How to get Spike Jonze’s ‘Her’ Look

[Mason Makram]

Shoot in a flat picture style, preferably log. It looks like some blues in the shadows (and desaturated), warm in the mids, slightly warm in the highlights. Mainly the look comes from production design, though. It’s not the colors added in post; it’s what’s in frame. Look at your examples. Everyone is wearing pink, red, orange, pastel colors. The furniture, the curtains, even all of the extras on the beach. This is all done meticulously by Spike Jonze and his production designer. There’s more to making a movie look a certain way than a color grade. That’s why preset looks like Magic Bullet rarely work.