In this episode of The Offset Podcast, we’re discussing strategies for managing client review sessions - both in person and remote. The review session sounds straightforward on paper, but it can be a complicated balancing act of moving things along, addressing changes, and keeping everyone happy.

Some of the specifics we discuss in this episode include:

• Managing both in-person and remote review sessions
• The importance of ‘knowing’ the show - content, characters, etc
• Modulating small talk and reading the room
• Leveraging markers & notes for remaining tasks to accomplish & notes to self
• Anticipating problems, tangents, and pushback
• Setup your grading pipeline to make changes and comparisons easy for the client
• The power of making choices and changes visual
• Documenting and tracking changes for consistency and completion
• Making sure the technology works - audio, networking, lighting, passwords etc
• Having a backup strategy - rendering out intermediate masters, duplicate projects/timelines
• Having clearly defined goals for the review session & a post-review plan

You can submit show ideas and find show notes by visiting www.offsetpodcast.com. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube - just search for The Offset Podcast

In this installment of The Offset Podcast, we're discussing many of the things no one told us before we decided to become professional colorists.

While being a professional colorist can be exciting and rewarding, the job also comes with a plethora of challenges and things you might not realize. Some specifics we discuss in this episode include:

• Is being a colorist everything it’s made out to be?
• How being a colorist can challenge your physical and mental health
• How not every project is share-worthy and it's easy to feel like you're not making art
• Challenges of long hours and being away from family and friends
• Being an independent colorist is hard, but the benefits can be numerous
• There is more out there to color besides movies, television, and commercials - i.e. the great middle
• How postproduction knowledge as a colorist can be leveraged for lots of other things
• How you have to learn to check your ego at the door
• Long-term success usually means consistency and repeatability vs one awesome grade
• Learning how to be a team player with other parts of the pipeline
• Putting your knowledge to work through education, speaking, etc can be just as rewarding as grading
• Advancement in postproduction isn’t really connected to titles - - but more so responsibility and overall trust from stakeholders

Thanks for listening/watching and if you liked this show be sure to check out other episodes and tell your colleagues and friends about the podcast!

We hope you had a great holiday season! The Offset Podcast is back for Season 2. We publish an episode every two weeks, and for Season 2 (2025), we’re excited to discuss a wide range of exciting topics.

In this episode, we explore a subject that should be important to everyone who cares about image quality and accuracy—calibration. While this episode is not encyclopedic, it should give you a high-level overview of modern calibration.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• The importance of calibration & why calibration = the truth
• Using color bars to set a monitor baseline isn’t calibration
• How standards guide calibration
• Calibration and monitor perfection is unattainable - the goal is to eliminate visual deviations from reference as much as possible.
• Understanding the parts of a closed-loop calibration system
• Colorimeters
• Spectroradiometers
• Creating display-specific offset matrices for a colorimeter with a spectroradiometer
• Pattern generators
• Pattern/Patch size and understanding the basics of loading behavior
• Calibration software
• Direct device control within calibration software
• Meter placement
• Challenges of calibrating projectors vs. direct-view monitors
• Understanding what calibration can’t do & recalibration considerations
• Is auto calibration any good?
• Hiring a professional calibrator

Thanks for checking out the show! If you liked this episode please like, subscribe, and share the show with friends and colleagues.