Case Studies
The colour of Dreams (Sex Love)
Dreams (Sex Love) is a 2024 Norwegian drama film written and directed by Dag Johan Haugerud. It is the third part of a trilogy, after Sex and Love, looking at the complexity of human relationships, sexuality and social norms.
The film follows Johanne's (Ella Øverbye) infatuation with her French teacher Johanna (Selome Emnetu), causing tension with her family as they confront their own unfulfilled dreams and desires.
The film was released in Norwegian theatres on 4 October 2024 and made its International premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2025, where it won the Golden Bear in the Main Competition.
It was shot by DoP Cecilie Semec and the colour grading was led by Christian Wieberg-Nielsen, supervising colourist at Storyline Studios in Norway.
Organically discovering the look
For the previous two films in the trilogy, Sex and Love, Wieberg-Nielsen was involved from pre-production, but due to unforeseen circumstances, Dreams was a little different.
“I wasn’t able to start in pre-production, because the DoP was sick with COVID during that period,” explains Wieberg-Nielsen. “So, 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 organically in 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.”
“Chromogen was essential for handling the film’s strong colours in a controlled way. 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.”
