Properly prepped material saves a day or two of conform and puts that time into the grade itself. Below are three options for handing off a project — from preferred to situational — plus the general requirements common to all three.
Right for most projects: music videos, commercials, short films. You hand off only the source fragments actually used in the cut, with handles at the edges — a fraction of the volume of full sources, keeping all the flexibility of RAW/log material.
The cut must be final and approved (picture lock). Duplicate the timeline, label it FOR COLOR and clean it up:
Editing in Premiere — export an XML (File → Export → Final Cut Pro XML). From Avid — an AAF. Already cutting in Resolve — skip this step. Resolve is free, and the free version is enough for prep.
In Resolve: File → Import → Timeline, pick your XML/AAF — sources relink automatically if they haven't moved.
File → Media Management, then:
If your sources are in Long-GOP codecs (H.264, H.265, XAVC-S — most mirrorless cameras and drones), Copy can produce corrupted files. In that case choose Transcode instead, targeting ProRes 422 HQ (or ProRes 4444) at source resolution. Intra-frame codecs (ProRes, DNxHR, BRAW, XAVC-I, R3D, ARRIRAW) copy correctly.
The archive should contain:
A situational option: a simple cut without complex transitions, compressed sources, tight deadlines — or sources that can't be handed off at all. The whole timeline is rendered into one file, and I rebuild the cuts with Scene Cut Detection.
The log profile and camera (e.g. S-Log3 / S-Gamut3.Cine, Sony FX3); an EDL of the cuts if your NLE exports one — it speeds up and disambiguates cut detection; the reference video.
No handles at the cut points; no access to RAW parameters (white balance, ISO); transitions are baked into the file. Where maximum quality matters — option 01 is preferred.
For projects with CG and compositing: commercials with graphics, shots coming back from a VFX studio, high-end pipelines. Each shot is delivered as an OpenEXR frame sequence.
The cut is approved and won't change. Edit changes after grading starts = a conform rebuild = lost time and money.
A render of the final cut for conform checking: 1920×1080, ProRes Proxy or a good H.264, with sound — and with data burn-in: record TC, source clip name and its source TC. In Resolve: Workspace → Data Burn-In; in Premiere — the Timecode effect or overlays on export.
For every non-RAW source name the space and gamma: “Sony FX6, S-Log3 / S-Gamut3.Cine”, “DJI D-Log”, “GoPro Flat”. RAW (BRAW, R3D, ARRIRAW) needs nothing — parameters are read from the file. Without this, correct color management takes longer to build and risks errors.
If stock footage, stills or logos appear in frame — include their sources too.
Don't rename sources after the edit — conform relies on names and timecodes.
Stills, frames from films, videos, a description of the mood — everything the director and DP had in mind. It's part of the brief, not a “nice to have”.
How you need the result back: one master file (which codec/container), individual clips with handles for final assembly on your side, an XML back into your NLE, platform versions. Agreed before we start.
One folder, archived, via any file service you like — Google Drive, MEGA, WeTransfer, Yandex Disk, or a link to your server.