A “VFX pull” is the process of extracting or “pulling” a shot to deliver for VFX work.

The following is a basic approach to delivering a pull out of your edit. In larger productions, things get more technical than what’s described here — but the point is to give you somewhere to start!

Your primary deliverables to the VFX team are as follows:

1. The shot itself
   • Export formats: EXR, ProRes 444, DNxHR 444, RAW Trim
   • Remove all effects, color correction, & color grading. The goal is to apply the VFX as if it was filmed that way, return to you still ungraded, and then your final color & post effects help to “glue” it all together.

2. Context examples
   • A copy of either the entire edit or a portion of it, to see the shot in context and test how it’s working. Doesn’t need to be highest quality.
   • It may also help to export a high-quality still of your shot (DPX, PNG), with all effects removed, that the VFX artist can use to compare color before delivering the shot back to you for grading.

3. Show LUT & CDL (optional)
   • Your VFX artist will be working on ungraded footage, but using a LUT to preview how it might look when graded. You can provide a LUT for them to have a more accurate window into the final result. For example, DaVinci Resolve can easily export a LUT from a Still of your color grade.
   • A CDL (which stands for Color Decision List) is a file that some software can import/export that preserves basic color correction operations you have applied to footage. Similar to the LUT, the VFX team can use this in their temporary viewing.

4. Basic shot specs
   • Camera model & focal length (if possible).
   • Color & gamma profile (listed in your clip’s metadata if shot raw).
   • Timeline framerate & resolution.