The Euphoria aesthetic
Euphoria (HBO, 2019—) cinematographer Marcell Rév established a look that has dominated short-form video aesthetics: saturated neon, purple-blue shadows, halation around every light source, and a dreamy bloom that softens everything.
The look is deliberately heavy. Unlike A24 restraint, Euphoria leans into excess. Get the recipe right and your phone footage starts looking like the show.
Color characteristics
Magenta-purple shadows. Not blue, not teal — purple. This is the most distinctive trait.
Saturated complementary. Magenta vs. cyan, purple vs. green, hot pink vs. electric blue.
Heavy bloom. Highlights bleed into surrounding areas. Skin glows.
Halation. Every light source has a soft red-orange halo.
Subtle chromatic aberration. Around 2-4. Enough to feel dreamlike, not so much it looks broken.
Lifted blacks. Like Wong Kar-wai, but pushed cooler.
The Euphoria base recipe
Open the film filters editor, select Neon Nights, then override:
- Preset: Neon Nights
- Contrast: 118
- Saturation: 140
- Brightness: 94
- Temperature: -15 (cool base)
- Tint: +12 (push magenta)
- Highlights: -5
- Shadows: +10
- Fade: 5
- Matte: 8
- Grain: 14
- Halation: 20
- Halation Color: #ff4080 (hot pink)
- Bloom: 22 (heavy)
- Bloom Threshold: 40 (catch more pixels)
- Chromatic Aberration: 3
- Split Tone Intensity: 35
- Split Tone Shadow Color: #2a0a40 (deep purple)
- Split Tone Highlight Color: #f08090 (warm pink)
- Split Tone Balance: 42
- Vignette: 22
Scene-specific variants
Party / club scenes — saturation maxed, more chromatic aberration:
- Saturation: 155
- Chromatic Aberration: 5
- Bloom: 28
- Halation: 28
Intimate / bedroom scenes — softer, warmer pink:
- Temperature: -5 (less cool)
- Bloom: 18
- Split Tone Highlight Color: #f8a8b8 (skin pink)
- Halation: 15
Outdoor daylight — Euphoria daylight is rare; when it appears it is hazy:
- Brightness: 104
- Highlights: +12
- Bloom: 20
- Saturation: 120 (less than night)
- Vignette: 10
Make-up close-ups (the glitter look) — extreme bloom:
- Bloom: 35
- Bloom Threshold: 30 (catch glitter)
- Saturation: 150
- Chromatic Aberration: 4
Captions and titles
Euphoria titles are minimal — when they appear, they are usually thin sans-serif in white or hot pink, sometimes with a glow.
- Font: Outfit Light or Manrope at thin weight
- Color: white, or hot pink #ff4080
- Background: none
- Add a subtle glow if your caption style supports it
- Position: bottom or center
For text effects integrated into the scene, depth text lets you place text behind subjects — particularly effective for character names appearing as someone walks past a sign.
Animation tips
Euphoria uses dramatic camera moves: dolly zooms, whip pans, slow push-ins.
- Slow push-in (zoom 100% to 110% over 4 seconds)
- Combined with subtle ease-in/ease-out
- Avoid kinetic captions — Euphoria is too cool for animated text
Working with phone footage
iPhone and recent Android footage works well as a starting point because:
- Sensor noise becomes the grain
- HDR mode preserves shadow detail you can lift
- Night mode footage is already in the right luminance range
Avoid heavily processed footage. The "Cinematic" mode on iPhone applies its own grade that fights the Euphoria recipe. Shoot in standard mode if possible.
Common mistakes
Blue shadows instead of purple. Most "neon look" tutorials push blue. Euphoria pushes magenta-purple. Tint should be positive (+8 to +14), not negative.
Not enough bloom. Bloom 22+ is what creates the dreamlike softness. At 10 it just looks normal.
Forgetting halation. Even daylight scenes have it. Always 15+.
Heavy grain. Euphoria is digital and clean — grain 12-16, not 30+.
Ignoring chromatic aberration. A small amount (2-4) is part of the signature. Zero feels too clean.
The 30-second version
- 1Apply Neon Nights
- 2Push Bloom to 22, Tint to +12 (purple shadows)
- 3Add Halation at 20 with color #ff4080
Open the filters tool and try it.
Related: Wong Kar-wai look | Best filters for Instagram Reels | Cinestill 800T look