By Randi Altman
The 10th season of the American Horror Story anthology series is American Horror Story: Double Feature, which premiered on FX in late August. This iteration, as the name suggests, is divided into two parts: Red Tide, which takes place by the water, and Death Valley, which takes place by the sand. Both stories provided happy challenges for the show’s colorist, Light Iron’s Jeremy Sawyer.
Jeremy Sawyer
We reached out to Sawyer to talk about his workflow on the series, whose cast includes Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Macaulay Culkin and Frances Conroy.
Let’s find out more…
How early did you get involved on this season?
I got involved about two weeks before shooting began. The show has a new DP this year, Andrew Mitchell, and we got started by talking about last season, the general workflow and setting some general looks for the dailies via a few creative LUTs.
Andrew has been my main contact regarding the look of the show. He generally takes stills from set, adjusts them to his liking and sends those stills to dailies. That general look is used as a guide throughout the process.
The look of the show has evolved since our first discussions, but the original ideas and direction are still intact. They wanted to convey a colder, starker reality with the look of the first story, but almost the opposite with the second, which they’ve just started shooting.
Can you describe the look of this new season?
The first story is a bit bleached and more harsh than real life. “Silvery” and “pewter” are two words that are brought up frequently. The bleached and contrasty feel is like old photos on matte paper.
Speaking very generally, they wanted to make sure that daylight scenes didn’t feel “normal.” The daylight exteriors were mostly shot in Cape Cod, with big blue skies and lots of spring greenery that all needs to be dulled way down and bleached. The sets also had a very weathered feel to them.
The second part of the story is modern-day, full-color, glam, beautiful — think very glossy photographs and shiny paper. The second story very intentionally stands by itself and really has no connection color-wise to the first story.
What was it shot on, and what did you color on?
The show shoots on Sony Venice cameras with Panavision Primo primes and zooms, with the occasional use of a DJI drone. I use Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve for final color work.
What were some of the more challenging scenes?
I haven’t seen anything yet from the second story outside of dailies, but the biggest challenges with the first story have been the bright daylight exteriors in beautiful locations that we’ve needed to bring way down. It can be tricky sometimes to manipulate the images so much while still trying to keep them somewhat natural and photographic.
American Horror Story tells a new story each season, but does Ryan Murphy have a look that he likes to keep throughout? Any rules to adhere to?
I’ve never heard any specific thoughts about that, but in true anthology fashion, each season is very different. I’ve been involved in Seasons 9 and 10, and in terms of the look, one has absolutely nothing to do with the other.
Assuming, like the other seasons, that there is a lot of blood?
The color in the first story is very desaturated and bleached, so blood tends to look pretty dark. Whenever there is blood in a scene, we always take a second look to make sure it doesn’t appear fake. The color red is definitely part of the first story. There are some very specific red items that come and go throughout the storyline.
Can you talk about how your process changed from Season 9 to 10?
It’s been the same process, but with very different conversations and different results. Story always comes first. If the color doesn’t serve the purpose of helping to tell the story, it can easily become distracting. So in those early conversations before shooting starts, we talk about the story, the time period, the mood. Hopefully there are some details about production design and wardrobe. From all of this, a look develops and evolves — and for this season, a very different look has materialized.
Jeremy Sawyer
Some General Questions:
What inspires you as a colorist – museums, architecture, films, etc.?
Anything creative inspires me. Just walking or driving, I’ll see creative stuff that works its way into my brain. Graffiti, movie art, graphic design — I’m inspired by a lot of different things.
By the way, I feel like there are so many unbelievably good-looking TV shows out there. TV used to be the realm of “how fast can you get this done?” Now, though, I see shows all the time that definitely have not been rushed. I’m constantly inspired and blown away by other colorists.
Are you sometimes asked to do more than just color on projects?
No, I focus on color.
You have been busy with projects even during the shutdown. Can you talk about working remotely or in a bubble of sorts?
When production shut down in the spring of 2020, post kept going. At first, we went all-remote, and some colorists thrived setting up their computers and monitors in a spare bedroom. I tried, but for my own sanity, I felt better doing my work at work, so as soon as I was able to get back into the facility, I did.
How do you prefer the DP or director to describe the look they want? Physical examples?
I always prefer for the DP or anyone who will be involved in the final grade to come into the facility and sit with me so we can look at images on the same monitor in the same environment. That way, as we talk about things, I can make adjustments in front of them. This helps the conversation and helps to evolve the look. Again, color correction is there to serve the show and the people who are responsible for making it. I think the most efficient way to get on the same page with the decision-makers is to be in the same room together.
Any suggestions for getting the most out of a project from a color perspective?
Be involved in as many conversations with the decision-makers as you can be. We don’t usually have the luxury of time for do-overs, so you want to get things right from the get-go.
What’s your favorite part of color grading?
Seeing it all come together. Being a part of the conversation. Helping storytellers tell their stories.
Randi Altman is the founder and editor-in-chief of postPerspective. She has been covering production and post production for more than 20 years.
