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Professional Colorist -- How Much $?

Cracker Funk

Cracker Funk

Of course I know that the answer to this question, in real life, would vary greatly. You might be able to find a young but talented up-and-comer who will work for cheap. But how much might a colorist charge, one whom is fully established, many credits, and this is the only way that they pay rent?

I imagine they probably charge by the hour? Well, besides wondering what a typical hourly rate might be, I'm also very curious to know how many hours it might take them to color a feature. Any ballpark estimates would be helpful.

Thanks! :)
 
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There are so many contributing factors that it's hard to give a proper estimate of time.

Certainly, professionals do charge by the hour, and the Director and the DP would sit in on the session. Generally you'll find colour is handled by a larger firm - say Technicolor or Deluxe. They have a number of colourists you can work with, but when the bill is paid you're paying the company, not the individual artist (unless you can find a decent freelance colourist with a proper setup).

Prices can vary, off the top of my head I believe I've generally seen/had friend/colleagues get things coloured for a price of $200-$500/hr, but you can easily pay up to $1000/hr.

Locally, Deluxe also charge different prices depending on what 'suite' you use - you can use a DaVinci suite, or you can use their Lustre cinema suite, which is more expensive /hr.

How long your film will take to grade depends a whole lot on your Director and DP, how the DP shot is (ie: did she shoot for small decisions in post, or all decisions in post?), how drastic the changes need to be etc. As well as shooting format - are you trying to grade a 5D to match an Alexa?

From what I've heard, for general large budget features, it can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to do the grade/online. I was talking to a colourist friend at Deluxe who recalled to me a story of a feature they were recently colouring where they spent half a day on one shot trying out different coloured ties on the main actor. The Director and DP couldn't decide on what colour they wanted, so spent a long time trying different colours to see what they wanted.
 
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What is it about these hours and your presence which makes my 'tongue-in-cheek' humour come out? Lol.

Sorry to divert your serious question but I couldn't help it.

Thread, continue...


EDIT: I was typing while jax was posting.
 
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Ernest Worthing said:
What is it about these hours and your presence which makes my 'tongue-in-cheek' humour come out? Lol.

Sorry to divert your serious question but I couldn't help it.
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Ahh, harks back to the good ol' days. I believe Spock said it best -- You have been, and always shall be, my friend. :)

Jax, thanks for the info. Holy bejeesus, $200-500/hr? Aghh! That's not what I was hoping to hear. I'm thinking my budget will allow for a few thousand for this position.

Cest' la vie.
 
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Cracker Funk said:
True that. I believe I was the bad boy, and I corrupted you. Hehe. BTW -- I really hope Spock doesn't die tomorrow, and I really hope Cumberbatch doesn't turn out to be Khan.
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Not a fan of the Abrams reboot. It has all the action and none of the heart.

But when I heard the voice in the trailer, I immediately thought Khan. I think the character is not going to Khan himself but a psuedo-alternate version of the same ideal.

EDIT: ...which, I guess, is obvious to anyone who thinks Cumberbatch is playing a version of Khan.
 
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Cracker Funk said:
Jax, thanks for the info. Holy bejeesus, $200-500/hr? Aghh! That's not what I was hoping to hear. I'm thinking my budget will allow for a few thousand for this position.
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It would be worth giving a lab a call - if you could knock it out in a week or so they might be able to do you some sort of deal. Normally, places like Technicolor, Deluxe, Fotokem etc. have quite a few colourists - some are their superstars and charge top dollar, others perhaps don't have 25 years experience but are still quite good and are charged out for less.
You could also look to freelancers and branch out much more widely into post houses - there are a few freelance colourists around, and even if the post house itself is too expensive, there might be someone there looking to make the jump from editing to colour, who has observed their colourists and knows the theory etc. but never had a chance to try it out for themselves. Similarly, there might be some up-and-comers all over the place.

Also, some DPs are quite good at colour grading as well. YMMV
 
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For my feature, we used a company in NYC that came well recommended. They did color correction along with digital integration and producing an HD Cam SR tape. The color correction portion of the charge was $9,600 (about 20% less than their original quote).

This was 5 days, full time, with their professional colorist in their screening room. My director was there as well but was not paid for her time.
 
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I was asked as a colorist for a short 2 years ago.
It took quite some time, but is was a great way to put theory into practise.
(Especially because half the footage was shot too dark and the other half was good.)

1 scene was shot on 2 different days on 2 different meadows: I had to match the color of the grass, lol.
In another scene there was dead grass (yellow): in some shots bright yellow thanks to the sun, in other shots dull greyish talks to the clouds.

Very cool to do. Exporting the 20 minutes in HD took forever ;)

I was looking for a link, but I can only find an ungraded trailer... :(
Too bad...

I've never been colorist for a feature... unless the dollar collapses I work cheaper than $200/hour lol :P
 
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Years ago remember someone having their film converted to 35mm and color corrected from someone in Poland. It looked great and I believe it was originally shot on SD. Their budget was relatively small.
 
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Ernest Worthing said:
Spock 'died' and we got banned/infractions.

Earnestly, good ol' days indeed. I don't get infractions anymore :no:
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Cracker Funk said:
True that. I believe I was the bad boy, and I corrupted you. Hehe. BTW -- I really hope Spock doesn't die tomorrow, and I really hope Cumberbatch doesn't turn out to be Khan.
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I, of course, have been a pillar of virtue throughout my tenure here.
angel7.gif


re: the colorists, can't hurt to call around some of the post production houses if you want a hard answer. Though something tells me it's not going to be what you want to hear :/
 
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Cracker Funk said:
Of course I know that the answer to this question, in real life, would vary greatly. You might be able to find a young but talented up-and-comer who will work for cheap. But how much might a colorist charge, one whom is fully established, many credits, and this is the only way that they pay rent?

I imagine they probably charge by the hour? Well, besides wondering what a typical hourly rate might be, I'm also very curious to know how many hours it might take them to color a feature. Any ballpark estimates would be helpful.

Thanks! :)
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This guy takes 80€/h.

https://vimeo.com/davidhjlindberg/videos
 
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