Online Edit Conform Checklist Before Sending to a Finishing House

The finishing house is not the place to discover problems. By the time a cut reaches online, you have spent weeks or months on the project. The conform session is expensive. Any mistake you send through at this stage costs real money and real time to fix, and in a tight delivery window, that cost can cascade into missed broadcast dates or festival deadlines.

An online edit conform checklist before sending to a finishing house is one of those things that every experienced post supervisor knows they should have and then sometimes skips when the schedule gets tight. This is the version I actually use, with the reasoning for each item so you understand what you are checking for, not just what to check.

Before You Even Think About the Conform

The conform checklist starts before any media is moved. You need to confirm several things about the state of the project that affect every subsequent step.

Picture is genuinely locked. This sounds obvious. It is not always true. "Locked" sometimes means "the director is happy but the producer has not seen it." A conform based on a cut that gets one more change after you have started the online is a nightmare. Get a documented picture lock approval, with the relevant stakeholders on record, before the conform begins. PlayPause's approval workflow gives you a timestamped record of who approved what and when. That record is your protection.

All VFX shots are delivered. If any VFX shots are still coming in after the online has started, you have a problem. The online editor needs the final, graded, QC-passed VFX shots before they can finish. Confirm that every shot in the VFX pull list has been delivered, is at the correct specs, and is approved.

All audio deliverables are accounted for. The finishing house usually needs the final mix stems (M&E split, dialogue, music, effects). Confirm these are ready or have a confirmed delivery date from the sound facility.

The Core Conform Checklist

Once you have confirmed the above, here is the working checklist. I have organized it by category to make it easier to assign to the right person on the team.

Editorial

• Final locked sequence exported from the offline edit with timecode matching the delivery spec
• EDL or XML exported from the offline NLE in the format required by the finishing house
• All reel IDs and scene/take metadata are correct and consistent
• No offline media in the locked sequence (all clips reference online resolution sources)
• Gap frames and black fills are accounted for and intentional
• Handles are confirmed (usually 8 to 16 frames on each cut for the online editor's flexibility)

Visual Effects

• All VFX shots in the locked cut are in the final VFX pull list
• Each VFX shot has been delivered at the finishing house's required codec and resolution
• VFX shots have been approved by the director and/or VFX supervisor
• Any partial VFX (matte paintings, title treatments, supers) are labeled and catalogued
• Reference frames for each VFX shot are available in case of conform questions

Color and Grading

• LUT or color grade reference files are packaged with the media if pre-graded footage is being used
• Any scene-specific color notes from the DP or director are documented and attached to the handoff
• CDL values (if applicable) are exported and confirmed

Audio

• Final locked picture cut matches the picture reference sent to the sound facility
• Timecode burn-in or visible timecode on the picture reference for audio sync
• Mix stems confirmed as delivered or delivery date confirmed
• Any ADR sessions are completed and cut into the locked sequence
• Music cue sheet is prepared or in progress

Delivery Specs

• Finishing house's delivery specification document is in hand
• Codec, resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio, and color space are all confirmed
• Audio spec (channel count, sample rate, bit depth, mono/stereo/5.1/7.1) is confirmed
• Subtitles or closed caption files are prepared if required
• Textless elements are identified and noted for delivery

• Confirm picture lock with documented approval
• Verify all VFX shots are delivered at spec
• Package EDL or XML with correct metadata
• Confirm audio mix stems schedule with sound facility
• Pull the finishing house delivery spec and verify against it
• Conduct a final watch of the offline cut before the conform begins

The Final Watch: Do Not Skip This

The most important thing on this checklist is the one that gets skipped most often: watch the offline cut one more time, from beginning to end, before you send anything to the finishing house.

Not a skim. Not a jump to the parts you know had issues. A full watch, with someone in the room who has authority to catch anything that requires a fix. This is your last opportunity to find a clip that plays incorrectly, a subtitle card that is wrong, a temp effect that never got replaced, or a moment where the cut makes a mistake that everyone was too close to see until now.

On this final watch, have someone specifically checking:

• Every title and lower third for spelling and duration
• Every supers and legal text for accuracy
• All credits if they are in the cut
• Any music that might raise licensing questions
• Any archive footage with a rights flag

The Handoff Note

When you send the package to the finishing house, include a written handoff note. Not just the files. A note that explains:

• What project this is and what version
• What the delivery deadline is
• Any known issues or areas of attention
• Who to contact for questions
• Where the delivery spec came from and where to find the full document

This sounds basic, but finishing houses receive packages from multiple productions simultaneously. A clear handoff note means your package gets the right attention and any questions come back to the right person immediately.

For more on the handoffs that connect to the conform, look at the conform and online finishing handoff process guide and the VFX pulls tracking guide from offline edit through to delivery. And if you are building the handoff from picture lock into this process, the picture lock to online information guide covers what needs to travel with the cut.

A conform checklist is cheap insurance on an expensive process. The finishing house session is not the time to discover missing handles or an unapproved VFX shot. Run the checklist, watch the cut, document the approval, and send the package with confidence. If you need a clean system for tracking which version was approved and by whom before the conform, PlayPause is free to start and the approval record it gives you is worth more than any spreadsheet.