Extra tools finish the file before handover

Extra tools are not a generate. They are a finish. Isolate a voice, key a talking head, colorize a still, upscale the keepers — then hand the file over. Doing any of that to a shot you are still regenerating is paying twice: once for the finish, and again when the regen throws the finished pixels away.

The pairs on this page are the same before/after examples the Extra studio shows on empty state: background removal and video upscale. Video editing is the job list. Upscale after picture lock is the upscale-specific rule. This post is the handover rule for the whole kit: run extras after lock, not during taste.

Lock first, extras second

Picture lock when shots can still regenerate redefined lock for a pipeline that can always sample again. Lock is a finishing contract: these shot ids, these hashes, this timeline. A regen after that is a new shot. It does not inherit the old grade, the old mix, or the old upscale.

Extras sit on the locked file because they are downstream of the picture:

Extra	Tool-shaped page	Do it after lock because
Isolate	Isolate vocals	A new take has new noise. Isolation of a dead take is waste.
Key	Remove video background	Keying a shot you will regen keys a ghost.
Colorize	Colorize a photo	Colorize the still you will actually animate, not the rejected board.
Upscale	Upscale video to 4K	Upscaling a candidate is a second generate you will throw out.

Taste is cheap at stills and at preview resolution. Delivery is expensive at 4K, at a clean vocal stem, at a keyed composite. The Extra studio exists so delivery is a named step, not a panic export.

What each extra is for — and not for

Isolate. Pull a usable voice out of a mixed or noisy recording. It is the rescue step before karaoke captions and a sensible step before a clone. It is not a substitute for a room. Audio isolation is the rescue essay. On a locked timeline, isolate the VO you are actually shipping.

Key (background removal). A composite job: talking head onto a new plate, product onto a clean field. A brand film should be generated in its room, not keyed into one after the fact. Background removal is for composites, not for films is the split. If the deliverable is a UGC talking head that has to sit on ten brand colours, key after lock and composite as a finish, not as a generate.

Colorize. A photo tool. Archival stills, faded product shots, board frames that need to match a colour world before they become I2V. Colorizing a video generate because the grade felt flat is the wrong extra — that is a grade, or a regen of the still. Use colorize on the still you will keep.

Upscale. More resolution from what is already in the file. It will not invent a sharper product label that never rendered. It will not fix identity drift. It will make a locked 1080p keeper hold on a 4K master. Run it on the cut you signed, not on the seven alternatives.

Captions and dubs are finishes too, but they are other studios. Burn captions and dub on the locked picture. Extras are the toolkit around those verbs.

Handover is a checklist, not a folder

A client who receives "final_v7_UPSCALED_reallyfinal.mp4" and a sibling "final_v7.mp4" does not have a delivery. They have an argument. Handover after extras:

1. Locked cut, named, hash or date.
2. The extras you actually ran, named (isolated VO, keyed version, 4K master).
3. What you did not run, on purpose (no key on a film generated in-room; no upscale on a 9:16 that will be crushed by the app anyway).
4. Captions burned if the file will autoplay muted.

Video editing is fifty-plus jobs. Run the two the deliverable requires, after the picture is the picture. Do not upscale everything, key a film, isolate a sample you already cloned as noise, or colorize a still you have already animated. Order is the product.

FAQ

Can I upscale a preview to show the client a sharper board?

You can, and you will then be competing with a sharper board that is not the locked file. Show previews at preview resolution. Upscale the keepers after they sign. If they need to judge type legibility, upscale one hero still, not the whole timeline.

Is background removal the same extra on photo and video?

No. Video keying is remove_background / the video pipeline. Photo removal goes through image edit with an instruction. The Extra studio pair on this page is the video example. Pick the pipeline that matches the file.

Where does isolation sit relative to captions?

Isolate first if the transcript has to be right. Karaoke families in particular need clean audio; a drifted transcript looks broken. Then caption the isolated or original-clean track. Captions on noisy audio are a finish of a problem you have not finished.

Do extras change the model that generated the shot?

No. They are post. Switching the generator is a regen, which reopens lock. If the picture is wrong, regen the picture. If the picture is right and the delivery spec wants 4K, a stem, or a key, that is an extra.