Grading

Am in the process of uploading some old footage that I have "tweaked"

Original


New Version

In the graded clip the colors are good but the overall image is a bit too dark for my taste. You should try to stabilize it. If you have After Effects CS5 use the WarpStabilizer it works wonders!

Thanks Daniel I will give it a go!

TE

Thanks for the input everyone. I think Daniel's experience is very important here, thanks for sharing. This particular market seems to want eyecatching footage they can edit right in.
In this particular case, for me, I think it would be safer to use standard profiles with the minimum of correction.
In the ungraded version of the clip above someone without that much of a knowledge of video production and grading may even get the impression that it is a foggy day and skip right past it.

I spent all my feedback votes and I can no longer make proposals: it would be nice to have kind of ask for RAW/Ungraded footage option next to the clip so that a buyer could ask for RAW/Ungraded file by simply pushing the button. The contributor could respond by uploading the raw / ungraded footage or by denying the request for whatever reason. That way the server does not get unnecessarily crowded. Wow, my fingers hurt!

I think the ideal situation would be to have both version within the same page with two rows of download buttons but that would mean a huge change to the architecture of the site's software.

@ionescu That is a brilliant idea!

After all, a great thread with lots of info.

100% Agree... I want to offer raw d-log for maximum flexibility, but we all know that flat grey looking d-log videos look terrible until they are graded... so there really should be an option to preview a graded version but offer the d-log version as part of the package. I heard back from customer support and it seems they don't agree

Put that as an option on your Artist page. IF a customer wants/needs the ungraded version, they simply contact you, show you the receipt, and you send them the ungraded file. I've had that on my page for ages.

Never got such a request, and frankly, I'm a little surprised, as I've been grading my own footage for better or worse (sometimes the latter, honestly) for years, and I do tend to push things. I'm calmer now ... but basically decided not to worry about what the potential buyer might want ... I know they will ask if they need it, and of course I'm happy to oblige! The added bonus of that whenever I get contacted by a real buyer of my clips, I'm thrilled, as it gives me a contact, and insight into how they use my work.