Workflow and Color

[Matt Bowden]

Not sure if this is in the right spot. I didn't think it would go under "for Rent". Mod please move to proper thread if this isn't the right place.

My company is going to be producing a 30 minute television infomercial and might be hiring a DP to shoot it in 4k on one of the Red cams. We aren't currently set up to edit 4k material so we are trying to determine the best route to go for our post production.

Initially we are looking to hire and individual or a company (preferably in the southeast, we are located in NC) to handle the Color correction and conversion process for us. So what we are thinking about doing is sending a drive with the raw 4k files, have them color corrected, down converted to 1080 and then sent back to us.

Anyone interested or know of anyone/company that does this.

 

[Kwan Khan]

Ideally, you grade from RAW R3D files.

what we are thinking about doing is sending a drive with the raw 4k files.

Make sure you keep at-least one backup

 

[Björn Benckert]

Why down convert?
If you edit in Pr or such make an XML and do a r3d trim. Send them the XML and trimmed files. Let them do the grade and overview the process via Skype or other Liveview an have them sen reference jpgs or tiff during the process. Then Render to 4k So you got a future prof master, from there you can downsample to HD etc. No need to kill all that good 4k in the final grading step.

 

[Matt Bowden]

Bjorn the issue is that our systems here are not capable of working with 4k files. Would there be a way that we can edit in 1080 but have our final color done at the end and then finish at 4k? Like proxies or something?

 

[Matt Bowden]

Ideally, you grade from RAW R3D files.


Make sure you keep at-least one backup

Correct. We will keep the original R3D's on a Drive here and send a second drive out with the R3D's to be colored and converted.

 

[paulherrin]

matt, i'm over mountain in tennessee, shoot me a message and i'll help you out or hook you up with somebody

 

[Florian Stadler]

We would be happy to best light your dailies to whatever your preferred editing codec is send you a drive back. Then we can do a final grade off the original r3d files already in our possession via an emailable XML/ALE. We would keep you in the loop on the grade via email and stills. We are located in Los Angeles.

Here's our work:

www.buntefarben.com

 

[Jaakko Rinne]

Bjorn the issue is that our systems here are not capable of working with 4k files. Would there be a way that we can edit in 1080 but have our final color done at the end and then finish at 4k? Like proxies or something?

You can just play back the R3Ds at a lower debayer quality when editing. Or you can use e.g. Resolve Lite or Redcine-X Pro to convert the footage to proxies for editing and whoever does the online and grading can reconnect to the original footage and master at 4K. You can then downscale the 4K master to whatever delivery formats you need.

 

[paulherrin]

Bjorn the issue is that our systems here are not capable of working with 4k files. Would there be a way that we can edit in 1080 but have our final color done at the end and then finish at 4k? Like proxies or something?

if your disk/server throughput is the problem you can go for an offline workflow where you can edit at whatever quality you want then relink everything for a 4k finish. if it's just your video card, you can edit online using a lower quality preview setting.

there are virtually unlimited workflow paths considering each project's demands and what software/hardware combo you are comfortable with (or can afford).