Growing up on a farm in the large, open spaces of the Australian Outback has had a big influence on Creative Outpost’s new senior colorist, Mark Horrobin. It not only gives him inspiration in his work, but it drives the types of grading he likes to work on. “I like wide-open spaces, mountain views and vast skies,” he confirms. “The things I like to grade the most are big, epic genres like car commercials, where they’ve shot automobiles driving around in crazy, beautiful landscapes. And I find inspiration from being outside with nature, seeing untouched, natural and beautiful things.”

Horrobin didn’t grow up dreaming of being a colorist. In fact, he wanted to be a journalist, but a year into university, he realized it wasn’t for him. After finishing his degree and a spot of mining (don’t ask), he packed his bag and headed off to discover the world, ending up in London. Calling the only English guy he knew, who just happened to work at a post company, he managed to land himself a job there.

“I knew nothing about post production,” he says. “Literally zero. But, as fate would have it, a runner had resigned the day before, and they gave me the job. And, suddenly, this whole new world opened up in front of me.”

That post company was MPC, and that’s where he met Quentin “Q” Olszewski and Danny Etherington, Creative Outpost’s co-founders. “They were in the class of runners before me. They’d just been promoted to videotape assistants as I started running. I worked hard, got promoted and then met the person who made me realize what path I wanted to take.”

While working in the machine room, Horrobin was asked to do a screening for a visitor, who then handed him a tape to play. “I put it in, lights down, volume up and what I saw blew my mind. I had no idea you could make pictures look as arty and beautiful as that. It was at that point that I knew I wanted to learn from this guy. His name is Jean-Clément Soret, and I later learned they were trying to recruit him as a colorist. Luckily for me, he took the job.”

Horrobin became Soret’s assistant. The work started coming in, and Soret started grading some of the top projects in London. “So I grew up with this exposure to his French way of working, which was a bit revolutionary on the London scene, and I got to spend a lot of hours looking at high-end, beautiful work. I made a point of learning as much as I possibly could from him, and that’s how I learned my craft.”

The 14-Year Itch
After 14 years at MPC, Horrobin moved to Smoke & Mirrors (now Tag Arts Collective), where he spent another 14 years setting up and running the grading department. “I guess I get the 14-year itch, which is why I decided to make my recent move to Creative Outpost with Danny and Q. When they told me they were looking to get serious about the grading side of the business, it seemed like a great opportunity to work with people I know and build something meaningful,” he says.

“Q and I did some real pioneering on remote grading workflows over a mobile phone network in 2010, long before remote work was a thing.  Creative Outpost puts remote work front and center, which suits my particular situation perfectly.  I’m very much looking forward to fine-tuning this side of things.” 

When it comes to Horrobin’s approach to a piece of work, it’s the storytelling and the light that drives and guides him. “I didn’t have any kind of creative background, yet there’s something about taking a picture, layering certain things into it and improving it to tell a story that really floats my boat,” he says. “I love that part of the process.”

Looking at the Light
“For me, the best work is where you’re following and respecting the light. I play around and just feel where the light wants to be,” he says. “When you start to work with something, there’s an intuitive direction that you feel the material wants to head toward. And, within that parameter, you still have options. You can start to play around with levels of contrast, darkening certain areas and highlighting others. And you can start to add a little bit of what you think is going to pull the attention into the right areas of the images.

“What is tricky is when the direction of the brief changes because when you start pulling away from the light or pushing against the light, you’ve got to dig deep to keep it looking stylish and to give it some integrity.”

Evolution of Color
A lot has changed in the grading craft since Horrobin started out, and he still misses some of the old-school solutions. “It’s unrecognizable to when I started,” he explains. “The transition from analog to digital has been huge. It’s had a massive effect on how everything is made, and it’s also somehow democratized the process. Before, there was a little bit of voodoo, and it was a very bespoke discipline.”

He misses the loss of discipline. “Because it’s all-digital now, you can just make copies and get another take. Whereas previously, decisions had to be made. They were very thoughtful decisions,” he says. “They weren’t made lightly, and once they were made, people stuck by them. There was a serious discipline to the whole process.”

He points to LUTs that will take you to a particular look. “I do find with a lot of the younger generation coming through, that’s their go-to,” he says. “They add one of those and then work around that, whereas the old-school solution is to work with the light, understand the material that you’re working with and build a solid foundation, and then everything else will fall into place. That approach is just as pertinent when I was working on film as it is today.”

Horrobin says his approach won’t change at Creative Outpost, and he’s looking forward to growing the opportunities for the grading department. “I’ll be using the same tools, and every picture has its singular creative opportunities. I really want to build a respected grading department that hopefully contributes both to growing all other areas of picture creation and to securing high-end work.  With that work will come a greater creative outlet.”

A Good Fit
The culture and ethos at Creative Outpost also played an important part in Horrobin’s decision to make the move, as did the opportunity to manage, motivate and mentor its young talent. “One of the things I am most proud of throughout my career is how much young talent I have mentored. The hours are challenging, but the key to morale on my team has always been transparency and availability.  When things are tough, you need to be at the center of it with everyone else. I’m always available for training and advice, and I find it becomes a two-way street — when I need something out of the ordinary, people are happy to oblige.”

Main Image: Vashi