Colour grading
Colour grading happens after the cut is locked. It has two layers: correction, which neutralises exposure and white balance so every shot matches, and the creative grade, which gives the project a mood through warmth, contrast, and colour balance. A colourist works shot by shot and scene by scene, using scopes to keep skin tones and brightness consistent.
Grading depends on the quality of the source. Footage shot in a log profile or raw holds wide latitude, so the colourist can push highlights and shadows without breaking the image. A compressed proxy cannot survive that treatment, which is why the grade always runs on the full-resolution originals rather than the editing copies.
Examples
- •A colourist neutralises three cameras so they match in the same scene
- •A warm, low-contrast grade gives a wedding film a soft mood
- •Scopes guide a Rec. 709 grade so skin tones stay natural on broadcast
In Sanbila
Sanbila streams your original log or raw footage at full quality for the grade, so the colourist works on the real sensor data with full latitude, while the editor kept cutting on light proxies earlier in the project.
Frequently asked questions
How is Sanbila different from the proxy generator built into my NLE?+
Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro and Avid all generate proxies locally, but they keep the original full-resolution files on the same SSD — so the disk fills up twice. Sanbila stores the originals in the cloud (Cloudflare R2) and keeps only the lightweight proxies on your machine. At export, Smart Relink streams the originals back via a local WebDAV mount, so you finish at full quality without ever downloading the source files.
Does Sanbila work offline?+
Yes for editing — once a proxy is cached on your SSD, you can cut, trim, color and arrange your timeline without an internet connection. You only need network access for the initial import (uploading originals to the cloud) and for the final export (streaming originals back via WebDAV).
How much cloud storage does the free plan include?+
The free plan includes 5 GB of cloud storage and one project, with no credit card required. Paid plans start at $49 per month for 2 TB and 50 projects, going up to 25 TB on the Enterprise plan with overage billing for teams that need more.
What upload speed do I need to use Sanbila?+
Any broadband connection works for the initial upload — Sanbila chunks files into 50 MB parts and uploads in parallel, so a typical 100 Mbps fiber line uploads 1 hour of 4K H.264 footage in about 6 minutes. After upload, day-to-day editing happens on local proxies, so your connection speed only matters again at export time when originals are streamed.
Which video formats does Sanbila support?+
Sanbila handles 22+ formats out of the box: MP4, MOV, MXF, R3D (RED RAW), BRAW (Blackmagic RAW), ARRI proxies, ProRes, DNxHR, DNxHD, H.264, H.265, plus WAV and AAC for audio. Both 4K and 8K sources are supported up to 200 GB per single file (URL imports have no size limit).
Related terms
Sources
- Colour grading in DaVinci Resolve · Blackmagic Design
- Lumetri Color in Premiere Pro · Adobe