Conforming

What this is about

The conform is the audit of everything the post workflow assumed. A colourist or online editor loads the list, points the system at the camera originals and checks shot by shot that the rebuilt timeline matches the approved version frame for frame. Missing clips, wrong reels, retimed shots and effects that did not survive the export all surface at this point. Doing it early with a test conform, rather than the night before delivery, is the difference between a fixable problem and a crisis.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• Run a test conform early in the edit, not the night before the delivery date
• Compare the rebuilt timeline against a reference export of the approved cut, shot by shot
• Speed changes, nested sequences and plugin effects are the usual casualties of a conform

With TillyGen

Because TillyGen records which cut was approved and when, the conform starts from a defined version instead of from the newest file on a drive.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.