By Randi Altman
Watch our Meet the Artist Video Chat Here.
Andrea Chlebak is a senior colorist at Harbor in Los Angeles. She works on episodic television and feature films, partnering with directors, DPs and showrunners along the way. She recently collaborated with director Adrian Lyne on the feature Deep Water, is currently finishing up The Girl From Plainville and, after a well-earned vacation, is starting on a Netflix feature called Happiness for Beginners.
The Girl From Plainville
Her path to the colorist suite started in the film lab. Well, it was actually more film lab-adjacent. “I didn’t work in the lab, but I worked a lot with the people from the lab — the artists and timers – and I learned all about color timing. When the company shifted into a digital intermediate company, they purchased Arrilasers and a FilmLight Baselight. I looked at that setup and said, ‘That’s where I want to be.’”
Chlebak quickly worked her way up from junior colorist to colorist, starting on classic color systems like Lustre and Pablo, but finding her stride on FilmLight Baselight. She went from there to where she is today, working with the likes of Lyne, who just completed his first film that employed a digital grade. He loved it, she says. Lyne is known for offerings such as Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal — serious films with morality at the center of the story. “I learned very quickly that the last time he had done color was color timing in a film lab, and that was a number of years ago,” she says.
Deep Water director Adrian Lyne
Chlebak and Lyne had to develop a language, talking about printer lights and then translating that back into the digital realm. “It was fun to rejump the process again,” she says. “There were some really interesting things that Adrian wanted to do or change or not change. It kind of brought me back to the roots of filmmaking. I also worked with DP Eigil Bryld, who has a wealth of experience. He and I share a love for the darkness. In fact, he called me the Queen of Darkness throughout the process, and I love that because I’m not afraid to allow the images to be dark for storytelling.”
I recently spoke to Chlebak for a new segment we are calling “Meet the Artist.” Over our 30-minute conversation, we touched on how she started in the industry, working remotely, getting back into the grading suite, mentoring other female artists and more.
You can watch our conversation here.
