Colourist Christian Wieberg-Nielsen talks about techniques, discussions and Baselight 6 tools that led to a very specific look as he, the director and DoP worked on this third film in a trilogy.
Norwegian feature film Dreams, released in local theatres in October 2024, made its International premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2025, and won the Golden Bear in the Main Competition. It forms the third part of a very well received trilogy written and directed by Dag Johan Haugerud, following two earlier films called Sex and Love.
Though it concerns topics like the complexity of human relationships, sexuality and social norms, it is in fact a warm-hearted story. It follows a girl’s infatuation with her French teacher and the tensions she causes with her family as they confront their own unfulfilled dreams and desires. It was shot by DoP Cecilie Semec and the colour grading was led by Christian Wieberg-Nielsen, supervising colourist at Storyline Studios in Norway.
For the previous two films in the trilogy, Christian was involved from pre-production, but Dreams was different. He said, “I wasn’t able to start in pre-production, because the DoP was sick with COVID during that period. The film was shot using the standard ARRI Alexa look, without any predefined LUT or colour pipeline.
“Unlike the previous two films, where we had pre-established references, Dreams required us to discover its look as we worked though the grading process. This open-ended approach was exciting but also added a layer of complexity, as we had to shape the colour language from the ground up.”
Three Films, One Conversation
The visual goal for Dreams was distinct from the previous two films in the trilogy. Dreams was the darkest of the three films – not in mood, but visually.
At the same time, the director said his aim was three productions dealing with the same topics from different perspectives. "They should look and feel very different, but give the impression that they are all part of the same conversation," he said.
Christian noted, “This film was designed to be closer, more intimate and more emotional. Cecilie Semec, our DoP, already had a clear vision for this film’s look in her cinematography, and our job in grading was to continue what was already present.”
He had worked with Cecilie before on smaller projects, but this was the first time that the director, DoP and colourist had worked together on a feature film.
Dynamic Vision
“Our collaboration was dynamic because the director had a very strong vision for the visuals, and his preferences sometimes clashed with mine and the DoP’s, which followed a more restrained, naturalistic sensibility,” Christian said. “While Cecilie and I initially leaned towards a soft, subdued look, the director wanted richer, more vibrant colours. This contrast in approaches led to some creative friction in the grading suite that was ultimately very productive.”
For instance, a key challenge for Christian was adapting the director’s preference for bold colours in a way that kept the film grounded in the naturalism that fit its intimate, character-driven storytelling. “Dag’s vibrant, expressive colours needed to integrate into the realism of the film in a natural way. Finding that balance was a challenge, but ultimately led to a much stronger final look,” he said. “Through careful adjustments, we found a way to maintain the softness and warmth that defined the film’s aesthetic.”
Christian, who has been grading on Baselight since he joined Storyline Studios in 2018, chose to use several tools from the newest Baselight 6 version to support this mixed type of outcome.
Colour Control
“Chromogen was essential for handling the film’s strong colours in a controlled way,” he said. “It helped create a natural saturation roll-off, ensuring that highlights had a soft, filmic desaturation while still maintaining rich colours in the midtones and shadows. I was also able to use X Grade extensively for shot-to-shot balancing, especially when colours were shifting in unwanted directions.”
Although X Grade is a primary colour correction tool, it is very useful for selective colour work and image reshaping. The colourist can make multiple localised, complex corrections in a single layer without creating a key or matte. Not only is the result gentler and more sympathetic, but it also avoids leaving folds in the colour space – even without conversions – which means corrections can be directly copied to shots that may have a completely different colour palette.
Another technical challenge was a sequence set on an outdoor staircase. The establishing shots of the stairs were filmed with heavy fog, but later shots of the same scene were filmed at a different time and had no fog at all.
“To maintain continuity, we used Depth Maps in Baselight to subtly lower contrast and add a touch of diffusion to the background in the later shots, creating a smoother transition between the misty and clear footage,” Christian said.
Voiceover Storytelling
Since the film is heavily driven by voiceover, it was also important for him to monitor the look and prevent the look from creating a sense of detachment.
“Voiceover as a storytelling tool can sometimes make the audience feel distanced from the film’s narrative. Using voiceover techniques so extensively is quite an experimental choice, and we needed to counterbalance the effect with a look that brought the audience closer to the characters,” said Christian.
“There could be no artificiality in the colours – everything had to feel real, still maintaining the softness and warmth that defined the film’s aesthetic.”
Textures were also key in this film. The production design included a lot of wool, soft textiles and cozy, warm interiors, and the colour grading needed to complement that by keeping the look gentle and moody.
He said, “A great example is the scene in the teacher’s apartment, where the warm lighting and soft production design created a strong, intimate atmosphere. The grading process focused on maintaining that warmth without neutralising it.”
Laser vs Xenon Lamp Projection
Christian and his team also encountered an unexpected challenge when they came to test the final DCP with both Xenon lamp and RGB laser projectors. They noticed significant differences between them. “The RGB laser has a higher contrast and sharpness, which affected the film’s soft look,” he said.
“To compensate, we used Texture Equalizer in Baselight to soften the image, ensuring that the film retained its softness on laser projection and at the same time being acceptable on a Xenon.” So that the colourist can go in to see how textures are affecting colours, it first divides the image into spatial frequency bands, which can then be adjusted individually to smooth out the colours without losing the textures.
Their experience on this film with the projectors led to deeper research into Metamerism and how different projection technologies impact colour perception. As a result, Christian attended Metamerism Expert Day in December 2024 and co-authored a technical article on the topic for IMAGO.
“Moving forward, I believe it’s crucial to test final grades in both Xenon and laser projection before locking them, ensuring that the film translates well across different viewing environments,” he said.
Fantastic Ride
He described playing a part in this trilogy – Sex, Love and Dreams – as a “fantastic and unreal ride”. The films were made back-to-back while production, editing and colour grading were happening in succession, making it a huge undertaking.
“Seeing how well these films have been received has been incredibly rewarding,” Christian commented. “Sex was selected for the Panorama section at Berlinale 2024, Love was in the main competition at the Venice Film Festival and Dreams won the Golden Bear at Berlinale 2025, which was an incredible milestone. It has been an honour to handle the colour work on all three films.” www.filmlight.ltd.uk
