Contact

You are welcome to contact me by email or by phone to discuss a possible collaboration with me. For color grading, I recommend that you use the enquiry form below, which will give me most of the information I need to make you a customized offer. All consultations are free. Please take a look at the following most frequently asked questions, which may give you some answers in advance.

mail@stephanknauss.com
+49 163 2948723
(Mon 10–4:00pm, Wed 12–4:00pm, Thurs 12–4:00pm)

  • Please provide me with an identical copy of your original source material ahead of your color correction booking, so that I can load all the footage in time to be ready. You can send an USB3 drive to me by inline Kurier or by DPD. And of course you can also drop by with the hard drive yourself.

    • First export an H.264 reference of the final cut of your film with burned-in timecode and clip names. (For example, via Adjustment Layer > Effects > Meta Data & Timecode Burn-In > Effect Controls in Premiere Pro) Please send your reference to me, for example by WeTransfer (2GB) or by Smash (over 2GB).

    • Duplicate your picture-locked timeline and add the label »_color« to its name.

    • Remove all unused clips.

    • Remove all audio tracks if you have not yet created a single stereo mix.

    • Condense the video tracks to as few as possible.

    • Place graphics on a higher separate track.

    • Flatten multicam clips.

    • Remove any temporary color effects.

    • Size and positioning changes can be kept as they are.

    • Static speed changes to clips can be kept as they are.

    • If speed ramps are used, please export the affected clips to a high quality format such as DNxHR HQX or ProRes 422 HQ and re-import them into your duplicate color timeline by placing the clips on a track above the original.

    • Export an XML (Final Cut Pro XML) from Adobe Premiere or from Final Cut Pro, an AAF from Avid Media Composer or a DRT from DaVinci Resolve.

  • No, I do not offer live sessions remotely. But I have had good experiences with creating a daily screener that can be discussed with me in a video call the next day. This workflow can take a longer period of time and requires more trust from the client in me, but also offers advantages such as more concentrated working time for color correction. I generally do not offer this option for first-time clients.

  • No, I do not offer visual effects and have no experience in this area.

  • No, I do not offer DCP deliveries as I do not have the necessary equipment for DCP quality control.

  • Unfortunately, I can only work for a limited number of graduation films. If your film has a social and class-relevant discourse, I can arrange to do color correction for a minimum wage. For students of the HFBK Hamburg I offer a color grading course for graduation films. Please check your course catalog under Lutz Jelinski's Digital Editing Workshop.

  • No, but I can assure you that the selection committees of film festivals are trained to look at unpolished rough cuts and that they enjoy discovering raw film gems. I recommend you focus your resources on a solid stereo mix for your submission.

  • I recommend this article by colorist Cullen Kelly on »Grading for Mixed Delivery: Cinema, Home, and Every Screen in Between«.