Imagen has been best known to date for AI-driven photo editing, but its first expansion into video could swiftly change all that, as it delivers frame-by-frame automated color correction.
Post-production is a complex process. To create the best images possible, footage has to go through a number of distinct changes, and very few people excel at all the skills that are required. We all know an editor who can make projects sing, almost magically assembling clips into a compelling timeline that just works. But for every one of them, there are countless others who find editing a slog; a difficult process that sucks valuable time out of a project and leaves them with the uneasy feeling that it could be better.
Same with audio mixing, same with vfx, same with pretty much every part of the post-production process. And it was the same with color grading. This has always been as much an art as a science, and even with the wholesale democratisation of the process and a journey that has seen tools migrate from million-dollar hero suites down to the desktop, effective color grading remains a tricky process.
Which is where Imagen Video comes in, as its first release in the video sphere is an AI-driven tool that looks to deliver frame-by-frame automated color correction, targeting faster, more consistent results for professional editors.
Available immediately in a free public beta, one of the key things to understand is that this is not another standalone product to vie for your attention and take up time and space in your head for learning. Rather, it’s tightly integrated already into Adobe Premiere Pro, meaning that you can access it from directly within the editing app.
So, while video editors may often struggle to create a cohesive visual tone, especially in projects that stretch across many different lighting scenarios, from bright outdoor scenes to intimate candlelit moments, for example, Imagen starts off with a selected style profile. It then analyzes each frame and applies intelligent, personalized color correction, adjusting lighting, contrast, tone, and exposure automatically as it goes. The result is fast, professional-grade output — crucially, it is also that magic word ‘consistent ’— from start to finish.
In still photography, Imagen’s technology learns an individual editor’s style and applies it across thousands of images, dramatically reducing turnaround times. Bringing that same approach to video could make a significant difference in a market where post-production hours can quickly mount.
This is only the start of things, too. The free public beta focuses exclusively on color correction, but the company says an automated clip-sequencing feature is due soon. That upgrade would allow editors to have their footage organised automatically according to creative intent, potentially freeing up even more time for storytelling and refining edits. Watch this space…