The Colour Script: Keeping Light and Colour Consistent Across an AI Film

Short answer: a colour script is a single strip of key frames that shows how light and colour change across the whole film. In AI production it is the main tool against a common failure: scenes that each look good but come from visibly different worlds. It sets palette, light direction and contrast for every sequence before generation starts, and the grade enforces it at the end.

Why AI films drift in colour

Every generation session makes its own choices about white balance, saturation and contrast. Different models have different default looks. Without a plan, a film assembled from hundreds of generated shots jumps in temperature and mood from cut to cut, even inside one scene.

What goes into a colour script

• One key frame per sequence, laid out in story order so the emotional arc is visible as colour.
• Light logic: where the light comes from in each location and whether it is hard or soft.
• A limited palette per sequence, with one accent colour that means something in the story.
• Contrast and black level targets, so night scenes are dark in the same way.

How it is used during production

Key frames from the colour script travel with every shot request as references. When a generated shot drifts, it is either regenerated or flagged for correction. The final grade then pulls every shot to the sequence target — much easier when the drift is small.

Example

For THYMOS, images from different models were brought under one cold, desaturated palette so the fog, mud and stone read as one world. The palette was decided before production, not rescued in the grade.

Plan it early

A colour script takes days, not weeks, and saves many generation rounds. Read more about how we build visual language on our AI film production page.

Frequently asked questions