The Colorist Society and International Colorist Academy (iColorist) marked the passing of 2021 with an upbeat virtual Mixer featuring a terrific line-up of speakers, tons of great prizes, and a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends. Colorists and others from around the world logged into the 6-hour Zoom event, held December 4, whose sponsors included AbelCine, Dell, Dolby, Flanders Scientific (FSI), fxphd, Maxon, Mixing Light, Colorfront and SGO.

Highlights included:

THE BIG INTERVIEW: Los Angeles-based colorist Cullen Kelly and Toby Tomkins, founder of London’s Cheat, engaged in a lively mutual Q&A session about their work and careers.

BACKWARDS & FORWARDS: Warren Eagles, Kevin Shaw, Alexis Van Hurkman and Maximus Raharjo discussed the big changes that occurred in 2021 and offered their predictions for 2022. iColorist shared results of its annual survey, which provides an industry snapshot encompassing cameras, software, projects and more. Full results are available here.

FIVE MIN FAST TIPS: iColorist instructors Jeff Greenberg  and Warren Eagles and guest speaker Darren Mostyn shared their top grading tips for 2021.

WHAT'S NEW IN DIGITAL CINEMA?: AbelCine’s Geoff Smith quizzed underwater photographer Braden Haggerty and Game of Thrones cinematographer Rob McLachlan about cameras.

1 SHOT, 4 GRADES: Natalia Mercado, Juan Cabrera, Blake Jones and Andy Minuth were tasked with grading the same R3D clip live! You can see their efforts and download the footage for your own practice session here.

DOLBY VISION FOR NETFLIX & HBO MAX: Shane Reed, colorist and co-owner of Mom & Pop TV, Los Angeles, discussed grading in Dolby Vision for such shows as Chef’s Table, Street Foods of Asia and Hacks.

Along with the technical and creative presentation, there was also plenty of time for fun. Alexis Van Hurkman reprised his much-loved mixology session. (Alexis’ recipe for a Platanos en Mole Old Fashioned appears below.) Attendees also tested their film knowledge in The Big Color Quiz and shared insights and war stories in Party Time! breakout rooms.

Notes:

• Acting on a audience request for a repository of practice media, we've started this open source list of downloadable R3D files. If you have links to add, please request permission to add it or email them to us. If we all contribute, we will have a library of usable footage.
• Videos of all Mixer sessions will soon be available for on-demand viewing here.
• iColorist will continue to offer free monthly interactive livestreams between Mixers.
• The five Virtual Mixers held between December 2020 and December 2021 featured 33 hours of talks, 1,842 attendees, more than 100 speakers and $96,100 in prizes.
• Virtual Mixers are planned for 15th May and 23rd October, 2022

Alexis Van Hurkman’s Platanos en Mole Old Fashioned

• 2oz Dark Rum
• 1/4 oz Creme de Banane
• 12 drops Chocolate Mole bitters
• Ground chili powder (pinch for garnish)
• Double rocks glass
• One 2” ice cube, or three 1.25” ice cubes
• This recipe is “build in glass” so you don’t need a shaker or a mixing glass!
• You can see more of Alexis' drinks on his Insta.