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Building Color Confidence
— from Pre-to-Post
Redefine your color workflow as a Commercial Film Director for you, your client, and your crew.
Control Your Color
— Before & After Production
"Color" can seem like a technical challenge that can be difficult for you and your client to grasp during production. Discover how you, your crew, and your client can experience your optimal color palette, on-and-off set.
Your Current On-Set Reality
Your DP applies their “tried-and-true Rec709 look” for your client’s on-set experience. You assure your client, “If you like what you see here, wait until we get into the final color grade!"
5 days of production, 3 weeks of editorial feedback, and countless revisions from corporate — your client is loving the edit. But as you bring your colorist onboard, your client reluctantly comes back:
“Let’s go back to what we had in the edit. This color is a bit much.”
You swore that you approved this color palette with them in pre-production. You thought you had your client’s trust with this.
Entering into Post
Your post-team does their best to dial in skin tones, match brand colors, and align footage with multiple cameras.
However, you know that the editor's role doesn't demand the particular tools or skills needed for this level of color precision.
Plus, dealing with the growing number of client revisions is a higher priority than handling these minor details.
As your project finally releases, you hear that your DP was frustrated with how their images were represented:
“That was not how our crew lit that scene. Whatever LUT the editor applied is throwing off our contrast completely.”
Across the board, collaborative trust is broken.
Your New, Redefined
— Color Pipeline
Swatch Four streamlines your color pipeline from pre-to-post production so you, your crew, and your client can experience your desired color from beginning to end.
A unique LUT for your one-of-a-kind production
Alongside your DP, we build a dedicated pre-production Show LUT — a “look” file that allows you to monitor your ideal color in real-time.
The ultimate video village experience
Color is now no longer reserved for the final grade. You can effectively guide your client and crew, ensuring a smooth post-production process once your day is wrapped. Simply put, your client’s monitor is more than just a generic, straight-from-camera Rec709 reproduction.
Enter the edit with the same footage, same color
This custom LUT file travels with your footage — from on-set dailies, to your editor’s timeline, to VFX workflows, to the final color grade. No matter where your footage shows up, your color remains consistent and true. Generic camera LUTs (or, even worse, unpredictable creative LUTs) are no longer part of your workflow.
Finish strong with a final color grade
Your color doesn’t stop once the edit is locked. The time we shaved off in pre-production allows us to focus on shot consistency, preserving memory colors, and maintaining accurate brand colors, all without extending your post-production timeline. This approach lays the foundation for the final grade.
What You Get
Show LUT + Final Grade
In the end, expect a fully color-graded project, enriched by a pre-production Monitoring LUT, all within your budget and final deadline.
Consistent Clientele
First-time clients quickly become reoccurring contacts, all because they see that you have their best interest in mind. Brand colors remain true-to-brand, even in the midst of your creative color palette.
Marketable Portfolio
Distinguish your portfolio from your competitors to fuel your marketing strategy. Work with ideal Producers, DP’s, or more premium clients and brands. Catch their attention and solidify their confidence.
Assurance in Post
As production wraps, your DP and crew have full confidence that their creative decisions are accounted for in a single Show LUT, even if they’re not a part of the post-production process.
The Capture-to-Color Pipeline
— a 3-Step Process
Discover how our color workflow can better suit your needs, starting in pre-production and maintaining consistency throughout post-production.
STEP 1 — THE BUILD
Crafting your swatches in “pre”
- Collaborate early in pre-production to build upon your creative intent, establishing the “look” for your film from visual references.
- Work alongside multiple departments to help deliver your desired color palette.
- Design a custom Monitoring LUT based on your specific camera package and visual references.
STEP 2 — THE PRODUCTION
Infusing your color on-set
- Implement your LUT across all monitors on-set, benefitting you and your DP, including your client’s experience in Video Village
- Build trust with your clients and demonstrate your commitment to their visual aesthetic.
- Gathering feedback on your Prep Day allows us to make timely adjustments to your final LUT file, keeping your production schedule uninterrupted.
STEP 3 — THE REFINERY
Maximizing your palette in “post”.
- Communicate over Live remote sessions and Frame.io, ensuring that your feedback is implemented every step of the way.
- Build in shot-to-shot consistency so that every camera and environment remains seamless across multiple days of production.
- Preserve skin tones and other memory colors to keep your subject beautiful and believable.
- Maintain your client’s brand colors and their visual identity.
Commercial Color
— in Real Time
There’s no doubt about it — You’ve been burned in the past when working with LUTs. They’ve been unpredictable and have damaged the integrity of your footage. When designed correctly, a creative LUT is a reliable color tool that sets the foundation for our final grade.
A custom, dedicated, done-for-you LUT — before you step on set
Camera-specific codecs, color spaces, and lighting scenarios — all necessary considerations. Your unique Show LUT is designed with these limitations in mind without unwanted artifacts.
Deliver Rough Cuts without the ‘709-Look’
Once you enter post-production, your editor and VFX team receive the same LUT file used on-set. Color is no longer up for debate or creative interpretation. Every rough cut will feature the same curated look that you, your client, and DP fell in love with.
Give your client and crew some color confidence
Every department, from Wardrobe, to Props, to Lighting, greatly benefits from this pipeline. They can see their work transformed in real time. Their creative color decisions can be made intentionally and in-the-moment. Now, your client has a glimpse into the post-color process, all without waiting until the edit is complete.
Maximize your Negative
— Push it in Post
Your production is wrapped, and your editor's timeline is officially locked. Now, let’s discover what your footage is capable of in the final color grade.
A unique LUT for your one-of-a-kind production
As you enter the final grade, your client no longer questions dramatic color changes to your footage. Instead, our time is reserved for matching shots, dialing in necessary detailed work, and pulling your talent and product to the forefront.
Dial in your client’s color palette and brand guidelines
Hex code: #F40009 – "Coca-Cola Red".
We make sure that brand colors remain consistent and accurate to your client’s guidelines and expectations.
Create consistency and visual flow, from shot-to-shot
Multiple cameras, multiple locations, over multiple days — uild shot consistency acoss your entire project to establish that seamless experience.
Keep your memory colors true-to-life
Skin, foliage, sky — these are all colors that we humans recognize the most. Unless your creative directs us otherwise, we ensure that your subjects and environments remain believable and blend with your desired color palette.
Still Have
— Questions?
Color may be new to your commercial workflow. Whatever concern you may have, I've probably answered it in more detail below.