Yoomin Lee is a colorist at Company 3 London, a global company providing post services across feature films, episodic television, commercials, gaming and more. “The freedom to work on all sorts of projects, big or small, is a major thing that attracts talent to work for them,” Lee says.

We reached out to Lee to find out more about how she works and what inspires her.

As a colorist, what would surprise people the most about what falls under that title?
Most people think I’m a hairdresser when I say I’m a colorist, so it surprises them that my job exists.

Are you sometimes asked to do more than just color on projects?
Alongside color, sometimes I’m asked to do some compositing. Beauty work, cleaning and giving some texture to images are also common in color grading. Our tools have become so powerful that they allow us to do so much with them.

What are some recent projects you’ve worked on?
The Louis Vuitton Speakers and Earphones films for Jacob Sutton, Anton Corbijn’s feature film Squaring the Circle, L’Occitane’s global campaign “Art of Gifting” and the 2023 Waitrose Christmas campaign directed by Autumn De Wilde.

How do you prefer to work with the DP/director?
Ideally, I like to work with them in person, as it allows us to build relationships and interact in real time. However, as times have changed, remote working has become more popular and is another tool in our arsenal to collaborate with filmmakers.

How do you prefer the DP or director to describe the look they want? Physical examples, film to emulate, etc.?
Rather than verbal recommendations, visual references help me understand the base of what the client is looking for. From there, we can work together to build out the piece of work.

After working together on several projects, it becomes easier over time as you understand their vision and become familiar with their taste.

Do you have any suggestions for getting the most out of a project from a color perspective?
It’s always helpful when clients are clear about what they want; however, I think leaving some room to explore in color-grading sessions is good. Sometimes, we get a shot-by-shot reference from clients, which could limit what you can achieve because it’s hard to judge if that is the best approach until you see something different or better.

Do you provide LUTs for on-set?
Sometimes, if requested, but we tend to be more generic rather than extreme so that it works for most shots.

How does your process change when working on a film versus episodics or commercials?
With long-form, I tend to spend more time creating the basic overall look rather than finessing shot by shot too much, whereas with commercials, we have more time to finesse the details.

What system do you work on?
I use both FilmLight Baselight and Blackmagic Resolve.

What’s your favorite part of color grading?
That would be creating beautiful images, taking an ordinary picture and bringing life to it. No two days are the same.

Why did you choose this profession?
One of the main reasons is that I love bringing life to images. However, I also like that it’s technical as well as creative. It’s such a satisfying thing to see the transformation of the projects after color grading.

I only found out the role of a colorist existed when I started working as a junior in a post company, and I have been fascinated since then.

What would you be doing if you didn‘t have this job?
I would likely have become an architect. Shapes and forms of buildings tell stories, and architecture can be visually pleasing. There are synergies with being a colorist.

What is the project that you are most proud of?
“The Joshua Tree” 30th anniversary concert visuals for U2. It was a joy to participate in this project and to see the visuals live on the 200-foot-wide screen behind the legendary U2 in 39 cities worldwide.

Where do you find inspiration? Art? Photography? Instagram?
Everywhere! Anything visual has been my inspiration: photography, paintings and films. Over the years, since I became a colorist, I have observed more how light changes at different times of the day all over the world.

Is there a film or show that sticks out to you as an example of amazing color?
There are so many, but most recently, I saw Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and color-graded by my colleague at Company 3, Greg Fisher, and it looked amazing.

Can you name some technology you can’t live without?
Like many others, my phone allows me to take snapshots of inspiration and look through different social media channels to find inspiration. Still, I’m pretty good at spending only a little time on Instagram and social media.

What do you do to de-stress from it all?
I don’t have a television at home, mainly because I’m scared to see things I graded look differently on a domestic monitor. Still, I’m in front of a monitor all day long, so while I’m at home, I’m trying to avoid the environment that surrounds me at work. I’m trying to live an analog life as much as I can.