Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

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Leonardo Levy

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Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostSat Jan 28, 2023 9:57 pm

I'm just getting my feet wet as a professional colorist . In the past I've corrected for people in the same program they were editing in - i.e. Premiere in Lumetri, and directly back in FCP 7, however I have a project coming up that was cut in Premiere and I want to color correct in resolve so I need to learn the round trip procedure.
A friend gave me a project in premiere to practice on . I want to prepare that project for Resolve , Correct it in resolve then reimport it to Premiere so i understand the process. So far I get the impression that I can make an XML or a timeline with everything in ProRes.

I've read a couple of tutorials (admittedly briefly ) and talked to a friend who cuts in premiere but from my friend for example he told me he puts all of his files on one timeline for export to his colorist ( who uses Resolve) . I don't understand that . What happens when you have video on different timelines, and with superimpositions, , and masks from one timeline to another etc.?

Suggestions for a good tutorial that explains all this.

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Jim Simon

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostSun Jan 29, 2023 3:42 pm

I haven't watched the videos because I don't use this work flow, but the individual making them is pretty damn good at his job, so maybe they help?



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Leonardo Levy

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostSun Jan 29, 2023 10:35 pm

Thanks Jim , Well that was interesting . The bottom tutorial is the relevant one for me and in it Darren Mostyn just makes his XML from a project in Premiere that has 3 levels of timelines and imports into Resolve where the 2 levels are replicated . That makes perfect sense to me and resolves ( no pun intended ) what I'm confused about . But then why the heck do all these other tutorials say to condense all your timelines down to one in Premiere before making your XML ?
This seems like a pretty big difference . What gives?
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Jim Simon

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostMon Jan 30, 2023 4:19 pm

Not sure.

But like I say, Darren is pretty damn good at his job. I tend to listen to what he says.
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Leonardo Levy

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostMon Jan 30, 2023 8:20 pm

The problem I'm having with every single podcast or written explanation I see (including Darren) is that they show you how to get premiere into Resolve and how to get it it back into Premiere, but that's it . There isn't a word about how to replace the corrected video into the original timeline . That's not at all obvious to me , though I guess it must be pretty simple. I am all thumbs in premiere as it is. I know I waon't be doing that part of it , but I feel i need to understand the whole process.

The other thing i wonder about is why a lot of people complain that the XML method can cause problems. Darren seems to explain how to get around some of them but its not brain surgery also.

Darren doesn't advocate flattening the timeline which makes sense to me for some issues, but other people do and others who don't trust the XML suggest exporting the premiere files directly as ProRes and accompanying with an EDL . No one suggests what causes problems.
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Andy Mees

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostMon Jan 30, 2023 8:56 pm

Leonardo Levy wrote:There isn't a word about how to replace the corrected video into the original timeline . That's not at all obvious to me , though I guess it must be pretty simple.
Yes, just copy and paste. When you deliver using Premiere XML from Resolve, it exports individual clips and an XML that references them. When you import that XML into Premiere it creates a new sequence (timeline) in Premiere which references those clips. If you want the clips from the new sequence in the original sequence then you can copy and paste them from the one sequence into the other.
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Leonardo Levy

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostMon Jan 30, 2023 10:07 pm

Thanks alot. That's helpful. I thought something might be more automated.
Sounds time consuming but I guess that's what it takes. Depending on how much material you have that couldn't go to Resolve - some graphics etc . It might be less time consuming either using the original timeline or the new one.

That brings up another question as to how the flattened timeline works. I'm confused that I would only be correcting parts of the clips that were on the lower down timelines. Let's say that one clip ( interview appears multiple times with B roll over it- typical scenario). Is Resolve only correcting each incident where it appears , or does it correct the underlying source clip? The latter sounds easier to return to the timeline, but then what if you want to change the grade for some of that clips appearance?
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Andy Mees

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostMon Jan 30, 2023 10:44 pm

You can export with handles for each clip if wanted, which will allow some leeway for changing the precise edit point timing after the fact ie back in Premiere. As the colorist though, you'd be happy if they decided they want changes further down the line ... more billable hours for you.
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Joe Shapiro

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostTue Jan 31, 2023 1:17 am

Or you could make two exports for the colorist - one normal and one without the b-roll, and ask them to copy a “hero” or one-light correction for each clip to the non-b-roll timeline’s clips. Hope I said that well enough.

Not sure how the colorist might react to that though.


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Leonardo Levy

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostTue Jan 31, 2023 6:31 am

Not sure I understand that Joe. I am the colorist though. I'm asking all these questions about premiere because I feel I should understand both sides fo the process.
Actually I'm thinking about requesting both an XML with all the supporting source files , and a "flattened" ProRes file with an EDL and then I can use which whichever works better . The XML is easy to make so its not much to ask for after someone has gone to all the trouble to make a flattened file.

I had a very long talk with a colorist friend who specializes in problem solving today and he was terrific in "resolving:" my questions. Actually he often does the Premiere to Resolve and back interface for other colorists on complicated jobs.

Thanks to everyone who helped out on this thread . I know a lot more now than I did a couple days ago and feel much more confident .
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Leonardo Levy

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostTue Feb 07, 2023 11:32 pm

Just wanted to report that after extensive conversations with a couple of the best colorists in the SF Bay area the advice i've gotten is completely different from anything else I've seen on the web. I was told that the XML idea sounds great but often screws up apparently often on the return trip to premiere because most editors change the names of their clips while working and the program can lose connection to the original. .

In any case I've been told that the most common process for documentaries at least is that the editor simply exports a completely finished flattened version of the piece (excluding titles and any Lumetri coloring) but including fades and dissolves as a ProRes HQ or 4444 and the colorist simply works with that . I was surprised to hear that the colorist simply redoes any dissolves by using key frames or staggering on 2 video levels .I was surprised to see that this actually seems to work.

Titles of course are exported separately as 444 and any complex overlays, picture in picture or masks you also get the individual pieces extra .
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Andy Mees

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostWed Feb 08, 2023 12:23 am

Well, a flattened file method is pretty old school... but it certainly used to be the way and is tried and true, and a safe place for many.

Re 'most editors' renaming files whilst working (???) not sure what cowboys they've been working with over there, but thats not what an experienced editor would be doing at any point mid project, and certainly not between sending a cut out for color and then getting it back again, so hard to see how this is supposed to be affecting the roundtrip. It's possibly worth making the point that the XML you send back to Premiere would connect to the graded media you would also be exporting from Resolve and delivering with it, not to the editors original media regardless of how its named or renamed. The editors job is then to merge your graded timeline together with the audio and graphics/titles etc from his original timeline.

Either way, good luck with the new venture. Its a fun path.
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Uli Plank

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostWed Feb 08, 2023 4:04 am

I wrote about roundtripping last year, so have a look:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yrbht5llzc9nv ... s.pdf?dl=0

(It's in German, but DeepL can help).
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Leonardo Levy

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Re: Premiere to Resolve Round Trip process?

PostThu Feb 09, 2023 10:38 pm

Andy , I may have gotten it wrong as to where in the pipeline the renaming issue crops up, maybe on the way to the colorist . At any rate the guy i talked to is the leading colorist in the SF Bay area and deals with a lot of docs, and consequently many not so experienced editors ( which is what I'll might be dealing with) . i'm sure the process on a feature would be different and far more careful all along the way.
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