Sponsored by:
This episode is sponsored by Colorist Society International and Mixinglight.com.
On this episode of the Colorist Podcast, we take a look back at 2017. So much has happened this past year in the world of the colorist. Blackmagic unveiled two new affordable panels, as well as releasing Resolve 14. Filmlight continues to innovate, and shipped version 5 of Baselight. UHD and HDR are gaining wide adoption, with new content being available every day.
I recently had the opportunity to go back and review every podcast from this past year. I couldn’t believe all the talented people that made time to sit and talk with me. Colorists that worked on films from Lord of the Rings to Saving Private Ryan, TV shows NCIS Los Angeles and Planet Earth II, and commercials for Coca-Cola and Levi’s. We delved into many different topics, like collaborating with DP’s, working in foreign countries, and emerging technologies like HDR.
In this podcast, I’ve included some of my favorite insights from 2017:
- Peter Doyle: Working on films that vary visually and conceptually
- Dave Abrams: HDR and it’s effect on calibration
- Warren Eagles: Film stocks and how they relate to digital cameras today
- Bob Festa: Working with clients and getting them to come back for more
- Alexis Van Hurkman: Techniques for working with HDR
- Dale Grahn: Developing looks for The Ring and Saving Private Ryan
- Juan Cabrera: Collaborating with Directors and DP’s in the suite
- Adam Inglis: Working with nature footage in Planet Earth II
- Patrick Woodard: Being flexible and working efficiently in television
- Vanessa Taylor: Working in a foreign country and overcoming language barriers
This episode is sponsored by:
Colorist Society International
For more information on how you can become a member, visit, www.coloristsociety.com.
Mixinglight.com
Use the coupon code “josh15” for 15% off the first term of any Premium Color library subscription.
This episode is sponsored by Colorist Society International and Mixinglight.com.
On this episode of the Colorist Podcast, I talk with Patrick Woodard, Lead Colorist at Digital Film Tree.
Patrick is best known for his color work on episodic TV shows like NCIS: Los Angeles, UNreal, Weeds, and Everybody Hates Chris. He’s worked on programs that air on the major networks, like CBS, NBC, and FOX, as well as the pay networks HBO and Showtime. In addition to working in TV, he’s also completed spots for Oakley, DC Shoes, and Fox Racing.
Patrick built his foundation in photography, studying at the Brooks Institute of Photography. Combining this background with an internship at Digital Film Tree, set him in the direction of becoming a colorist. Moving up within the company gave him the opportunity to holistically understand the file-based workflow and the ways that it could be fast and flexible.
In this podcast, we talk about:
- How his background in photography served him as a colorist
- Challenges of working on a big budget TV shows
- The effect of streaming networks like Netflix and Hulu on television colorists
- Coloring for short form versus long form
- Collaborating with DPs and showrunners via remote sessions
- New technologies like 4K and HDR in television color
- ACES and other color-managed workflows
- Coloring for different TV networks
This episode is sponsored by:
Colorist Society International
For more information on how you can become a member, visit, www.coloristsociety.com.
Mixinglight.com
Use the coupon code “josh15” for 15% off the first term of any Premium Color library subscription.
This episode is sponsored by Colorist Society International and Mixinglight.com.
Senior Colorist Bob Festa joins me on this episode of the Colorist Podcast.
Bob Festa has colored some of the most iconic music videos and national commercials. Companies like Coca-Cola, Levi’s, American Express, McDonalds, and IBM come back to his suite again and again. In a career that spans over 30 years, he has completed over 20,000 spots. He continues to color today, working on the shows “The Runaways” and “The Last Ship.” He is the recipient of daVinci’s “Master Colorist Award” and “Commercial Colorist of the Year.”
Bob has held positions as a Senior Colorist at Company 3, R!OT Santa Monica, Hollywood Digital, and Encore. And he also ran his own facility, New Hat. He’s worked with daVinci systems since it’s start, and even helped drive some of the features we use today.
Bob continues to be a mentor to aspiring colorists. He shares his skills, experience, and knowledge to the next generation of artists.
In this podcast, we talk about:
- How to avoid burnout and have a long career as a colorist
- Comparing long and short form grading
- The inspiration of film and why some colorists still use printer points
- The most abused technique in color grading
- The Festa “Grade once - show many” concept
- New technologies like HDR and how colorists adapt to them
- Coming up with a lot of ideas in a high-pressure environment
- Colorist’s role in new business development
- How the declining price of color systems affect colorists today
- Collaborating with Directors and DPs
This episode is sponsored by:
Colorist Society International
For more information on how you can become a member, visit, www.coloristsociety.com.
Mixinglight.com
Use the coupon code “josh15” for 15% off the first term of any Premium Color library subscription.
This episode is sponsored by Colorist Society International and Mixinglight.com.
On this episode of the Colorist Podcast, I continue the conversation with Director, Writer, and Colorist, Alexis Van Hurkman.
In the last episode, I talked with Alexis about how he got his start in post, his experience at Apple, and starting his own boutique grading facility. There was so much great conversation in the podcast that I needed to break it into two separate shows.
In this episode, we dive deeper into the tech side of grading. In the last five years, there’s been dramatic changes in color technology. High Dynamic Range (HDR) is making it’s way into the mainstream, and color managed workflows are improving with each day. And with that “bigger box of crayons,” we have more options when creating looks. The creative and the technical elements in grading are closely linked.
In part two, we discuss:
- The “Color Correction Look Book” and how to create subtle grades
- When to push a look further then your comfort level
- Grading HDR and the “hierarchy of highlights”
- Will HDR change the way that colorists grade
- Using ACES, Resolve Color Management, Truelight and other color management workflows
- The Colorist Society and how it will benefit the community in the future
HDR, Resolve, and Creative Grading by Alexis
Amazon: Titles by Alexis Van Hurkman
This episode is sponsored by:
Colorist Society International
For more information on how you can become a member, visit, www.coloristsociety.com.
Mixinglight.com
Use the coupon code “josh15” for 15% off the first term of any Premium Color library subscription.
This episode is sponsored by Colorist Society International and Mixinglight.com.
Director, writer, and colorist, Alexis Van Hurkman joins me on this episode of the Colorist Podcast.
There’s been many twists and turns in the career of Alexis Van Hurkman. He bounced around from audio, editorial, graphics, and visual effects. Ultimately, each of those steps in his journey contributed to his skills as a colorist. Along with grading his own projects, he’s finished programs for The History Channel, The Learning Channel, BBC Four, and WNET.
Many listeners will recognize Alexis’s book titles, “The Color Correction Handbook” and “The Color Correction Look Book,” as well as the manuals for Apple Color, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve. He’s also created several training titles with Ripple Training, featuring the newest features in Resolve.
This epic podcast was one of the longest I’ve recorded yet. So long, in fact, that I’ve decided to split it up into two separate episodes. There’s a ton of great info and I didn’t want to lose any of it.
In the first part, we talk about:
- The complicated path in becoming a colorist
- How writing increased his color knowledge and skills
- How he ended up working at Apple
- Working with and without a color control panel
- How the Fairlight page effects colorists
- Parallels between audio and color
- Learning to work in a client driven environment
- Visual Effects and how it contributes to a colorist’s skills
- Starting his own one man boutique grading facility
Amazon: Titles by Alexis Van Hurkman
This episode is sponsored by:
Colorist Society International
For more information on how you can become a member, visit, www.coloristsociety.com.
Mixinglight.com
Use the coupon code “josh15” for 15% off the first term of any Premium Color library subscription.
This episode is sponsored by Colorist Society International and Mixinglight.com.
On this episode of the Colorist Podcast, I talk with Juan Ignacio Cabrera, CSI. Juan has worked on the films Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Trek: Into Darkness, and Transformers: Age of Extinction. He’s been credited as a stereographer, colorist, compositor, and visual effects supervisor.
Juan got his start in the visual effects industry in Spain, starting his own business at 17 years old. He later moved to the US and was hired at Bad Robot and Paramount Pictures. Currently, he runs his own boutique facility, Lightbender Post, as Founder and Senior Colorist. His projects span everything from features, television, streaming, and video games.
On this podcast, we talk about:
- Translating the skills of visual effects to color grading
- Completing or enhancing vfx in a color application
- Working with SGO Mistika as his color tool of choice
- Improvements to color grading applications
- Color managed workflows with ACES
- HDR and when it will gain wide acceptance
- Working in a big facility compared to running your own shop
- Low budget versus high budget projects
- Working with directors and DP’s
- Essential business skills colorists should have
- Why he joined the Colorist Society International
- Advice for up and coming colorists
This episode is sponsored by:
Colorist Society International
For more information on how you can become a member, visit, www.coloristsociety.com.
Use the coupon code “josh15” for 15% off the first term of any Premium Color library subscription.
This episode is sponsored by Colorist Society International and Mixinglight.com.
Vanessa Taylor, freelance colorist for the films The Great Gatsby and Lady Macbeth, joins me on this episode of the Colorist Podcast.
Vanesa has over 20 years experience in the industry. She got her start working at Animal Logic, working on the Quantel Henry as an Online Editor. After that, she moved on to the DI department at Park Road Post.
She’s worked on projects from Joss Whedon, Baz Luhrmann and Peter Jackson. She’s based out of the UK, but travels worldwide to work on a variety of different independent films.
On this podcast, we talk about:
- Her experience with Quantel Henry, Pablo, eQ and iQ served as a basis for her career
- How she moved on to Park Road Post
- Knowing when to do a visual effects shot in a color grading application
- Working on a big budget feature film and where your contribution can fit it
- Learning several color systems
- Balancing the tech and art of color grading
- HDR and what it means creativity for colorists
- Working in other countries and their perceptions of color
- Running a session and how to keep it flowing
- The lowering cost of color grading systems and what it means for working colorists today
- The formation of the colorist society and how we benefit from joining together
This episode is sponsored by:
Colorist Society International
For more information on how you can become a member, visit, www.coloristsociety.com.
and by:
Use the coupon code “josh15” for 15% off the first term of any Premium Color library subscription.
This episode is sponsored by Colorist Society International and Mixinglight.com.
On this episode of the Colorist Podcast, I talk with Adam Inglis, colorist for feature films Sherlock Holmes, Alien Vs Predator, and Mr. Turner.
Adam was one of the first users of Baselight, when it was previously known as “Film Grader.” It was used internally at CFC in London when finishing the claymation feature Chicken Run.
Currently, his work can be seen on the BBC Documentary series Planet Earth II. Shot with several different cameras in only natural light, the show puts the viewer in amazing landscapes with vibrant colored animals.
On this episode, we talk about:
- His editorial background and getting his start at the Computer Film Company (CFC)
- Comparing working at a facility, starting your own shop, and working freelance
- The challenges of working on nature documentaries
- The advantages of ACES and color managed workflows
- Comparing grading systems strengths and weaknesses
- Getting booked as a freelance colorist
- Grading television versus grading films
- Avoiding over grading shots
- Grading without a panel and when it’s best to use one
- The lowered price of grading systems and its impact on the industry
- The role of Directors and DP in the grading process
This episode is sponsored by:
Colorist Society International
For more information on how you can become a member, visit, www.coloristsociety.com.
and by:
Use the coupon code “josh15” for 15% off the first term of any Premium Color library subscription.
This episode is sponsored by Colorist Society International and Mixinglight.com.
On this episode of the colorist podcast, we’re trying something a little different. We take a break from talking with a colorist to focus on something quite a bit more technical. Dave Abrams, monitor calibrator and owner of Avical, joins me on this episode. It’s about to get seriously geeky, and in the best possible way :)
Dave has been calibrating monitors for over seventeen years. He’s been through the transitions from SD to HD, tape and film to file based, and now 4K and HDR. Post facilities from all over the world rely on his expertise and knowledge of monitors to get the most consistent and accurate monitoring possible. High end home theater owners also use his services to get great looking images at home. And seeing both sides of each situation gives him a great perspective on the industry as a whole.
On this podcast, we talk about:
- How HDR is changing the approach to calibration
- The differences between calibrating by the numbers and when to go with your instincts
- The HP Dreamcolor, Eizo, and other computer monitors for color critical evaluation
- Room lighting considerations when setting up a grading room
- Comparing OLED, plasma, LCD monitors
- Considerations for large size client monitors used in combination with hero monitors
- Projects that are destined for web distribution and how to monitor for them
- Where the future is going for monitoring and what they still are lacking
This episode is sponsored by:
Colorist Society International
For more information on how you can become a member, visit, www.coloristsociety.com.
and by:
Use the coupon code “josh15” for 15% off the first term of any Premium Color library subscription.
In this video, I give my impression of the new Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel. This new panel was released about 3 weeks ago and it's a significant change from their massive "Advanced" panel in size and in price. I found plenty of things to be excited about with the panel, as well as some things I was missing.
This review would not be possible without the support from Melrose Mac. If you're in the Los Angeles area, I'd highly recommend checking out a panel there.