We use Premiere Pro as our ‘central hub’, so not only the offline is done in Premiere Pro but also the online is completely rebuilt inside Premiere Pro. This removes any confusion on big projects and ensures that we can always easily find the latest version of an edit inside Premiere Pro. Because Premiere Pro complies with broadcast standards we need to make sure that we also grade accordingly.
Rec 709, Gamma 2.4
<aside> ☝️ Grading for web? Make sure to mention it to the person rebuilding the grade, they need to apply a gamma 2.2 trim inside Premiere Pro. We always work and export in Rec 709, Gamma 2.4
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A mediamanager or editor will always prepare a timeline for you and load it into Davinci Resolve. For projects with many social assets there will be a timeline per aspect ratio, for example a timeline with all 1x1 assets, a timeline with all 4x5 assets etc. Markers will be added with the asset names.
Example Social timeline
Set the file parameters as following:
Custom name: %Source Name_Graded (type in ‘%Source’ and click the parameter, then add _Graded)
Make sure to uncheck ‘Use unique filenames’ and ‘Add source frame count to filename’
Per timeline we have in Davinci Resolve, we create a folder in Output > Graded > Timeline-name. Inside this folder we can export with the settings shown above. When a timeline has been rebuilt in Premiere Pro, it is crucial that you do not move clips on the timeline in Davinci Resolve. Doing so will change the unique filename, which will cause linking issues in Premiere Pro.
If you have to render a new version of a grade, create a folder ‘_VERSIONS’. In Davinci Resolve, duplicate your timeline and add a new version number. Disable the old timeline. Then in render settings add ‘%Timeline Name’ in the file subfolder field.
Whenever you made a new version, use a rename tool to add ‘_OLD’ in the previous’s version folder. This will make sure that Premiere Pro doesn’t automatically relink to the clips in the previous version folder.
Yes we know. Or rather, they don’t actually look different, but because of the Quicktime gamma (NCLC) tags they look different when watching them on anything that works with ColorSync. Long story short, we can make an export from Davinci Resolve that would assign the correct gamma tags (1-2-1) which would result in correct display in quicktime, BUT Premiere Pro can only export 1-1-1 tags which results in a washed out look when viewing. The files are not actually washed out, if you import them back into Davinci Resolve and view them there you will see that they look correct.
There are two problems, the most common solution usually is to do a gamma 2.2 trim pass for anything that ends up on the web, and though it is a valid workflow it doesn’t actually solve the issue entirely. The washed out look also comes from the gamma tags that are mismatched. Basically Premiere Pro will always assign 1-1-1 tags even if you exported from Davinci Resolve with 1-2-1 tags.
Still, this is a rather annoying issue with no real fix at the moment, best we can do is conform to broadcast standards and hope that anytime soon Premiere Pro will come with an option to assign different gamma tags.
Some interesting reads on this issue:
Colour Management for Video Editors
Gamma 2.4 VS Gamma 2.2
Consistent Color from DaVinci Resolve to the Internet with QuickTime Tags
Quicktime Tags (NCLC tags)
My Kingdom for Some Color Bars
Color management