Orange Juice / Post-production

Prepare the edit.
Protect the grade.

Choose your editing system, follow its handoff steps, and get to color with the right source image and the editorial choices already in place.

Choose your editing system ↓Reference clip specs ↓Advanced & exceptions ↓

01:00:24:12

01 / Start a turnover

What are you editing in?

Orange Juice is a DaVinci Resolve Studio. Choose your system for its detailed turnover checklist.

02 / Preferred conform route

Use Conform.tools to protect the edit you already made.

PrPremiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve
Avid to DaVinci Resolve Beta

For a Premiere-to-Resolve source-media turnover, Conform.tools Timeline Exchange is Orange Juice’s preferred route. It carries over editorial work that a basic XML or AAF can miss, including retimes, reframes/zooms, blend modes, and scale-to-frame-size settings. Avid-to-Resolve is also in beta. Check with us before you send that route.

Explore Conform.tools ↗Conform.tools Utility Calculators ↗

03 / Your workflow

Project or XML handoff

Premiere Pro → Resolve

Premiere Pro can reach Resolve through Conform.tools Timeline Exchange or a traditional XML handoff. Choose the route before building your color-prep timeline: Timeline Exchange is preferred when you want to carry more of the editorial work into Resolve; XML remains the conventional route when prepared carefully.

Step 1Choose a routeStep 2Technical referenceStep 3Prepare timelineStep 4Conform & mediaStep 5Package & deliverStep 6What happens next
Step 1

Choose a route

Decide how the edit will reach color.

Preferred route

Conform.tools Timeline Exchange

Choose this when you want more of the editorial work to carry from Premiere into Resolve. It is especially useful when an HD edit will finish in UHD, because the editorial positioning can come across without first rebuilding the Premiere sequence at UHD.

Traditional route

XML + source-media package

Choose this conventional route only after confirming the finishing raster. For a UHD finish from an HD Premiere edit, create a UHD color-prep sequence and review every raster-dependent scale, position, crop, reframe, keyframe, and effect before exporting XML.

Flag before prep: Let Orange Juice know before you package if the edit includes mixed frame rates or rasters, vertical or square formats, mobile or screen-recorded clips with variable frame rates, social/online captures, or mixed color spaces. These can affect timing, scaling, color interpretation, or relinking.

Step 2

Technical reference

Make this from the editorial timeline first.

Burn in timeline/record timecode, source timecode, source clip name/file name, and embed audio. Match its duration and raster to the timeline.

Reference clip: If you like how the edit looks, let the reference clip preserve the viewing transform, look LUT, editorial color, and anything else you were seeing in the edit. This reference is not the grading source. It lets us confirm the conform lines up with the edit, including timing, dissolves, keyframes, and reframes. For conform and media management, send camera-native, scene-referred media, typically the original Log media, or camera-native linear EXRs on a specialist job.

H.265Preferred reference codecProRes LTCompatible alternativeHD or UHDUHD finish = UHD reference; HD finish = HD reference
Step 3

Prepare timeline

Make a separate color-prep timeline.

  • Duplicate the locked sequence and name the new version clearly for color. Keep one video track where possible; two is the normal maximum.
  • Flatten nests and multicams where practical. Remove or flag temp graphics, unused material, Dynamic Link shots, editorial color corrections, look LUTs, display transforms, and temporary or third-party effects. Document anything that needs to survive into finishing.
  • Keep retimes, reframes, and intended transitions, but flag them for review. Traditional XML may require these details to be checked or rebuilt in Resolve.
  • For a specialist multi-track conform, label every video track and provide a separate EDL per video track.
  • Replace proxies with the intended original source media, or document the proxy/source relationship. Keep the original file name and source timecode available even when editorial clip labels are used.

Keep the trail intact: Do not rename, replace, or bake over original camera media. Friendly editorial clip names are fine when the source filename and source timecode remain available. Flag missing, duplicate, or unusual source timecode rather than guessing. Keep proxy and transcode relationships traceable to the original file.

Step 4

Conform & media

Choose the route that protects the edit.

Preferred route

Conform.tools Timeline Exchange + i2o

Use this complete Conform.tools route when you want Resolve to receive more of the editorial work already in your Premiere timeline and have the source package managed for delivery.

  • Start with a color-ready Premiere sequence relinked to the original source media.
  • Send the agreed Premiere project or XML through Timeline Exchange for a Resolve .drt handoff.
  • Use i2o Smart Transfer to build the managed source-media package and send it through the Conform.tools pipeline.
  • It is built to carry over retimes, reframes/zooms, blend modes, scale-to-frame-size settings, and other details that basic interchange can miss.

Conform.tools account: Timeline Exchange requires a free account and uses pay-as-you-go pricing. Conform.tools is a separate vendor; Orange Juice is not affiliated with it.

Traditional route

XML + source-media package

XML is the conventional handoff. Send it with the agreed trimmed, consolidated, media-managed, or full-original source package.

  • Premiere and Resolve do not interpret every edit in the same way.
  • Dissolves, keyframed reframes, speed changes, transitions, blend modes, and effects may need to be checked or rebuilt in Resolve.
Allow conform time.

Orange Juice will match the edit as closely as possible within the agreed conform time. If the job needs to stay fast or lean, some details may be approximated. The technical reference is the visual check.

Media management

Send the source image, not the editorial look.

01 / Source for color

Where available, send the original camera files at their native raster in their camera-native, scene-referred state. For most jobs, that means the original Log media, not a graded or display-referred export.

02 / Prepare the package

Make the timeline color-ready and relink it to the originals before you manage media. Turn off editorial color corrections, look LUTs, display transforms, and temporary effects. Document any CDL, LUT, or effect that needs to be rebuilt.

03 / Traditional media management

If you use the XML route, use the agreed conventional media-management method with the right handles. Keep the original source relationship intact.

Trimmed media: Use the agreed handles. For the Conform.tools route, i2o manages and delivers the package. For the XML route, deliver the completed package through the Orange Juice upload method in Step 5.

Step 5

Package & deliver

Complete the handoff for the route you chose.

Conform.tools route

Timeline Exchange handles the Resolve timeline, and i2o Smart Transfer manages and delivers the source package through Conform.tools. You do not need a separate Orange Juice upload link.

Traditional route

Ask Orange Juice for a private upload link when the package is ready. It accepts up to 200 GB per upload. For larger packages, ask about the extended pay-as-you-go transfer option.

Your delivery folder should contain:

  • Conform.tools output package or agreed XML/AAF
  • Technical reference movie
  • Consolidated, trimmed, or media-managed original source media
  • Turnover note with project/version, color information, and known exceptions

For an Orange Juice upload (not i2o): Once prepared, do not rename or move media within the package. Use clear folders for TIMELINE, MEDIA, REFERENCE, COLOR ASSETS, and NOTES.

Turnover note: Include the project/version, designated timeline, frame rate, raster, camera/log color spaces, CDLs/LUTs, delivery needs, known exceptions, and editorial contact.

Step 6

What happens next

We check the turnover against your edit.

01 / Ingest & check

We open the designated timeline, source media, color assets, and technical reference, then confirm the package is complete enough to begin the conform.

02 / Conform & compare

We use the technical reference as the visual guide to check timing, source, framing, retimes, transitions, and the editorial intent carried into Resolve.

03 / Confirm or flag

If the turnover is ready, we confirm that color can begin. If anything does not relink, translate, or match as expected, we flag it early and confirm the next move before spending conform time.

04 / Source-media basics

What you send determines
what we can grade.

This is the simple difference between sending the camera source and sending a flat picture.

Source-media conformColor works from camera originals at their native shooting raster, with the available image data intact.
Flat-picture handoffColor works only from the supplied file. It can be the right fast route when agreed, but its resolution and image data become the ceiling.

05 / Only when needed

Some workflows need a conversation.

These exceptions can change the handoff, scope, schedule, or budget. Bring Orange Juice in before turnover so we can agree the right materials and plan.

High-end camera-native EXR +

Specialist route only: original-raster, camera-native linear, 16-bit float, ZIP-compressed EXR plates. Agree naming, handles, transforms, and a test round trip before publishing.

Late changes & reconform +

If the edit changes after turnover, maintain one designated current timeline, dated versions, and a change log for source frames, duration, retimes, reframes, VFX, and omissions.

VFX, beauty & cleanup work +

Flag VFX pulls, beauty work, cleanup, graphics replacement, and shots needing production fixes before turnover. We will agree who owns the work, source or plate format, handles, timing, and approvals.

Multi-version & multi-aspect work +

For cutdowns and aspect variants, Orange Juice may recommend a shared sources-sequence/master-shot approach so grades can travel consistently.

Still unsure?

Ask before you package.

A short conversation before turnover can save conform time later, especially for a changing cut, unfamiliar camera format, or VFX work.

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