The Master Guide / 14 Finishing and delivery · The grade and texture
The colourists' order
Measure the balance, see the whole film, balance the outliers, then the look, then texture, then the product check. Each step depends on the one before it.
Measure the balance, see the whole film, balance the outliers, then the look, then texture, then the product check. Each step depends on the one before it.
The order [proven]:
Measure the balance: every shot against the film, with the outliers flagged (see The grade and texture → The balance report).
The colour bible: one still per scene, in story order, to see how the scenes sit together (see The grade and texture → The colour bible, and you balance).
Balance the flagged shots: bring the outliers back, per clip (see The grade and texture → The colour bible, and you balance).
The look: one gentle LUT (a look-up table: a small file that maps every colour to a new one) that pulls the balanced shots into one world (see The grade and texture → The look as one gentle LUT).
Texture: grain once, and glow or halation only where the treatment asks (see The grade and texture → Texture once).
The product gate: the look must not shift the product's colour (see The grade and texture → Protecting the product's colour).
Why this order. Colourists balance before any look goes on, so the blacks are black, the whites are white and skin sits right. A look built on unbalanced shots exaggerates their differences. With generated footage the order matters even more: the treatment and the prompts have already set most of the look, so the finishing grade mostly unifies small differences between shots.
Picture timing is fixed. The shots and their timing were approved with the edit. Finishing works on a copy of the approved cut; any change to shots or timing is decided before anything moves.
Read the brand book before the first look still. It may set grade values, forbid glowing particles or say how type moves.
Sources
Julien Alary, Untold Studios, and Denny Cooper, UNIT (LBB, "An Eye for Colour") (balance first).
Tom Poole, Company 3 (Televisual) (the colour bible).
Vlad Barin, Cheat (LBB).
Steffan Perry, Company 3 (LBB).
Gossip Goblin, as told to PJ Accetturo (newsletter) (most of the grade already inside the images).