When to color grade, when to edit?

W

wheatgrinder

Hi all, I think Im doing something stupid! (you dont HAVE to agree:P)

I took some shots.
Im color grading those shots. (AE)
I plan to cut and trim the shots together to make the scene.(Premiere)

Im wondering if I should be doing it in this order instead...

Take the shots
Rough edit, trimming clips etc.(Premiere)
Color grade the trimmed clips from those shots(AE)
Edit, tweaking etc. (premiere)

I seem to be spending a LOT of time in color grading, and worry that Im wasting time tweaking a few seconds of a clip that are going to be cut anyway! I know I cant avoid that 100%, but seems I could be a bit more efficient.

Iv ALREADY figured out a few things that will help me in the future..
More pre production before shooting. My edits should be just picking out the RIGHT take and trimming off the ends of the take...

Plan the shot for ease of color grading, lighting, set design and wardrobe choices really impact the grading process!

Comments?
 
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out of curiosity, why is getting a pic lock so imperative before all sound editing? I understand that if your movie is being worked on by multiple people in post like it should be that obviously the sound editor has to have a locked movie to work from... But if you're in a position where you have to do all your own post does it matter the same degree? I have an incredibly difficult time getting a coherent picture edit if I don't work with the major sound elements in a scene, for some reason it's much easier for me to handle scene's logic/pacing with audio vs. visual... are there any, like, dangers besides inefficiency?
 
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The only danger is wasting time on something that won't make the final cut..

Or perhaps, getting too wrapped up in trying to make something work when the film would be better (and take less work) without it.
 
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H.Z. said:
out of curiosity, why is getting a pic lock so imperative before all sound editing?
Click to expand...

The risk with this is you put in your fancy audio, lip synced and all, sound effects and so on, then make the sequence longer or shorter by diddling around with your picture edit and it all goes out of sync.

wheat: I like your grade, but I found some of the vignettes a little strong, especially during the fast cuts. One appears to be focused on her knee! :) Other than that, very promising. Is that Magic Bullet?
 
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JackPott said:
The risk with this is you put in your fancy audio, lip synced and all, sound effects and so on, then make the sequence longer or shorter by diddling around with your picture edit and it all goes out of sync.
Click to expand...

Precisely! Been there. Can you say, nightmare! Actually had it happen once while editing mag tracks on a 6-plate flatbed. You think losing sync on a computer is fun, try re-sync'ing a dozen reels of uncoded 16mm fullcoat!!! :cry:
 
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I completely agree with what the others have said. When in post you want to have the edit locked down first. This way you don't spend time doing VFX of SFX on pieces of footage that you'll never use. Throw out all the footage that didn't make it into the final cut and simply polish the footage that did.
 
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Sometimes edit changes are needed after the audio is done, and that's why Soundtrack Pro has a new 'auto conform' tool to try and keep everything in sync if that happens. Haven't tried it but I don't think its a fully automated process so I'd still avoid it where possible.

Thanks for that link Wheat, I'll look at that. In exchange you might find this interesting, http://www.outside-**************/2006/10/the-post-production-process/

Its an extreme example of a large production with a large team so don't let it melt your brain but interesting nevertheless. Infact the whole blog is interesting. Heh, and as a nice twist to the tail they talk about one recent project where they primary graded the whole documentary (and processed most of the sound) in advance of the edit. It was quite a simple edit, and their reasoning is you have a lot more time at the start of a project for rendering than at the end.
 
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