An Overview of Digital Intermediates
The digital intermediate (DI) is the stage where picture is conformed, graded, mastered, and turned into deliverables. It brings camera originals, VFX, titles, and graphics into one managed pipeline without photochemical generation loss.
Where the name comes from, and whether it still fits
"Intermediate" comes from the photochemical elements between the camera negative and release prints: the interpositive and internegative. A digital intermediate replaced that middle with a scan, digital color timing, and a film-out. In short: film in, digital in the middle, film out.
Most shows now originate, finish, and exhibit digitally, but the name remains useful. "Color grading" describes only part of the work. The DI is the convergence point for every acquisition format, resolution, color space, bit depth, VFX shot, title, master, and deliverable.
Responsibilities of the Colorist
The colorist develops the final look with the filmmakers and maintains visual continuity across changes in camera, lighting, location, and VFX. Judge the work on the intended reference display: a calibrated theatrical projector for cinema or a calibrated monitor for home distribution.
Involve the colorist during camera, lighting, wardrobe, and look tests. Early tests expose technical limits, inform camera and workflow choices, and establish a look that production, editorial, VFX, and finishing can reproduce.
Camera RAW
The DI often processes camera originals natively. RAW formats preserve sensor data and defer white balance, exposure interpretation, and other color decisions until post instead of baking them into acquisition.
Common examples of such cameras recording in a RAW format include:
| Camera family | RAW format |
|---|---|
| ARRI ALEXA 35 (also Mini LF, ALEXA 265) | ARRIRAW |
| Sony VENICE 2 (also BURANO) | X-OCN (16-bit) |
| RED V-RAPTOR / V-RAPTOR [X] (also KOMODO-X) | R3D (REDCODE RAW) |
| Blackmagic URSA Cine family | Blackmagic RAW (BRAW) |
| Canon EOS C400 / C500 Mark II | Cinema RAW Light |
The ARRI ALEXA 35 records ARRIRAW with LogC4 / ARRI Wide Gamut 4 (ARRI REVEAL color science). LogC3 / AWG3 remains correct for the ALEXA Mini LF and earlier bodies. ARRI added ARRICORE with the ALEXA 35 Xtreme in 2025. It is an RGB rather than Bayer codec at roughly half ARRIRAW's data rate that still leaves sensitivity, white balance and tint unbaked, so it keeps the parts of RAW that matter downstream while costing a great deal less storage. Sony's VENICE 2 and BURANO record 16-bit X-OCN. RED, acquired by Nikon in 2024, records R3D (REDCODE RAW) across the V-RAPTOR line. Blackmagic dropped CinemaDNG for Blackmagic RAW (BRAW) in 2018, now recorded across the URSA Cine family. Canon's current Cinema EOS bodies record Cinema RAW Light.1
RAW is common on features and VFX-heavy shows, but not required. Many episodic and documentary productions use compressed I-frame camera originals. Choose the recording format around image requirements, storage, turnaround, and the tested post pipeline.
RAW flexibility also creates room for error. Record the source gamut, transfer function, decode settings, and any creative transform. Never make VFX pulls through a display-referred tone map. The lost dynamic range cannot be recovered later. Test the decode and round trip before production, and involve the colorist or DI facility when the pipeline is uncertain.
See Scene-Referred and Display-Referred Imagery and Look-Up Tables for the concepts behind this workflow.
Working with Visual Effects Mattes
Provide VFX mattes when the colorist may need to isolate CG elements, foregrounds, or backgrounds. Reusing production mattes avoids new rotoscoping, keying, and tracking in the DI.
Deliver mattes at the composite's format and resolution in normalized linear encoding.2 Pack up to three mattes into RGB, or embed additional channels in the OpenEXR composite to reduce conform work.
