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Colour Grade Deliverables
Hi.
I’m working on my first professional short film as an editor and the Colorist is now ready with the completed colour grade. I was just going to get her to grade a pro res 4444 but she insisted on just getting an xml and grading with the original footage. I am slightly confused about the work flow. She graded the raw footage from an xml in adobe premiere pro which she imported into Davinci Resolve. However, all the effects, resizing and graphics did not transfer over properly. Thus would I have to take her graded davanci project file and redo these elements? Would she just send me a project file then?
This question may sound stupid but I am a bit blind about the process here so any advice would be great. Thanks in advance.
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4 Replies
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As a colorist, I want three basic things from my clients:
1) Compressed QT with visible timecode to use as a reference from the offline so I can see how things are framed, if there are speed changes, any effects…compare them to what I have in the timeline.
2) A consolidated sequence, media, and AAF/XML so I can use as much of the original RAW as possible. Camera masters as well, so I can link to those directly and not transcoded media. Graphics, stills.
3) IF POSSIBLE, if they bring the full res footage online before getting it to me, a full res QT export of their project. I use this as a patch when needed. Such as moves on stills or if there are any plugins or transitions or effects they have that I don’t have, and don’t transfer. Because that happens A LOT.
The fact that your colorist didn’t ask for a reference QT, to compare shot framing, resizing, graphics, effects…I find concerning. That, right there…#1…is something ALL colorists I know ask for, is a basic need for the online and grade. Now they messed things up and you are left with cleanup.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
What you recommend I do now? Just have to bite the bullet and redo everything in the software they graded on?
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Well, not sure what exactly to do. I’d be inclinded to have them fix it…give them the QT Reference and say that they needed to online and grade the show as it was cut. Any online editor worth their salt will know how to make things match. BUT, because you didn’t get them a QT reference, they might not have known that they were messing up any re-framing and speed ramps. So you might need to redo all them on your end. If you don’t have enough media for the speed changes, you might need to ask them to do those again, keeping in mind the change in speed.
The whole point of the online editor/colorist is to take your offline cut, and make it full resolution, and look good. If they didn’t make what you cut…specifically what you cut…do that, then they didn’t complete the job. If this person is ONLY a colorist, says that all they do is color, and not deal with these issues (although really, even colorists need to know how to troubleshoot stuff like this)…then you might need to “online” those sections yourself, to get them full resolution, and with the desired effects, and then ask them to grade those. Providing them with QT refrernce so they are sure to keep things the way they are cut.
SOMEONE technical needs to be in this mix. Someone who knows how to prepare a cut for a color grade, and prep the footage that might not transition properly, so that the colorist can color it they way it is intended to be cut. This might entail bringing in the footage full res, doing the speed change, exporting that as a separate media file, with the speed change baked in, and then drop that on V2, so they see what it is supposed to look like. Same with any footage or areas that have plugins or effects…need to be made full res QT files that they then grade.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thanks. 100% I did actually sent a reference video earlier. I got it sorted in the end but I am certainly not an export. I’m just taking over as an additional editor as the original left so I’m just helping someone out.
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