Real-Life Math
"You don't need math to any major, engineering extent," says colorist Tim Gatena. "But there is some calculating when it comes to time code ratios -- film is recorded at 24 frames per second while video is done at 30 frames per second. So there's some figuring to do in terms of making them correlate when you're bringing film and video together."
Another math detail in a colorist's day has to do with pay. Because so many colorists are freelance workers, they often have to estimate how much a coloring project will cost in advance.
Let's say your current rate is $150 per day. You know you can complete, on average, 5,000 frames of film per day of standard scenes, but only about 2,000 frames of high-density action and special effects film.
The project you'll be working on is a transfer of a big-budget Hollywood movie. The movie runs about 120 minutes, or somewhere around 50,000 frames. You and the director agree that about one-quarter of the film is action or special-effects scenes that will take longer to color.
How much time and money should you bid for the project? Remember that most freelancers try to build in some leeway for problems that inevitably come up in a project. Most colorists say they try to allow for a full day of extra time due to technical problems and other slowdowns.