SMT100: Core Principles

Foundational constraints governing exposure philosophy, colour systems, and workflow design.

SMT101: Exposure Is Structural

You cannot invent photons. Exposure choices define the signal ceiling, the noise floor, and the grading latitude. Finishing can shape interpretation, but it cannot recover missing capture.

SMT102: LUTs Are Constraint Systems

A Show LUT is not “the look.” It is a constraint envelope: contrast behaviour, highlight roll-off, and chroma limits. A good LUT preserves optionality for finishing and keeps decisions reversible.

SMT103: Neutrality Preserves Narrative Control

Restraint is not flatness. Colour is an allocation problem: decide what gets to be colourful, and what must stay readable. Faces are narrative anchors; protect structure and let spectacle live around them.

SMT104: Colour Exists Within Systems

Scene-referred pipelines, display transforms, trims, and perceptual models are not aesthetic preferences. They are architectural constraints that determine how colour is interpreted, preserved, and delivered.

SMT105: Robust System Design in Colour

A colour system must survive stress. Prefer smooth, bounded, opponent-space logic over fragile precision. If a look breaks under pressure, it was never a look.

SMT106: The Pipeline Didn’t Change. The Material Did

The node graph is a three-stage light transport model: capture, grade, output. Film enforced these stages in chemistry. Digital requires you to enforce them in discipline. The architecture is the same. The material changed.

SMT100 Scope

SMT100 defines principles and decision constraints. Implementation patterns live in SMT200: Systems.