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No Film School’s Jourdan Aldridge sits down with Adobe’s Jason Druss at NAB 2026 to discuss Adobe Premiere’s new Color Mode, a three-year effort to rethink color grading for video editors. The conversation covers why Adobe rebuilt its color pipeline, how Color Mode differs from Lumetri and traditional pro-color tools, and what editors can expect from operations, styles, modules, film emulation, AI object masks, and upcoming beta features. Jason also shares his path from film school and color grading at NFL Films to product marketing at Blackmagic, Frame.io, and Adobe.
In this episode, No Film School's Jourdan Aldridge and guest Jason Druss discuss...
Adobe’s major NAB 2026 focus: the public beta launch of Color Mode in Premiere
Why Adobe built Color Mode as a pro-color system designed specifically for video editors
The limitations of Lumetri and the challenges of round-tripping to dedicated color tools
How Alexis Van Hurkman helped lead the creation of a new color grading workflow inside Premiere
The role of private beta feedback from hundreds of working editors
Jason Druss’s career path through film school, wedding filmmaking, Blackmagic, NFL Films, WarnerMedia, Frame.io, and Adobe
How Frame.io Drive connects with Premiere workflows and Adobe’s NAB demo process
The design philosophy behind Color Mode’s simplified interface and shallow learning curve
New Color Mode concepts including operations, styles, modules, clip groups, and sequence-level grading
Film color, contrast kit, range controls, and customizable film emulation tools
Why Adobe sees Color Mode as a new approach to creativity without unnecessary complexity
Upcoming beta features including HSL qualifiers, skin tone lines, auto color, auto balance, vignette modules, and more film stocks
Memorable Quotes:
“What we're really trying to do is evolve and change the video editor's relationship with color and effects.”
“For more than 10 years now, video editors have had two, like, really bad choices when it comes to color grading.”
“We wanted to make the first color grading system ever actually built from the ground up and designed for video editors.”
“Color mode rewards curiosity. It encourages experimentation. It's actually fun to use.”
Guest:
Jason Druss
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