Light Iron colorist Sam Daley, who works on both features and episodics, joined the company’s New York facility in 2021. His television credits include the series Life & Beth, Succession and The Sinner, and his feature credits include Scenes From a Marriage, The Florida Project and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

This year Daley worked on the indie films Fairyland and Earth Mama, both of which were shown at Sundance. The films are set in California’s Bay Area and are period pieces of sorts. Earth Mama takes place in the early 2000s and follows a young, pregnant mother who’s trying to win back custody of her children after they’ve been put in foster care.

Fairyland is a coming-of-age tale about a young girl who moves to San Francisco with her father after her mom passes away. We watch her grow up throughout the 1970s and ’80s and see their relationship evolve while he lives as an openly gay man.

Let’s find out more about his work on these films…

How early did you get involved on these films, and how did that help? 
I started working on Earth Mama, which was written and directed by Savanah Leaf, during preproduction and was involved in all the camera tests. I work with DP Jody Lee Lipes quite often, so he and I have developed a routine for how we start projects. He likes a very specific style of LUT, and I will modify it for whatever camera he’s using. I worked with the Kodak lab that was doing the film processing and dailies to make sure whatever Jody shot looked the way he intended.

I’ve also worked with Fairyland DP Greta Zozula on a few shorts before, but this was the first feature we’d done together. I was brought in at the beginning of production and had a conversation with the director during the first week to make sure we were on the same page. This film was written and directed by Andrew Durham.

While I’ve worked with both Greta and Jody before, there was something particularly exciting about these films because they’re both feature directorial debuts. Both directors also have personal ties to the films, which makes it that much cooler.

What direction were you given on the film(s)? Did you get a look book? ? 
Savanah and Andrew are both photographers, so that was helpful in understanding what they were envisioning.

For Earth Mama, Savanah took some mood pictures on film early on. She had them processed and scanned and then shared the photos with Jody. The images looked textured and raw, which Jody loved, so that became the model for how we wanted the story to look.

For Fairyland, Andrew provided several photo references, then Greta and I decided how best to translate Andrew’s vision into the color grade.

How do you prefer getting this info on your projects, generally?
I don’t have a preference. However the filmmaker wants to communicate their vision is fine with me. Sometimes I’ll receive photography lookbooks or frame grabs from movies, but there have also been instances when I’ve only received text descriptions.

How do you prefer to work with the DP/director? How often do you show them your work? 
I have a very specific process, but I’m able to adapt it to the client’s needs. I do a continuity pass on the movie before anyone sits in the room with me to make sure all the exposures and color temperatures match. After my continuity pass, I create different looks based on the references and my conversations with the filmmakers. Once this is done, then we’ll sit down together and go through different looks. I get their feedback on what they like best and then make changes based on their notes. Then we’ll go scene by scene and fine-tune before our final watch down.

Can you give an example of a note you got about the color? 
Andrew Durham was very specific about making sure the tones in Fairyland remained cool. The film takes place in California, which people tend to associate with warm colors, but he was clear that we should avoid “warming up” the shots, whether for nostalgia purposes or for representing the daylight in San Francisco.

What were some challenging scenes? 
In Fairyland, the film starts in 16mm and then transitions to ARRI Alexa footage. We had a lot of conversations on how we were going to transition between the two formats without it feeling like too abrupt of a change. We were challenged with creating a seamless transition from 16mm to Alexa that felt organic and signaled a time jump in the film, but not necessarily a format change.

What system did you use, and is there a tool in the system you found yourself using a lot? 
I used DaVinci Resolve 17. My “secret weapon” is a dehaze feature that removes haze from scenes where there’s too much fog or the lens is getting flared. I’ve found a way to incorporate it into my grade using a subtle amount to make images pop.