Nikola Stefanović, who is head of color at The Mill Shanghai, has worked in the film and television industry for more than 20 years. He started as a 3D/motion graphic artist in 1998 at National Broadcast Corporation of Serbia and later transitioned to video editor working on spots before falling in love with color grading.
We reached out to The Mill Shanghai‘s Stefanović to find our more…
As a colorist, what would surprise people the most about what falls under that title?
Nowadays, the scope of a colorist’s responsibilities is wide and ever-changing, depending on industry and market. But the fine art of managing expectations and egos a in room full of people with different ideas is an aspect that many aspiring colorists find challenging.
Has your job evolved at all beyond color?
It’s not surprising that with evolution of grading tools, some responsibilities have shifted to the colorist. I often work on VFX-heavy projects with numerous alpha mattes per shot, so fine-tuning composites or relighting elements is expected. I get multiple CG passes to overlay on top of live images sometimes for look dev or for final output. Image texture, grain and film emulation toolset is now very sophisticated thanks to the new generation of AI tools for scaling, retiming and style transfer, so taking care of operations order and image fidelity evaluation is more important than ever.
What are some recent projects you’ve worked on?
Some of my recent work includes the “Soar Beyond the Expected” campaign for Martell Cordon Bleu with director Wing Shya and DP Jimmy Yu; JDCNY with director Reynald Gresset and DP Óttar Guðnason and featuring freestyle skier Eileen Gu; and the Golden Boy feature film with director Ognjen Janković and DP Luka Milićević about a talented but problematic football player.
How do you prefer to work with the DP/director?
Ideally, fast (laughs). I like to be familiar with the goals of the film but also with the challenges. It’s beneficial when you get introduced to a project with a clear and concise brief without mystification. For feature films, it’s nice when you can create in-camera LUTs for on-set monitoring.
JDCNY
What about for the look? Do you like physical examples? Film to emulate?
Everything is in play these days. A simple chat about recently watched films, TV shows or music videos can quickly align pop culture references and establish a starting point. Screenshots with specific elements of style are also helpful. For narrative and long form, it’s important that the colorist understands mood or emotion.
Any suggestions for getting the most out of a project from a color perspective?
Keep collaboration fun, and don’t expect that everyone involved has exactly the same taste and sensibility as you. Be open for suggestions and experiment. Keep in mind that a colorist will not replace a lack of art direction and good cinematography.
What system do you work on?
FilmLight Baselight with Blackboard 2 and a Sony X300 screen or Christie projector.
Martell
What’s your favorite part of color grading?
When you get to work on a nice project with longtime collaborators, and the brief is something you feel is appropriate.
Do you have a least favorite?
When after two rounds of brightening film up, a client will ask if we could brighten everything even more.
Why did you choose this profession? How early on did you know this would be your path?
I was into editing, compositing and CG before, but when I realized that results in color grading are instantaneous — that you don’t need to wait minutes or hours to see the result — I decided to follow that path. There are also certain dynamics around the job, and you get to meet and collaborate with people from all around the world.
If you didn’t have this job, what would you be doing instead?
That is tricky question. Definitely visual arts, but maybe cinematography or directing.
What is the project that you are most proud of?
Probably the independent Serbian sci-fi feature film A.I. Rising, which I graded few years ago.
A.I. Rising
Where do you find inspiration? Art? Photography? Instagram?
While I’m working, my biggest inspiration is definitely music. I’m trying to stay in line with music video and photography trends, but comic book and graphic novel styles are also very interesting for me. There is an insane amount of TV show content these days, and some of them look really good — like Winning Time on HBO.
Any tips or tricks you would like to offer up?
Don’t obsess with technical specs, computers or cameras. Pay attention to art and craft and how to articulate all that for yourself first, then for others. Help less experienced people if you can.
Can you name technology you can’t live without?
Corrective eyeglasses — even though my prescription is mild, I can’t stand any visual imperfections. Also AirPods — it’s hard to imagine life without these. And a pen-input interface — it doesn’t matter if it’s Baselight, Photoshop or iPad Pro, the pen is still irreplaceable for visual artists.
What do you do to de-stress from it all?
I used to swim and cycle before, but for the past few years, it’s been mostly squash.
