Just Grade It is a new colour-grading service for editors, shooters, producers or directors. You can think of it in the same way that you can outsource projects to an editor or composer. The service is lead by Ollie Kenchington, who you may know from the MZed colour grading courses.
Colour grading can be a tedious task, and with rising expectations for fast turn arounds, it can be difficult to maintain. This is where Just Grade It comes in.
What is Just Grade It?
Grading your footage is more than just placing a LUT onto your image, and while there are many educational resources to learn colour grading, it is no simple task. Just like any other skill, it takes time to develop and master. Not to mention the cost of extra hardware and software.
Just Grade It will take your footage, balance the image for a neutral starting point to make sure black, white and grey points are where they should be and then optimised with things like noise reduction, stabilisation and sharpening when required. Throughout the footage, the team of trained colour graders will also ensure that the colour and contrast is consistent from shot to shot.
All footage graded by Just Grade It will be done by Blackmagic Design Certified Professionals.
What Just Grade It isn’t
When Just Grade It receives your footage they won’t don’t do a full conform with camera original files. A single, flattened file is scene-cut.
Just Grade It is a technical grade service only, so you won’t be getting a stylised look, lifted blacks, tinted highlights or other effects like grain with the service.
See some before & after samples below.
Credit – © Willem Tiemersma 
Credit – © Rafael Pires
How much does it cost?
You can use Just Grade It on an Ad Hoc project basis for £69 per minute or go for a yearly subscription service from £299 to £1999 per month.
Depending on your plan, there are a few variables that change, including the amount of footage per month you can have graded, maximum resolution, colour space & turnaround speed.
Who is it for?
Just like any other subscription service, you have to see if it’s right for you.
5 minutes of graded video per month may not sound like much but if you look at it in terms of 60-second deliverables, this would be 5 projects.
If you’re keen to give the service a go, you can sign up and provide a clip up to 10 seconds long up to 2K for a free trial.
Visit the Just Grade It website for more information.
