Sending footage to a colorist, without breaking the workflow.

Four things that go wrong

What breaks in the hand-off, and how this fixes it

A real round-trip

What a hand-off to color looks like

1. 01

   Upload your masters

   Drag the project folder into a new delivery. Folder structure stays as you uploaded it. Files store at original quality — no transcoding.

2. 02

   Share the link

   Copy the share URL. iMessage / email / Slack — paste anywhere. Preview card shows your project name and logo, not a generic dropbox.com link.

3. 03

   Colorist opens the link

   They see the folder tree in their browser. No sign-up wall, no install. They can grab the free Mac app for parallel-chunked downloads with auto-resume on dropped Wi-Fi, or just download in the browser.

4. 04

   You get a heads-up

   When they start downloading, you get an email — 'Sarah at Color Studio started downloading [project].' One email per session, throttled so you don't get pinged 200 times on a multi-file batch.

5. 05

   Round-trip the grade back with folders intact

   When they're done, they upload the graded files through a receive link you set up on the same project. They drop in a folder — /graded/Reel-01, /graded/Reel-02 — directly from their browser. No account, no install. You download via the free Mac app and the hierarchy lands on disk the way they sent it. The half of every other tool's workflow that usually breaks the round-trip is the part that works cleanly here.

6. 06

   Re-share weeks later, no re-upload

   A month into the project, the colorist needs the original source files again. You don't re-upload — you just re-share the same link. The files are still there because the subscription is still active.

Folder structure preserved both directions

The round-trip, in two screenshots

Left: the colorist uploads a graded folder back to you through the receive link — folder structure visible in their browser. Right: the same folder hierarchy lands on your Mac via the free desktop app, on disk, exactly the way they sent it. No zip step in the middle.

Questions colorists ask

Frequently asked

Does Mountain Creative Directory preserve folder structure?

Yes — in both directions. When you send masters out, the recipient sees your folder hierarchy in the browser exactly the way you uploaded it — /footage, /audio, /docs subfolders, whatever shape your project is in. When you create a receive link and the colorist drops graded files back in, you pull them down via the free Mac app and the hierarchy lands on disk exactly the way they sent it. No zip flattening, no manual re-organizing on either side. This is the bidirectional folder preservation most transfer tools don't do — WeTransfer flattens, Dropbox file requests flatten, Frame.io is per-asset.

Can I receive graded files back from the colorist with folder structure intact?

Yes. Create a receive link on the same project and share it with the colorist. They drop the graded folder — /graded/Reel-01, /graded/Reel-02, however they organized it — into the page in their browser. No account, no sign-up. You download via the free Mac app and the folder structure lands on disk exactly the way the colorist sent it. This is the half of the round-trip that nobody else does cleanly: WeTransfer has no inbound, Dropbox file requests flatten the structure, Frame.io's upload review is per-asset rather than folder-based.

How big a file can I send to my colorist?

No per-file cap — a full short film master at 4K ProRes 4444 XQ (~250-300 GB) goes through fine. The constraint is your plan's total storage quota: 200 GB on Solo, 500 GB on Studio, 1 TB on Pro. Network drops during upload are recovered automatically on the desktop app and in the browser.

Can the colorist round-trip files back to me through the same tool?

Yes — you create a delivery for them, they receive your link, and when they're ready to send back you can create a second delivery from them via a project-share link that lets them upload directly. Or they create their own delivery on their account. Either way the entire round-trip happens on the same tool.

Does my colorist need an account?

No. They open the share link in any browser and download. No signup, no email required, no permission request. The subscription is yours — they're a guest.

What happens if the colorist loses the link three weeks in?

You re-share the same link — it doesn't expire as long as your subscription is active. WeTransfer's 7-day file expiration is the dealbreaker that breaks color round-trips most often; we don't do that.

Does it work with ProRes / DPX / EXR sequences?

Yes — we don't transcode or process master files. Whatever you upload is what the colorist downloads, bit-identical. ProRes 4444 / 4444 XQ, DPX sequences, EXR, ARRIRAW, RED RAW — all pass through untouched.

Can I verify the colorist got the exact files I sent?

Yes. The recipient page has a CSV manifest export — every file with size in bytes and folder path. Your colorist can save it and compare against their local copy. Saves the 'did you get everything?' DM at the end of a hand-off.

What about password protection on sensitive grades?

Every delivery link supports an optional password. For a network grade or an unreleased project, set a password when you create the link and share it via a different channel (Signal, in person) than the link itself.