with the latest available software and will be taught by current industry artists, technicians and supervisors. You will work on major NFTS film and TV productions, across the genres of fiction, science and natural history, documentary, TV entertainment, and animation, plus you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with games.

You will graduate from the School having studied the full NFTS post production pipeline, armed with a production-ready showreel as well as credits across film and television genres.

COURSE FACILITIES

As a student of the NFTS, you'll have access to professional standard production and post-production facilities, including calibrated grading suites and Baselight and Resolve software. There are also 2 cinemas which are used for rushes and screenings.

The course is dedicated to learning and practising the crafts of colour grading and finishing, from conforming right through to delivery.

You will learn to finish projects using Baselight, as well as having tuition in DaVinci Resolve and Avid.

The course consists of six core areas of Colour Grading and Finishing:

Basics of colour correction, calibration and colour theory
Advanced colour theory with real time grading tuition sessions
Advanced workshop grading
Finishing, delivery file formats and DCP creation
The film grading, finishing and delivery workflow
Professional practice and collaboration

The course covers such a diverse range of subjects that there is no typical candidate. Your background may be in the arts or other media, or you may be a recent graduate or industry professional looking to fast-track or switch your career. Colour graders need to have a good eye for aesthetics and consistency, have a good understanding of story, and be great collaborators.

Although not strictly necessary, you are likely to have some industry experience or training in your chosen field and you must already understand the basic technical and operational use of computers. An ideal candidate should have a mixture of creative and technical skills. Communication, people and management skills are also desirable.

While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record (for instance, in theatre or other arts) or an alternative qualification.

If you have any questions, please email info@nfts.co.uk

UK* Tuition Fees: £13,950 per year

*Includes EU Nationals with settled/pre-settled status subject to meeting residency requirements.

International/EU Fees: £21,950 per year

These are the fees for January 2026 intake, and are updated yearly in June.

All production costs are included in the course fees, including the use of School facilities and equipment.

Please note, the following application fees apply:

Non-refundable deposit on confirmation of place: £500

The NFTS is committed to ensuring it is open to students of genuine ability, no matter what their background or financial circumstances, which is why we award more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK.

We will do all we can to help you make the finances work to come to the NFTS, so please visit our funding guide to find out more about what support is available to you.

The following item(s) should accompany your online application:

Please submit a critical analysis of the use of colour grading in a film or television programme of your choice, no more than two sides A4 typed.
Please submit a brief outline of your particular interests in the Colour Grading and Finishing field including any relevant experience, either academic or practical.
Please supply a digital portfolio containing samples of your work. This need not demonstrate experience in effects. For applicants not from a film or television background, this item is optional.

Applications will close at 23:59 on the day of the deadline, shown at the top of this page.

Funding Available

The NFTS awards more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK. If you’re successful at gaining a place on the course, you will be contacted by our funding team with details on how to apply for one of these scholarships.

Visit our Funding Guide

Upcoming Events

16 Sep