Tag Archives: Senior Colorist

Mark Horrobin

Colorist Chat: Creative Outpost’s Mark Horrobin Talks Path and Light

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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.”

Mark Horrobin

Mark Horrobin

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.”

Mark Horrobin

Range Rover, directed by Bugsy Steel

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.

Fosters, directed by James Rouse

“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.

Mark Horrobin

Vashi

“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.”

Range Rover

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

Growing Up

DP and Colorist on Disney+ Docuseries Growing Up

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New York’s Nice Shoes provided post finishing for Growing Up, the new hybrid docu-drama series from creators Brie Larson and Culture House, now streaming on Disney+. Senior Colorist Sal Malfitano collaborated with cinematographer Christine Ng in finalizing the look of the show, which tells the true stories of young people taking on the challenges, triumphs and complexities of adolescence. Nice Shoes ultimately delivered final color in both DolbyVision and SDR for each episode.

Growing Up

Cinematographer Christine Ng

Each of the 10 half-hour episodes tells the coming-of-age story of a single individual “hero.” The stories are told through interviews, archival media and creative dramatizations of pivotal moments in their past.

The show’s emotional and unique storytelling style are what drew Ng to the project. “The opportunity to help visualize the struggles of these young people was exciting,” she says. “And the show’s format presented interesting creative opportunities, especially through its use of magical realism. Making those moments feel emotional, evocative and visually immersive was demanding and fun.”

Ng captured most of the show with ARRI Alexa Mini and Amira cameras but shot certain flashback scenes with a Super 8mm film camera to give them a different textural quality. She worked with production designer Emmeline Wilks-Dupoise and lighting designer Alexa Mignon Harris to develop textured color schemes and moody lighting to enhance moments of magical realism and dreamy interviews.

“We used color to explore different themes for each character,” she explains. “We employed golden tones to convey hope and darker, red tones when subjects were going through hard times. Interview segments were shot against a circular backdrop that gave them a dreamy effect, as if we were entering the person’s subconscious. The color palette was peachy and soft.”

That sophisticated color was refined during post grading sessions at Nice Shoes. Ng recalls that Malfitano, who worked on Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, immediately understood her aesthetic. “I shared the look book I created when I pitched the show with Sal so that he got the vibe,” she recalls. “We then talked through the show, episode by episode, and broke it down into its components. The cinema verité parts have a modern, clean, digital look while the recreations are more colorful and saturated.”

Malfitano says that the varying color treatments help guide the viewer throughthe show’s changes in perspective and shifts in time. “We used color in subtle ways to distinguish the narrative scenes from the memory flashbacks,” he explains. “We left the interview segments flatter and less contrasty.”

He adds that the grading sessions were intense and detailed but also very rewarding. “It was essential that I was live grading with Christine in the room,” he says. “There were so many formats and styles of visual storytelling that we needed to work through each scene together. We weren’t starting from scratch, but we looked for every opportunity to make it better.”

Ng says that she is thrilled with the show’s finished look, and she credits that to the emotional investment she and Malfitano brought to it. “Sal has kids, and he looked at these stories from a parent’s point of view,” she notes. “He could relate to what these young people were going through. He has an empathic lens. That’s the same way I feel when I pick up a camera. I want the viewer to feel they are immersed in the story.”

 

Ayumi Ashley

Rare Medium Adds Ayumi Ashley as Senior Colorist

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NYC-based boutique color studio Rare Medium has added Ayumi Ashley as senior colorist. Ashley brings over a decade of industry experience to her new role, notably co-founding top finishing facility Mission Film & Design in 2015. While there, she worked with brands such as Google, Dropbox and Facebook, as well as agencies including BBDO, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and VMLY&R.

I could not find an advertising agency called Y&R in my online search. I believe it may be VMLY&R, but that’ll need verification.

From there, Ashley moved on to Ntropic, embracing every opportunity to work with big brands, agencies, visionary directors, DPs and musical artists. She joins Rare Medium having collaborated on projects for Spotfiy, Cole Haan starring Hasan Minhaj and YouTube Music starring Billie Eilish and Rosalía.

Her work has been screened at Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca, and her projects frequently appear as Vimeo Staff Picks. An active member of the community, she has spoken at NAB Show and is a member of both IATSE Local 700 Motion Picture Editors Guild and Colorist Society International.

In the year ahead, Ashley, who uses Blackmagic’s Resolve, will be playing an active role in establishing Rare Medium as a key player in color grading.

“I’ve always gotten along with colorists,” she says. “There’s something about the kind of person the job attracts: usually quite social but also happy to keep to themselves, a strong point of view without demanding the spotlight, a certain balance of nerdiness and an easygoing attitude. Paradoxically, color is a relatively lonely job. There isn’t a lot of opportunity for colorists to collaborate or exchange ideas unless they go out of their way to do so… and it turns out that’s exactly what I was seeking.”

She adds, “When I was presented with the opportunity to share a roster with two colorists [Fergus McCall and Mikey Rossiter] whom I not only utterly respect but also love to share a meal with, it was an easy decision. Beyond the founders — Fergus, Mikey and Heath Raymond  — the small but mighty staff packs a punch, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to join such an exciting shop just after its initial launch.”

“We will always try to be observant of young, different and established talent that wants to be part of our team,” reports Rossiter, partner/senior colorist. “Central to our ethos is appreciating the complexity and breadth of visual imagery, and a technical love of the color process. Anyone that agrees with us and wants to join a nimble, flexible, collaborative team will be on our radar.”

 

 

Senior Colorist Rory Gordon Talks SMPTE Paper and Lovecraft Country

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By Randi Altman

Colorist Rory Gordon has always had an interest in photography. In fact, while studying at RIT’s School of Film and Animation she focused on cinematography in addition to imaging and processing/technical courses. It was that overlap of art and science that drew her in.

Currently a senior colorist/color theorist at LA’s Arsenal, she is continuing that path, testing workflows along with making good-looking television. She is also a SMPTE volunteer and this year will be presenting a paper called “The Color Compass: A Color Navigation System in a Dynamic Deliverable World.”

Rory Gordon color graded the HBO series Lovecraft Country.

“I got involved with SMPTE because I needed to find other deep-niche nerds with the same laser focus on color reproduction I could bounce ideas off,” explains Gordon. “Being able to just ping someone and ask, ‘Can you help me calculate this?’ or ‘Is there a metric for this thing I’m observing?’ is a huge relief. At a certain level, the questions we have aren’t really Google-able. It’s great to have a database of articles I can search but also real human beings to talk to. For example, Catherine Meininger at Portrait Displays helped me with some calculations I had in my 2020 paper.”

That paper focuses on a color navigation system, which is basically a tool (and a set of vocabulary) for communicating color needs that was developed using the same principles as chroma encoding. “Instead of simply saying “make this thing cooler” or “make this warmer,” the vocabulary in the color compass system allows people to specify how hue needs to change and whether it’s because of a creative desire or because a new LUT/incorrect monitor setting is leading to clipping errors. The simplest breakdown is, “Warmth and coolness have two axes. Let’s use both of them to describe hue more completely.”

We reached out to Gordon, whose credits include Lovecraft Country, Manhunt: Deadly Games, Raising Dion, Counterpart, The Tick, The Good Doctor and Waco, to find out more.

How did you move from cinematography to color grading?
Color was something that always felt like a good fit to me, and as I moved from on-set work toward being a colorist, I started to self-study some fundamentals like pre-calc and basic chemistry and physics — anything that had to do with the natural laws of light. I would find something interesting, it would be over my head, and then I’d go, “Well I guess I have to go learn this other thing first.”

I took a couple community college courses at PCC (Pasadena City College). I was working as a dailies operator and then dailies colorist, so my sleep schedule was tremendously strange; I think I found the constant studying and looking for tools to be very soothing while I was on edge every day waiting for a call time. At the time, I still didn’t think I was capable of being an anything-scientist, let alone a color scientist. I just genuinely love light and wanted to learn more about the reproduction of color.

How did being a cinematographer influence your work now?
I think starting in photography/cinematography is absolutely invaluable to the work I do now. I think I am very architectural in how I look at light, I ask, “How was this image assembled? What are the structurally important pieces of the picture? Does this pool of light draw my eye?” I take the pieces and try to emphasize what was intended and serve the original visual idea from set.

My set experience also allows me to imagine what would have been a challenge on set and what they might want to boost.

Rory Gordon in her Arsenal color suite

When did you join Arsenal, and how did your path there lead to color science?
I joined in 2012, and I’m very grateful that the team here really recognized and encouraged my aptitude for color workflow and testing in addition to calibration. I had worked with Randy Starnes when he was at Sony Colorworks doing dailies on shows he was finishing. He was extremely generous with his knowledge. After he joined Arsenal, he brought me along.

Larry Field, one of the founders/partners at Arsenal, encouraged me to become involved with clients’ increasing needs in HDR, including testing new LUTs and getting familiar with the components of them, EOTFs (nonlinear electro-optical transfer function) and the like. Colorfront’s Bill Feightner said to me, “You should check out the Barten contrast sensitivity function if you really want to see what’s in PQ (the HDR transfer function Perceptual Quantizer and standard SMPTE ST 2084).” And then I spent a year trying to read the book and fill in the gaps of my technical knowledge until I could understand it. I say it took me a year to read the first chapter.

In 2016, around the time I did my first work in HDR, I got the bug to write up some of my observations on how lighting ratios change between SDR and HDR. I presented a paper at SMPTE 2018, where David Long from RIT was my session chair, along with Sally Hattori, who was the co-chair. I had zero experience with technical writing at the time and they really helped me focus the data I collected.

They showed me how I could use my unique production experience as a valuable thing in itself, enhanced by data collection and the research process. This year I will be presenting my second paper. In 2020 I am almost comfortable calling myself a color scientist, although probably “applied color scientist” is more accurate.

Can you tell us more about your role at Arsenal?
At Arsenal, part of my job is to validate new builds of software in addition to new color-related hardware, like scopes, panels and monitors. Monitor calibration is another interest of mine, in addition to proofing and iterating workflows. I enjoy driving around new color science and sharing with the team.

But my primary responsibility is pushin’ pixels and color-grading gorgeous shows.

Where do you typically find inspiration?
I am inspired by a lot of different mediums, even physics, and how light happens in the real world. I love to listen to lectures I don’t understand. I love to garden. I also enjoy acrylic and gouache paintings and keeping up with concept artists and art directors in animation. My partner is a storyboard artist at DreamWorks, and I love seeing the work they are doing — color use in animation is so fun for me to experience.

Additionally, I love following makeup artists and seeing how folks are able to paint illusions of light directly on a face.

Lovecraft Country

Have you been working through COVID? If so, can you talk about working remotely and name some projects?
I am finishing up Lovecraft Country for HBO, which is airing Sunday nights at 9pm. I have been working on it for most of the pandemic and did the first passes from my home studio via a proxy workflow. It was shot by Rob McLachlan and Michael Watson, who are both truly wonderful photographers. The showrunner is Misha Green, who has a tremendous vision and an eye for detail that I really admire. I am extremely proud of the work I’ve done with all three of them and grateful we’ve been able to collaborate remotely. Arsenal has been doing remote sessions since 2012, so while the process had to evolve and mature, the groundwork was fairly well-laid.

I also did Manhunt: Deadly Games, which is being released on CBS. It premiered September 21st, shot by John Lindley, another fantastic DP.

How would you describe the look of Lovecraft Country? Did you work directly with the director and DP?
The look of Lovecraft Country is really in the negative already from Rob and Michael’s photography. The color is just being true to that and delivering the most rich, cinematic version possible. We also aimed for really immersive contrast that gives you deep texture without losing anything in compressed shadows, especially as a horror show with a lot of moody, atmospheric elements.

Lovecraft Country

Above all else, the look is badass skin tone, which is at the direction of showrunner Misha Green, who has an incredible eye for detail. As I’ve come to think of it, we wanted to see the blood pumping in everyone’s veins. We were very collaborative from the beginning of the camera test, and Rob, Michael and Misha were all very involved throughout the process.

There is such a marriage of the practical choices through post processing, from art and effects to lensing and lighting, I tried to play all of that up and really emphasize those decisions. For example, in Episode 8, Rob told me early on this would be the hottest day of the year, so we should “save a little heat” for that one. That was a very fun note to implement. It’s such a deep world that was built with such care, one simply doesn’t need to editorialize.

Any challenges or interesting tidbits about working on the show?
We didn’t begin our final passes with Misha until the pandemic and lockdown happened, so we set up a calibrated screening room for her in order to facilitate our screenings. By and large we had a very successful season working remotely. Really, once we figured out the phone etiquette for talking on speaker phone with two or three people in multiple locations, we were golden. Arsenal has been doing remote sessions since 2012.

What was it shot on, and what system did you use? How about your at-home studio during COVID?
The show was shot using the Sony Venice camera, which I’ve come to be extremely fond of. I work on Autodesk Lustre, but at this point the color correction software is really just a detail. I’m happy with any platform that allows me to handle material quickly and efficiently.

I installed blackout curtains on three out of four walls in my home office, which created a very nice little studio, and use the same monitor I work on at Arsenal (the Sony X310) and the same bias light we use in our color bays. I was able to test the client stream as well from Clearview Flex and check to see fidelity between that feed and the feed straight out of my box. This inspired a lot of confidence.

All these Lego pieces are the same as they were before COVID; we just had to take a breath and verify we had them in line properly from the home studio.

Rory’s home studio assistant

Over your time in the industry, have you seen the number of female colorists grow? If so, what do you think has happened to open that door to females and others?
All the female colorists I have encountered have been extremely supportive and open with sharing information and cheering each other on. I met Lynette Duensing, who is senior colorist at LA’s Instinctual, through Randy, and her guidance has been such a source of strength. In addition, watching how Lynette encourages mentees year after year and actively seeks out young folks is really inspiring. I am now connected with many of her other mentees, and it’s been wonderful to watch some of those relationships evolve from a formal mentor/mentee to “here’s another badass colleague who can stand on her own.”

I think as transparency about our differences increases, that enables the general workforce to stop “othering” people and placing them in only one box. Nobody wants to be “that woman colorist,” or insert any descriptor. We just want to be “that great colorist.” Yes, of course, people are different because they are XYZ, but if we can make way for folks to show up as they are instead of spending all their mental energy camouflaging, that can only make the work better and the process more enjoyable.

I think especially as a white woman with my own privilege, it’s my responsibility to make way for other minorities, and not only in small quantities. People need to be around humans that have shared experiences, so I think efforts like Renard Jenkins’ SMPTE Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are truly critical. It’s hard to be the only person of a certain kind somewhere. Actively pursuing more equity and greater pools of different backgrounds enables folks to let their guard down and learn better if they’re not alone. Everyone wins.

On that note if anyone is reading this and needs some guidance… please Google me and get in touch.

Don’t forget to tune in and watch Gordon present her paper during the SMPTE Technical Conference on Tuesday, November 10, 8:15pm–8:45pm UTC. Check out some other speakers and sessions here on the newly redesigned SMPTE website. This year’s conference theme is Game On, and a full day will be focused on the convergence of esports/gaming and media technology.

 

Quick Chat: Co3 senior colorist Greg Fisher talks ‘Spectre’

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By Randi Altman

Senior colorist Greg Fisher, who works out of Company 3’s London studio, teamed up with director Sam Mendes and director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema on the latest James Bond film, Spectre.

In typical Bond fashion this film is a great-looking roller coaster ride of action and sights. We recently had the opportunity to throw some questions at Fisher about his work on the film, which stars Daniel Craig as Bond.

Can you talk about working with Sam Mendes? Had you worked with him before?
No, we never worked together before. He definitely has a lot of visual ideas about what he wants the Bond films to look like. I enjoyed working with him.

How did you work with the DP on this film?

I worked closely with Hoyte [Van Hoytema]. He shot the movie mostly on 35mm film because he loves the look of film. Sometimes people want to suppress grain or particular facets of the look of film, but he wants to see all that. He loves it.

How early did he bring you on the film?
I came onboard about a year before we actually did the final color. Company 3 scanned all the film and did the digital dailies, and I was part of the process from the start. We built looks that could be applied in dailies.

As you mentioned, this was mostly a 35mm shoot. What else was it shot on?
It was 35mm spherical [super 35], anamorphic 35mm and Arri 65. We would get processed rolls of film and scan everything with the ArriScan scanners. The ArriRaw from the 65mm was processed by our dailies department, which set up near wherever the unit was shooting.
What was the workflow on this like? What direction were you given in terms of the look and feel?

Hoyte wanted to maintain the look and feel of film, even where he used the digital camera. The spherical scenes were shot that way to have a distinctly different look from the anamorphic portions, which are designed to feel more polished and classical. I worked in post to match the look of the Alexa 65 material to the anamorphic film shots.

Overall, we were looking for a kind of “creaminess,” but within that a clear distinction among the locations. Rome needed to feel warm and romantic. The Lair was uncomfortable and unnatural. Austria was colder, but not too blue and a little overcast. Mexico — hot, harsh and dusty.

What is your tool of choice, and what is it about that system that helps your creative process?
We’re a DaVinci Resolve company, so everybody uses it. I find it lets me do anything I want to and the way it’s laid out is very conducive to working quickly and being able to quickly make changes to very specific attributes of the frame.

Can you briefly describe your workflow for final color?
The basic primary grading is very important. That’s where you get the most out of the neg and balance the scenes. Other than that, it was the usual things, primary, log, curves, keys, windows and mattes.

SPECTRE

It was really wonderful that I was onboard from before they started shooting and was able to monitor the dailies and discuss them with Hoyte. By the time we got into the final grade, we were all on the same page.

Was there one particular scene that was more challenging on this one? Or a scene that you are most proud of?
Probably the “Day of the Dead” sequence. It happened to be one of the last scenes delivered by VFX. It is one of the stronger looks in the film and has hundreds of visual effects within it, so as the iterations arrived, they sometimes included big changes from the background plates or previous versions.

We thankfully had mattes where necessary, which helped me fine-tune the live action and the various plates in the theater. Resolve is very good at working with multiple mattes. Projects don’t always deliver separate mattes to the final color session but it’s always helpful when they do because the DI theater is really the first place you can see the whole image projected in context.

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You can follow Company 3 on Twitter @Company3.