A clean Resolve project saves hours and prevents the kind of late-night mistakes that ruin a grade. Here's the setup we use on every job, from a single reel to a full campaign.
Start with color management
Before touching a wheel, we set the project to a managed color pipeline so every clip — phone, cinema camera, AI-generated — lands in the same color space. Garbage in, garbage out: managed color is how you make mismatched sources gradeable.
- Set input color space per source, not globally
- Work in a wide timeline space, deliver to Rec.709
- Trust the scopes over your monitor
A node structure you can actually navigate
We keep every grade on a consistent node tree so anyone on the team can open a project and understand it instantly:
- Node 1 — Balance: neutralize, set exposure and white balance
- Node 2 — Contrast: shape the curve
- Node 3 — Creative look: the signature grade lives here
- Node 4 — Secondaries: skin, sky, product isolation
- Node 5 — Output: final trim and safety
Separate correction from creative. When the client asks for "a little warmer," you change one node — not the whole grade.
LUTs as a starting point, never the finish
We do use LUTs — including our own Cinematic LUT Pack — but always as a base on the creative node, dialed back and adjusted to the footage. A LUT applied at full strength on raw footage is how you get that flat, over-baked look.
Stay organized or pay for it later
Color-code clips, name your nodes, and version your timelines. The discipline feels slow on day one and saves you on delivery day.
Want this workflow applied to your footage — or to learn it yourself? Start a project or explore NextGen Academy.