Issue with Color Grading Multicam Sequence in Premiere Pro

Question

I'm having trouble with color grading in a multicam sequence in Premiere Pro. My workflow:

• I’ve created a multicam source sequence (three cameras, each recording in 4K LOG for a 1-hour interview).
• I then created a new editing sequence from the source sequence to cut between the different camera angles.

Since the project is heavy, I’m using proxies for editing.

The problem is when I try to apply colour grading directly in the multicam source sequence, the grading doesn't show up in my editing sequence or even the source multicam sequence. I want to apply color grading to the full video clips (without using adjustment layers or having to apply grading to each individual cut) in the source sequence, so I only have to do it once per camera angle.

Occasionally, I briefly see the color grading in the Program Monitor, but it quickly reverts to the flat LOG footage. Oddly, sound adjustments I’ve made in the source sequence carry over to the editing sequence, but not the colour grading. Additionally, I can’t even consistently see the grading in the source sequence itself — the only place I see a preview is in the small window in the Lumetri Color panel under the "Creative" dropdown.

I have checked that track visibility is on, Program Monitor resolution is set to full, FX is enabled.

I'm using a NVIDIA RTX A4000 GPU with 32GB of RAM.

Is there something I’m missing in terms of how color grading should propagate from the source sequence to the editing sequence?

Do I need to flatten the multicam sequence in order to apply grading properly, and if so, does that mean I’d need to color grade each individual cut manually?

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

I often grade the way you're suggesting.

Make sure you open the multi-cam sequence by selecting "Open in Timeline" on the multi-cam sequence from within the Project tab.

From within the opened sequence, double-click the clip you want to grade, so that it appears in the source window.

From there, select the Effect Controls tab, and make sure you've clicked on Source in the tab that is inside the Effect Controls tab:

Drop a Lumetri effect into this empty source effect.

The lumetri effect should now be applied to all sequences that use this clip in your project.

Then from the Project tab, I would drag the multi-cam sequence onto the New Item icon in the bottom right of the Project window, to create a conventional sequence, with the same resolution etc as my multi-cam sequence.

Multicam sequences are still a bit buggy in Premiere even in 2024/2025, and if anything is behaving oddly, the first thing I do is save, quit, and re-open premiere, especially if something associated with the multi-cam sequence has changed, but isn't reflected in my conventional sequence.

You don't need to flatten the multi-cam sequence in order for the grading to appear, so long as it's all applied as source effects, not clip effects.