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Allocating your time across the 6 big phases of a color correction session
โHow long will it take you to color correct my project?โ
Thatโs the first question out of a potential clientโs mouth after you answer your phone and say, โHelloโ. In this Insight weโre going to take the big slices of a color correction session weโve already talked about and start figuring out:
1. How do we allocate the time we spend on each of those six big slices?
2. How do we turn that allocation into a daily shot count that lets us quote a final price to our clients that makes sense?
In sum: It all starts with your โPersonal Shot Countโ
How many shots do you color correct in a day? If you donโt know that number, youโll never consistently accurately estimate the time it takes to deliver a color correction.
Of course, once you start color correcting events conspire that may change our estimateโtaking longer (or shorter) than you expect. But if youโve got an attack plan on how to allocate your time at the Session level (the 6 slices of a color correction session), then when you get bogged down in one of those slices, youโll be able to readjust on-the-fly to be sure you hit your deadline.
How do you determine your โPersonal Shot Countโ?
Easy. At the start of the day:
โข Note the first shot youโre working on
โข When you stop color correcting, count how many shots you color corrected
โข Subtract any major breaks (longer than 15 minutes). This gets you the final hours actually worked.
โข Divide the number of hours worked by the number of shots completed that day
You now have your shot count for that day! Youโll need to refine that number by doing this every day on that job. Average those numbers out to get a much more accurate estimate of how many shots you can grade in a day.
Nowโฆ continue to keep track of your Personal Shot Count for the next two jobs
Youโll be able to give rock-solid estimates of how long it take you to color correct a job. Of course, youโll have to re-do these estimates when major changes happen to your workflow such as:
โข When you move off a mouse to a control surface
โข When you move off a 3rd party control surface to a high-end dedicated control surface (costing the price of a new car)
โข When you move from a non-linear editor to color correcting in a dedicated color grading app
You may also find your Personal Shot Counts change depending on the class of job youโre color correcting. Indie features will have a different shot count than 20 minutes docs. Or not. It depends entirely on you and the nature of your client base.
Watch the video Insight below to dig deeper into estimating your time for an entire session
In Part 3, weโll look at ways to increase your Personal Shot Count. After all, colorists who work more quickly and more accurately tend to bill more per hour and develop bigger followings.
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