Color grading, the cinematic finish.

Every project starts with a conversation about the look. Reference images, a director's deck if one exists, the cinematographer's intent, anything the editor has left in the timeline that points at where the film wants to live. From there the grade runs in passes, a primary pass for balance and contrast, secondaries for skin, sky, and any color story the film is building, a final pass for the look, and a deliverables pass for whatever the festival or platform requires. ACES is the underlying pipeline, the suite is calibrated, the monitor is the reference.

The work is mostly indie features, dramatic shorts, and short-form drama in the festival pipeline. Projects do not have to be at a particular budget level to be a fit. What matters is that the film has a director and a cinematographer who are speaking the same language about the look, and an editor who has left a clean timeline. Commercial and brand work goes through the brand pipeline, not the colorist roster, because the schedules are different shapes and the rate cards are not the same.

Most projects turn around in two to three weeks of grading time, depending on length and complexity. Remote review is in the workflow from day one, with calibrated reference images and short proof clips delivered as the grade progresses. In-person sessions are available in San Diego, with the option to bring a Los Angeles or remote director into the suite as the project requires. Deliverables follow the festival or platform spec, with archival masters held in cold storage for a year unless the project asks for longer.