GRADE PREP

When an edit is approved we can start preparing the edit for grading, some cases due to schedules we will prep for grade before it’s fully locked but that’s only when we expect minimal changes, for example no new scenes to be added.

If there are any comp shots or clean-up shots that have not been prepared and rebuilt this is the time to do that first. Read the article DAYTONA METHOD on how to do that.

To make sure we work in a non destructive manner we copy our timeline from the EDITS folder to the OUTPUT > TO DAVINCI folder inside Premiere. We add the suffix ‘_TO-DVR’ to the sequence name so that it is clear that this is the prepped sequence.

A typical edit might look something like this:

Because this sequence contains a lot of assets that are not needed for grading we are going to flatten the timeline. This means that we are going to remove everything in the timeline that we do not want to send to Davinci Resolve. This means we take out adjustment layers, super layers, graphics, unused clips, audio, CGI shots etc. In nearly all cases we never grade CGI. Note that certain effects do not translate well when switching between software packages.

We have a process in place for any shots that become transitions or have any speed adjustments, time remaps or shots that are reversed.

It’s important to remove all time remapping and speed changes as these can cause issues when converting from Premiere to DVR. Davinci interprets the frames differently so if you don’t do this your graded shots will never match your offline clips frame for frame.

The easy option to do this is by pressing F in Premiere on the selected clip with time remapping or speed changes and drag in the source file (with the timecodes intact) to the end of the sequence so the colourist can grade both time remapped and source clip in their sequence.

Once flattened it will look something like this:

With everything flattened as much as possible, and all comp- and clean-up shots prepped, we can now export an XML which we will send to Davinci Resolve. Go to File > Export > Final Cut Pro XML and save it in the Project_files > Davinci > To-Davinci folder of the correct project. From your original sequence (so not the flattened one) make a reference render (H264) and save it next to the XML. This can be used to check the XML in Davinci Resolve.

Preparing a project with lots of different assets & aspect ratios

When working on a project that contains multiple aspect ratios and many different edits, for example a project with lots of social assets, it is important that we keep things as clear and simple as possible. To do so we prepare all social assets with the same aspect ratio on a single timeline. For example all Desire 1x1 assets go on a single timeline, all Desire 9x16 on a single timeline etc etc.