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Comprehending Post-Prod Colour Correction – Resolve + PPro
So, I planned to use Resolve to do the colour correcting for my short film, but have since learned that when one tries to bring an exported XML from PPro, Davinci does not bring with it any of the audio effects, transitions and value changes. I’ve done quite a bit of work on it, so I’ll just have to finish the colour with PPro this time round, but I’d like to ask how people usually go about this for my next project?
Colour correction generally seems to be a task done towards the later stages of post-production. Learning simply from my own workflow (with me taking on all of the roles), I can’t get a picture lock without having done the sound design and mix. If i cant bring any sound work with me into Resolve, that would suggest one does colour before sound? That doesn’t seem entirely practical as I can imagine more cuts being made, and others takes from different vid files being brought in. So that could possibly involve having to go back to Resolve for extra colour work.
Perhaps I’ve missed something in my online self education. Is there a way one could import a picture locked timeline from PPro into Resolve that ignores all of the sound, do the colour work, then export an XML from Resolve and bring it back into the original PPro project to kind of just overlay, literally like chucking a coat of paint over the whole thing? Thus exporting the final product from PPro. My film was shot in 4K with a 4K PPro timeline, but the final product will come out in HD with the original files all linked up.
Thanks.
Rhys. -
7 Replies
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Generally, color and sound (for features & TV) are done simultaneously in different rooms by different people. Once the editing is locked, the sound people use a timecoded copy and edit & mix the dialogue, music, and effects as required. Meanwhile, the colorist conforms the show from the original camera files, or in some cases uses high-quality DPX or EXR or ProRes 444 transcodes of the camera files. Once making sure that the conform precisely matches the locked edit, then the colorist color-corrects the entire show.
The recent book Modern Post: Workflows and Techniques for Digital Filmmakers goes into these processes in great detail. It’s fair to say it’s a complicated world out there. You can make a good argument nowadays that Resolve is flexible enough that you could use it to not only do final color, but also do final delivery of the finished show, once the remixed soundtrack is added, along with the titles. It’s not necessary to go back to Premiere for anything, particularly if you’re already working in 4K in Resolve.
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For audio…none of this should really be done in Resolve…it’s a PICTURE FINISHING editor, not audio. Audio should be done in ProTools, and a lot of that info might carry over.
As for picture…any color you do will be TEMP, and should be removed before you send to Resolve. Send a Timecoded QT Reference file and ask the colorist to try to mimic the look…or if you are the colorist, do it yourself. Any special plugins, filters, or transitions will have to be “baked in.” Meaning that you, in Premiere, link to the full res files, then export QT files of the clips with the looks and transitions…and then put those on a higher track and then they go to Resolve. OR…do a round trip. Send back to Premiere from Resolve to add the transitions you want.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Food for thought. Seems to be a practice with many options.
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
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[Shane Ross] “Send a Timecoded QT Reference file and ask the colorist to try to mimic the look…or if you are the colorist, do it yourself. “
I like to think we’ll make the look better, not just mimic it. I agree it’s a good idea to have a good idea of what the director and editor have been staring at for the last few weeks (or months), because there can be a danger of straying too far from the look established while shooting. -
i just output a mixed down wave file of what ever audio is currently in the offline program.
I hate bringing in 23 tracks of audio into Resolve so i can colour the show. All i need is to hear the intended moments. Timeline real estate is too valuable to waste it on a bunch of audio tracks i don’t even want to look at.
If your audio mix isn’t done, you might as well keep it in premiere until it is complete…or as many of us do, send it to a sound person.
Glenn
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Excuse my lack of education, but what exactly is a mixed down wave file? Is that all of the projects audio merged into a single track? I guess that would work quite well, as long as all of the audio work is done. How does one go about creating a quality mix down?
Do you then perhaps duplicate the master PPro sequence, delete all of the audio and put the single mixdown track on it so there’s just the single audio track when its XML’d into Resolve? This is with the notion that the colour and final encode is all completed in Resolve.
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This goes back to what you need Resolve for at this point in the show.
As i said, i don’t need the ability to do much of anything with the audio when i’m in Resolve. I just need to be able to play the piece down, get a feel for mood changes that might affect how the color session goes.
Typically you would have a reference movie to make sure your working on the correct shots(in the correct order) If that reference movie has sound…which it should…then just use that audio as your mixdown audio.
It is simply a version of what the editor is listening to. Not necessarily a perfect mix…doesn’t have to be. Just lets you know what the feel is of the piece. For the most part, once i’m familar with the program, i usually listen to music for much of the session anyway, but the show audio is there if i want to double check something.
Another option would be to have the editor output a wave file from his timeline. He or she simply takes their timeline, as it currently stands, and spits out a stereo wave file. That is your mixdown/offline wave file. Bring that into Resolve, and put it on your timeline. I do this if i’m both the editor and the colorist, as i’m pretty good at spotting if the file in Resolve isn’t correct. If you are not the editor, or just not comfortable, then make sure you have a reference movie with sound.
If you want to do your final finish in Resolve, which i honestly don’t do, then yes, you could get the final sound mix as a stereo wave file, and put it on your timeline instead…but as Marc said earlier, most times the color and sound are happening at the same time.
Glenn
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