01
Project Analysis
Our process begins with communication. We get to know you and your project, this means really getting to the bottom of your project's story or message, its key themes and the overall mood you want to convey.
We will ask you for a version of the edit, whether finished or a work in process, and ascertain any issues we may need to flag before the grade starts. We follow this by giving you a step by step guide in how to organise the project before sending to us, so as to optimise our workflow and make everything more efficient for you.
02
The Grade
Upon receiving the project, we load it into Premiere, check it against the reference edit you've included, create an XML and import it into Da Vinci Resolve. When the project is loaded up and everything is connected, we contact you to let you know everything is okay and work has started.
The grade includes an initial balance and colour correction pass, followed by a look build, followed by adjustments and fixes for any issues like noise, banding, poor lighting and bad stabilisation.
If working remotely, we then export a 10bit client review for you to view and provide a list of any amendments you would like to the grade.
03
Delivery
When we receive confirmation from you that you are happy with the grade, we start work on creating the master or masters. We generally provide two masters, one in the specific format you need and another, usually a ProRes HQ file, to serve as an archival master from which you can create future versions or trailers if required.
When these masters are created, we check them, sign them off and issue an invoice. When the invoice is cleared, we send back the harddrive with a "GRADED MASTERS" folder containing all the versions and master files you have requested.
Why Choose Palette?
Our Studio
Our studio is based in the idyllic North Yorkshire countryside offering total peace and quiet and a relaxed environment where we can focus completely on the task at hand. If you want to attend grading sessions, just take a seat, enjoy a brew or a cold drink and watch while we work. If you have work to do, take advantage of our superfast broadband and there's no need to worry about accessibility, we have ample on-site parking for you.
Colour Accuracy
Pinpoint colour accuracy is vital in colour grading and we're fully covered. We use multiple calibrated 4K monitors, capable of displaying any colour space you will need, all fed by a clean signal output from a Decklink Mini Monitor 4K video card.
We augment this accuracy with mid-grey coloured walls, black furniture, blackout curtains and 6500K ambient light to ensure there is no light or colour pollution in the room, affecting our grades.
Hardware
Our custom built grading PCs are capable of handling pretty much any kind of footage you can provide. Our grading PC houses a top of the range Intel i9 processor, top of the range Asus motherboard, a Nvidia RTX 4070Ti gpu and a BlackMagic Decklink Mini Monitor 4K output card, providing a clean video signal to our monitoring, ensuring total colour accuracy. Our monitors are recalibrated every month and all hardware is well maintained and regualrly checked for issues.
Software
We use the most up to date and stable version of Da Vinci Resolve Studio with various plugins for things like noise reduction, film emulation, film grain and DCTLs. We also use Adobe Premiere Pro for our finishing work, manually adding in graded clips to your edit timeline to add a second layer of quality control, ensuring the final version of what we send out to you, matches your edit exactly.
Expertise
In the last ten years, we have coloured projects of all genres for clients ranging from huge international distributors, to first time filmmakers and all receive the same high level of service. We understand filmmaking and we understand colour and its importance to telling a story. We're not just experts at what we do, we really care about what we do.
Price
We might not be the cheapest option, we definitely won't be the most expensive, but we WILL be the most competitive when it comes to value for money. Our rates vary dependent upon the project, is it for online use or broadcast? Is it SDR or HDR? We take all this into account and ensure we can provide the same high level of quality you'd expect from established post-houses, at a more affordable rate.
Remote Monitoring
Monitor Your Colour Grade in Real Time, Wherever You Are
You want input in the grading process but you can’t get to us here in our studio or you’re not set up in a way which would allow us to work from your base. That is no longer a problem thanks to DaVinci Remote Monitoring.
We can give you real-time access to view what we’re doing as we do it whilst talking to us to give your input and feedback. As long as you have an IOS device (iPhone or iPad) you can view the grade remotely and best of all it’s completely free!
Download the Da Vinci Resolve Remote Monitoring App
The first thing you need to do is download the DaVinci Remote Monitoring App. It’s available for IOS devices and best of all it’s completely free!
Open the App Store on your IOS device, search for the app and hit install. It couldn’t be easier!
Create an account on Black Magic Cloud
In order to use remote monitoring, you'll need to create a BlackMagic Cloud account. It's takes less than a minute to do and it's completely free of charge. Go here to set up your account.
When you’ve set up your account, you’ll receive a verification email. When you’re verified, you can go ahead and sign in.
Give us a call
We will need to be able to communicate during the grade. When you’re set up, give us a call, we’re almost ready to get started.
Input the session link
We’ll email you a remote session access link. All you need to do is copy the link and paste into the “Session Link” box on the app. When you’ve done that, hit “Join” and you’ll be able to see a real time view of your project.
It’s that easy, now you can view the project and we can work collaboratively to get the look you want.