Many productions use exactly the same combination of cameras and lenses, however its rare that any production should wish it’s film’s ‘look’ to appear exactly the same as many other productions. Back in the era of photochemical movies, a production could receive a unique look through optical and chemical processes in the lab stage.

Today a custom viewing transform or ‘show look’ can define a tailor-made rendering of the look and feel of the world of your characters. Having a show look in place in the imaging pipeline from the outset of production gives everyone involved a clear picture of their film’s visual style and will differentiate it from other productions. Personally I’ve found this approach dramatically reduces time spent on defining a look in final grading that everyone is happy with and helps cinematographers both carry forward and refine their aesthetic intentions.

A show look helps create a palette for the world of a film:

• Defining how contrasty, colourful or harmonious the overall film appears
• Defining the appearance of characters’ skin tones, foliage and other natural elements
• Adjusting spatial characteristics such as sharpness, grain and diffusion

Here are some examples, for more see here.