Anyone happen to know a great, young colorist just starting out their career?

[Stephen Pruitt]

Yeah. . . it's about that time. . . and I'm that desperate.

We are looking for a colorist for our film, "Works in Progress," but the quotes from the really competent people with great set-ups are just too high for us to float at the moment. We have thousands allocated for this service, but definitely not tens of thousands.

We are hoping someone will be able to point us to a young-buck colorist who really has talent and the fresh energy to pour into our project, but just hasn't had the level of experience yet to be able to reasonably charge "normal" rates.

Don't get me wrong. We understand that the good people are worth every penny. It just turns out that we're fast running out of pennies.

:-(

Any names?

Stephen

 

[Eric Rainey]

Just sent you a pm... For Candace@pictothink.com

 

[Paul Leeming]

Stephen, do you need someone located locally to you or are you willing to ship shots to Japan for colour correction? If you are, let me know and I'll send you some sample shots I've done over the last 18 months of owning Red cameras....

Cheers from Tokyo!

Paul

 

[Charles Angus]

Where are you located?

 

[Steve Freebairn]

Try http://colormill.net/ I've seen some really awesome stuff they've done. They're not "young" but I think by young you just wanted something more affordable. email "info (the @ sign) colormill (dot) net" They've been great to work with.

 

[jake blackstone]

Yeah. . . it's about that time. . . and I'm that desperate.


We are hoping someone will be able to point us to a young-buck colorist who really has talent and the fresh energy to pour into our project, but just hasn't had the level of experience yet to be able to reasonably charge "normal" rates.

Don't get me wrong. We understand that the good people are worth every penny. It just turns out that we're fast running out of pennies.

:-(

Any names?

Stephen

Just curious. What is in your understanding are "normal" rates?

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

What do I think are "normal" rates? Good question. I figure that a really good colorist working with a big system would be charging about $20,000 for our 120 minute film. We can't even come close to that. Like a lot of people, we funded this project almost entirely by ourselves. There just isn't that much money left in the till. What we have is a veritable mountain of debt eclipsed only by the size of our dreams.

BTW, we live in Kansas City.

Stephen

 

[donatello b]

have no idea what your project needs .....
BUT in general .. you have a budget ...you can't afford 20k ...
IMO 20hrs min = you can't use power windows every shot ..so you have to go in knowing that in advance ..and you need to decide in advance what sections you are going to spend more time on then others ....

shop around ..there are deals out there ...i think you can find houses that will do it 200-300 hr ... figure $5-6k for a post type house ...
if that's out of your budget ... then find a colorist that is working 2-3 days week ( because business is slow) or one that was laid off ... i have found most of them charge 100hr using color/AE ..some have access to scratch ...

take a look at ..
http://www.cinelicious.tv/

also any place that has Scratch ... it's all supply & demand ... and currently demand is low and there is plenty of supply in NYC, LA ...

 

[Zorie Barber]

Where are you located? I know someone in LA.

best

Zorie

Yeah. . . it's about that time. . . and I'm that desperate.

We are looking for a colorist for our film, "Works in Progress," but the quotes from the really competent people with great set-ups are just too high for us to float at the moment. We have thousands allocated for this service, but definitely not tens of thousands.

We are hoping someone will be able to point us to a young-buck colorist who really has talent and the fresh energy to pour into our project, but just hasn't had the level of experience yet to be able to reasonably charge "normal" rates.

Don't get me wrong. We understand that the good people are worth every penny. It just turns out that we're fast running out of pennies.

:-(

Any names?

Stephen

 

[jake blackstone]

What do I think are "normal" rates? Good question. I figure that a really good colorist working with a big system would be charging about $20,000 for our 120 minute film. We can't even come close to that. Like a lot of people, we funded this project almost entirely by ourselves. There just isn't that much money left in the till. What we have is a veritable mountain of debt eclipsed only by the size of our dreams.

BTW, we live in Kansas City.

Stephen

Hello Stephen.
Story like yours is the lore Hollywood, even if you're actually in Kansas City:smile5: I admire what you do and wish you best luck in finishing your project. Unfortunately, you're doing yourself a great deal of disservice by not being clearer about your needs. I hope you don't mind, if I shed a little more light on this subject, as it may help you with your search.
You had inquired about the cost of finishing this project as a 2K and it's 120 minutes long. I hope you don't mind me posting this info in the open, as I didn't think this would be proprietary. Based on only this information it would be impossible to give you any kind of estimate on costs or duration. Here is a short list of questions, that I would need answered by anyone interested in getting an estimate.
1. Deliverables.
You had mentioned a 2K finish, which can only mean a finish for either Film or DCI. That in turn requires a conversation about the costs and responsibilities of filmout or in case of DCI, the cost of DCP or just DCDM. If you'll need the DCP, then who is responsible for the process? Sound and graphics. Who will be taking care of that? Same goes for filmout. Will there be a final Rec_709 version as well?
2. CGI. Is there any?
3. Remote approval process. As all work for filmout or DCI will be done in LOG, there will be a need to render a REC-709 (Prores?) version or two for your approval, unless you plan to be in town for the grading process.
4. I see 20 hours being proposed for the 120 minutes feature. That would be great, if the film had just a couple of hundred cuts. Something tells me, that there is more:smile5: It would be great to know that number, along with the running time.
5. The visual style of your project will greatly affect the amount of time required to grade the movie. I don't believe in giving a quote, based on expectation of certain level of quality. I do same quality, regardless of price.
6. Conforming. For film you have to go back to r3d files, so that may take a while.
So, as you can see those are a few considerations, that needs to be taken into account, before any kind of commitment can be made. Anyone telling you sight unseen, that they can do it in 20-30 hours doing your and your movie a great disservice.
Speaking of anyone. To be able to do the filmout or DCDM is not for the faint of heart. There is a reason why all of the big companies employ a very expensive color scientist, who makes it his business to be in control of the color management process. You can't possibly expect some out of work colorist just to have a DCI compliant display in his garage. Don't forget the calibration and an ability to built proper LUTs. Just having a Scratch doesn't mean, that that person can do the filmout job...
Anyway, enough of my rant. If you care, here is my advice. If you still haven't found a colorist, you should spell out your job requirements, so people would know, what they're getting into, because majority, I suspect, thinking that all you need is REC-709 grade. Second, once you get a response, look at their work. Kind of important:smile5: And, then negotiate a price. Or even more radical solution. Just say how much you have in the budget for grading:w00t: