Writer/director Christopher Kahunahana’s Waikiki looks past the beauty of Hawai’i and paints “a vulnerable and authentic portrait of indigeneity” that represents Hawaii’s indigenous women’s struggles with mental health issues and abuse.
To help with the film’s look, Kahunahana called on post house Nice Shoes to provide the film’s DI, which was completed during the COVID lockdown — with colorist Maria Carretero grading on Blackmagic Resolve in New York, while producer Katie Hinsen was in Los Angeles and the director was in Hawai’i. The idea behind the color grading of the film was to show the full range of the colors of Hawaii and to depict a more realistic representation than had been previously portrayed on screen. It was shot by Ryan Miyamoto mostly on Red cameras, with a few shots via Sony a7s.
Carretero experimented with the look, initially using broad strokes before refining every pass and pushing every image in pursuit of the emotional expression of the story.
The team collaborated over a secure, color-accurate video link, a technique that Nice Shoes has developed over a decade for advertising clients and has now refined to meet both the challenges of the pandemic and the unique needs of filmmakers and studios.
Let’s find our more from Carretero and Kahunahana…
Have you worked with Christopher Kahunahana before? If not, how did this project come about?
Carretero: This is the first time that Christopher and I collaborated. I have to say that it had been a pleasure working with him on this one. This film is special — not only the story, but the picture was absolutely stunning (great work by DP Ryan Miyamoto). And the freedom that Chris gave me was a total gift. He wasn’t just looking for someone to perform a task; he was seeking a partnership with an artist to shape the look of the film. I feel we had a collaborative, communicative relationship, and I had a blast coloring this with him.
Maria Carretero
What was the brief for the grade on this project?
Carretero: Total freedom. He told me “this is the story, let’s enjoy this!” The story really drove the creative, as did the importance of showing the place as it really looks and feels for those who live there.
Were there any particularly interesting techniques applied in order to achieve the end result?
Carretero: I worked a lot with metadata directly from the camera. This was produced as a low-budget independent film, and the DP didn’t always have a lot of lights. I would look at the raw media to see the intention on set, then adjust the settings to improve exposure, skin tones and other settings so that I had as much clean latitude as possible before I began the artistic side of the work. After that, I could contribute to the story fully through the color, without any technical barriers.
Did the unique nature of Hawaiian culture cause you to approach this project any differently to how you usually would do? If so, how?
Carretero: We usually see Hawai’i as paradise. It’s a picture of the perfect paradise for vacations in film, television and advertising. But there is an overlooked and untold history of the indigenous population.
Christopher’s story really opened up my understanding beyond the stereotypical Hawai’i that’s often presented to people, and I think it’s incredibly important for that story to be told. The fact that this society was colonized, the kind of abuses that the native people endured and how that reflects in the actual behavior. How the resulting culture has the potential to inhibit healthy relationships amongst society, and the frustration that this reflects on the individuals and the ways that they try to escape from these ugly situations. How some cultures that have deep roots in the relationship with nature clash with cultures rooted in urban or suburban life.
It stresses how important it is to embrace nature as one of the most important facets of our existence, and how we need to take action on climate change.
So I would say it stirred up a passion in my approach: to do justice in the color grading of the film to these complex cultural and historical elements that Christopher built his film around.
You worked remotely through the pandemic with the director in Hawai’i. Did you have any creative challenges?
Carretero: We worked remotely collaborating over a secure, color-accurate link while talking via video chat. It’s a technique that our team has developed over a decade for advertising clients, and it was refined to meet the challenges of the pandemic and the unique needs of filmmakers and studios. Things ran very smoothly.
Chris was usually in his office in the early morning on a leafy open patio in Waikiki, while I was in New York. I am always going to miss the natural confrontation of having a group of people in your grading suite, that kind of feedback, the conversation, the laughs … There is no link in the world that can replace that. However, this opened up the opportunity for Chris and I to collaborate. I think there are even more opportunities than before for artists to connect now that we’re all working remotely, and that’s exciting. But I’d still love to meet Christopher in person and enjoy the success of this film over a glass of wine.
What are you most proud of with this particular project?
Carretero: This project is one of the first long-form projects from Nice Shoes’ new DI department. Katie Hinsen, our executive producer, and I share the motivation for being part of projects where the idea, the passion and the creativity are everything. I think Waikiki is one of them, and an amazing way to introduce our team to the film and episodic market.
Looking back, if you could change one thing about this project what would it be, and why?
Carretero: I wish I could have more time, lol. Features always have tight deadlines, so being the kind of perfectionist-pain-in-the-ass colorist that I am, I always wish to have more time.
How has Nice Shoes DI’s workflow for feature films developed during the pandemic, and how did it impact this film?
Carretero: At Nice Shoes we have pretty cool remote setups with streaming in real time. During the pandemic we improved our capacity for communication with the clients, so we were able to stream realtime no matter the length of the piece.
We also supplied a ton of information to the engineering and pipeline team, updating them frequently about the specific needs of digital intermediate. I think between our artists, producers, pipeline and support team, we’re well-equipped to make our clients feel comfortable that they’ll be in great hands and receiving service that exceeds their expectations.
Christopher, what were your thoughts for the look of the film? How did you develop it further with Maria? How did the creative direction evolve during the grading process?
Kahunahana: Within the narrative of Waikiki, we purposefully blurred the lines between flashbacks and real time as well as imagination and reality. The blurring of these lines can very easily become muddled. The nuance involved in accurately presenting these blurred realities was greatly impacted by Maria’s taste level and expertise. She was able to provide amazing insight throughout the creative process and really helped tell the story I wanted to tell.
Christopher Kahunahana
Did any films influence the look?
Kahunahana: While I am inspired by so many amazing films, for this specific project, I chose to be true to the colors of Hawai’i. Hawai’i has a full range of colors, yet only the pretty ones are ever depicted. It was important to me that the colors I see daily here in Hawaii, but have never seen on screen, were represented.
Did you find anything interesting about the techniques used by Maria or her process?
Kahunahana: I really appreciated Maria’s approach to start with working on the broad strokes and then refining with every pass — experimenting and pushing the image before letting the story dictate where each look should land. The magic definitely reveals itself through successive passes. She also is tireless in her pursuit of the emotional expression through the image. Maria is precise.
How was the experience of working remotely?
Kahunahana: Working remotely presented many challenges and took much longer than if we were coloring in live sessions. From not knowing how accurate my monitor was to the lighting changes in our environment. While Maria always worked in the same room brightness and because I work in an outdoor/indoor setting, the lighting constantly changed, and we needed to control for this difference as much as possible.
Tell us about how the look of the film contributes to the character of Hawai’i itself. How does it define Waikiki and differentiate the portrayal of Hawaii from what’s usually seen on screen?
Kahunahana: We wanted to play upon people’s perceptions, at first reinforcing them and then pulling the veil from their eyes. There are a few sequences early in the film where we made the decision to mimic the usual depictions of Waikiki through the luminosity and intensity of the scenes — grading them more vibrant and saturated and making the viewer familiar and comfortable. We then could present the same Waikiki through the eyes of the main character as more of a menacing presence than a relief. The eternal construction, which is usually depicted as growth and positive, if unattainable becomes much more psychologically devastating.
What were some of the biggest challenges you had to overcome while creating the look of this film with Maria?
Kahunahana: Technically, because we shot with multiple cameras and profiles, it was difficult to sometimes match the various cameras. On an artistic level, not being in the same room with Maria sometimes didn’t allow for the shorthand, non-verbal understanding that naturally develops between artists. Communicating remotely isn’t something I’m used to.
What is your favorite scene now that it’s graded? What scene really stands out to you?
Kahunahana: My favorite scene is the final hula noho, where Kea performs a traditional Hawaiian song taught to children. The scene was always intended to be emotional, but Maria’s grade really upped the level of poetic disassociation. The richness and depth of the color, the saturation and the contrast makes the scene more dramatic and a powerful ending statement.
