Oliver Ojeil, CSI successfully petitioned to be included in the opening title credits for the new thriller “Shut In” in what he hopes will become standard industry practice.

“Give credit where credit is due,” seems like a simple proposition, but for colorists, it’s often been an elusive goal. When it comes to credit sequences for feature films and television shows, colorists often find their names listed far down in the end crawl or maybe not included at all.

Considering that their work impacts every frame that appears on the screen, many colorists think that’s unfair. Colorists typically spend years, if not decades, honing their craft, and work long hours with directors and cinematographers to polish the look of their projects and help tell their stories. Securing proper credit for their work is not simply a matter of personal vanity, it’s crucial to networking, career advancement and compensation.

Los Angeles-based colorist Oliver Ojeil, CSI insists that conventions governing credits must change. He notes that formal and informal rules for who gets credited—and how—were often established long in the past when production and post-production roles were vastly different. He believes that colorists ought to be recognized for what they are--essential members of the creative team. A longtime member of the Colorist Society, Ojeil joined the organization, in part, due to its commitment to gaining greater recognition for colorists, including through on-screen credits.

Ojeil has adopted the practice of insisting on appropriate on-screen credit, with his Colorist Society affiliation, for his film and television projects. He recently scored a victory when his name was included in the main credits for the new thriller Shut In, directed by D.J. Caruso (xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, Disturbia). He began working on Shut In during pre-production, providing production LUTs for cinematographer Akis Konstantakopoulos. He later worked closely with Konstantakopoulus not only to polish the look of the film, but also to intensify its atmosphere of claustrophobic terror.

Ojeil says that his credit request needed approval from the DGA and that the initial request was rejected. “We had to write back explaining why the colorist should be included because it would set a precedent,” he recalls. “Amanda Presmyk, the film’s producer, was extremely supportive. She went back and forth with the DGA and eventually got it approved.”

Ojeil expects to receive a similar credit on his current project, Model House, and hopes that prominent credit for colorists will eventually become standard industry practice. “I’ve been doing more narrative and episodic work over the past four years and have come to feel strongly that colorists don’t receive enough recognition for the work they do,” he says. “I don’t want to take away from the impact others have on a movie, but colorists deserve to be up there with others who are commonly included in main titles.”

Shut In is slated to premiere soon on The Daily Wire, the first feature to appear on the new streaming service. The film stars Rainey Qualley and Vincent Gallo in the story of a single mother and her two children held captive by her violent ex-husband.

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.

The Colorist Society (CSI) and the International Colorist Academy (iColorist) have finalized plans for their virtual, end-of-year Colorist Mixer 2021 Wrap Party to be held on Saturday, December 4, 2021 from 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM CET. The event will feature 20 speakers and panelists from around the world, as well as giveaways and prizes from sponsors Abelcine, Dell, Dolby, Flanders Scientific (FSI), fxphd, Maxon, Mixing Light, Colorfront, and SGO valued at $18,000. Registration is just $10 and available at https://coloristmixer.com/.

Highlights of the event include a Best Grade Competition with the winner receiving a 12-month subscription to SGO Mistika Boutique Professional Immersive Edition, worth $3,365. To enter, participants must download raw footage here, apply their best grade and share the results on Instagram or Facebook, tagging @ColoristMixer. The winner will be selected by a panel of color experts and announced during the Wrap Party.

Other prizes include:

• One Case of six bottles of Veuve Clicquot and Streaming Software only version from Colorfront
• $1500 gift certificate for AbelCine training classes
• NVIDIA Shield 4K HDR Android TV box from Dell
• $1000 FSI gift certificate
• fxphd Resolve MegaPack pack with Warren Eagles
• fxphd Introduction to HDR course with Kevin Shaw
• Six-month membership to fxphd
• 1 year subscription to Red Giant Complete from Maxon
• Two 1-Year Premium Memberships from Mixing Light
• Four Micro convertors bidirectional SDI/HDMI 3G from CSI
• DaVinci Resolve editor keyboard from CSI
• Ultra Studio monitor 3G from CSI
• Decklink SDi 4k from CSI
• Two Dolby Vision Training/Certification spots

Speakers and Panels include:

Fast Tips (sponsored by Dell): iColorist Trainers Jeff Greenberg and Warren Eagles will share their best grading tricks.

1 Shot, 4 Ways (sponsored by SGO): Four top colorists, Blake Jones, Juan Cabrera, Natalia Mercado and

Andy Minuth, grade the same shot live and judge audience submitted grades.

Colorist Shane Reed On Dolby Vision for Netflix & HBO Max (sponsored by Dolby): Dolby interviews Shane Reed about grading in HDR and working on Chef’s Table, Street Food of Asia, HACKS and Night Stalker.

Colorful Cocktails (sponsored by Mixing Light): Alexis Van Hurkman reprises his much-loved mixology session with his favorite drinks of 2021. Shake, shake, shake!

Backwards & Forwards: Tech & Industry Developments in 2021 & 2022: (sponsored by FSI) Colorists Warren Eagles, Kevin Shaw, Alexis Van Hurkman and Maximus Raharjo discuss the big changes of 2021 and their predictions for 2022.

What’s new in Digital Cinema? (sponsored by Abelcine): What colorists need to know about cameras and the latest in digital cinema, with Geoff Smith and guest.

The Big Interview (sponsored by Colorfront): Hollywood colorists Cullen Kelly and Toby Tomkins talk about their careers, grading jobs and advice.

Quiz, Social and Breakout Rooms (sponsored by Maxon and fxphd).

Other speakers include Luke Cameron, Patrick Inhofer, Adrian Gonzalez, and Diego Yhama.

The competition is not affiliated or endorsed by Instagram or Facebook. You must purchase a ticket to the Colorist Mixer Wrap Party to be eligible.

The Colorist Society welcomes Mark Todd Osborne to its Board of Directors. Osborne is a Los Angeles-based Senior Colorist with more than 200 film and television credits. As a Board Member, he will be involved governing, managing and planning for the organization. He will also act as an ambassador for CSI to other industry organizations and the wider professional community. 

“Mark is an exceptionally talented artist who has worked throughout his career to advance the craft of color,” says Shaw. “He is a leader who enjoys great respect among his fellow colorists and from directors, cinematographers, producers and other industry professionals. He is a great addition to our Board at an important time for our craft and industry.”

Osborne, who joined CSI shortly after its founding in 2016, plans to use his new board position to promote wider recognition for colorists. “Colorists are underrepresented in the industry,” he says. “I want to help educate the professional community about the contributions colorists make to the creative process, how colorists act as an extension of cinematographers and directors to bring their visions to fruition.”

Osborne has been a colorist for 25 years, most recently as an independent through his post finishing company MTO Color. His recent credits include the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning series The Act for Hulu and Dear… for Apple TV+ , as well as the feature films Silk Road, The Reckoning, Abuptio, The Walk, iMordecai, Panama, Castle Falls and Apex. Other notable credits include Need for Speed (Disney) and the cult horror hit It Follows (Radius-TWC). His background includes 12 years as a Senior Colorist at Company 3, Santa Monica, where his credits included Capote and Sunshine Cleaning. He also served as Supervising Colorist at Cameron Pace Group, where he graded 3D films, including James Cameron’s Deep Sea Challenge for the Cannes Film Festival.

The Colorist Society announces the launch of Colorist Society Hollywood, an exclusive, invitation-only group of high-echelon color finishing artists. The group’s mission is to advocate for their craft, support diversity initiatives, and create educational opportunities for its members and associated industry partners. They will also seek to deepen CSI’s ties to other industry organizations and the wider entertainment industry.

“Colorist Society Hollywood is a vital resource to our continued growth and success,” says CSI President Kevin Shaw. “Its membership includes distinguished colorists who occupy positions as trendsetters and influencers. We look to them to lead by example.”

Colorist Society Hollywood launches with a leadership of four distinguished officers. They include John Daro, Lead Digital Intermediate Colorist at Warner Post Production Creative Services; Michael Mintz Senior Digital Color Timer at Margarita Mix, Hollywood; Josh Petok is a Los Angeles-based freelance colorist; and Troy Smith, Senior Colorist at Margarita Mix Hollywood. Colorist Society Fellows Lynette Duensing, Lou Levinson and Walter Volpatto will serve in an advisory capacity.

Members are selected by Colorist Society Fellows and chapter officers based on their professional accomplishments, commitment to their craft and years of service to the industry. Current members may submit others for consideration as new members. Invitation-only associate memberships are also available to professionals from related disciplines, including cinematographers, color scientists, engineer, DITs and others.

One of the new group’s primary goals will be to establish closer ties with organizations representing directors, cinematographers and other professional disciplines. It hopes to work with other groups in co-hosting master class, mentoring, technical and podcast events. The group will also host social and networking events live and virtual.

It’s important that colorists have a greater voice in issues that matter to them and their careers,” says Duensing. “We want to be involved in the development of technical standards, gain recognition for our craft in major awards shows and to see ‘colorist’ designated as an individual category in IMDb.”

Photo captions:

Top: Colorist Society Hollywood Officers (l to r) John Daro, Michael Mintz, Josh Petok and Troy Smith

Bottom: Colorist Society Fellows (l to r) : Lynette Duensing, Lou Levinson and Walter Volpatto.

TAC Resolve Training is offering a Master Class hosted by veteran colorist Mark Todd Osborne this Saturday, November 6^th. The class will cover showlut design, suite-set roundtrip workflow and look development.

CSI members are eligible for a 10 percent discount:  https://coloristsociety.com/csi-member-discounts

General information is available at: https://www.tacresolvetraining.com/event-details/tac-cbc-1

Mark has been a colorist for 25 years, most recently as an independent through his post finishing company MTO Color. His recent credits include the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning series The Act for Hulu and Dear… for Apple TV+, as well as the feature films Silk Road, The Reckoning, Abuptio, The Walk, iMordecai, Panama, Castle Falls and Apex. Other notable credits include Need for Speed (Disney) and the cult horror hit It Follows (Radius-TWC). His background includes 12 years as a Senior Colorist at Company 3, Santa Monica, where his credits included Capote and Sunshine Cleaning. He also served as Supervising Colorist at Cameron Pace Group, where he graded 3D films, including James Cameron’s Deep Sea Challenge for the Cannes Film Festival.

The Colorist Society International (CSI) and the International Colorist Academy (iColorist) continue their popular series of Colorist Mixers with two virtual events to be held before the end of the year.

On October 23, from 7pm to 11pm GMT, the two organizations will host a Halloween-themed, social mixer in lieu of their annual in-person NAB party. It’s a chance for colorists and others to get together with colleagues from around the globe to share cocktails, chat and have fun. The event will feature a tech chat, a costume contest and a film quiz, with prizes provided by event sponsors Dolby, Filmworkz, fxphd, SGO and others. It is free and open to all, but you must register here. 

On December 4, CSI and iColorist will present a 6-hour end-of-year mixer that will feature a full slate of speakers, panel discussions, technology demonstrations, contests, door prizes and other events. A detailed agenda and registration information will be available soon at coloristmixer.com.

CSI and iColorist also launched Color Space Cadets in September, a free, monthly livestream series on YouTube featuring industry experts discussing grading, color and filmmaking. Topics are chosen in advance by participants and will cover issues such as “Rates, Fees and Charging,” “Mental Health/Working Conditions,” “Color Space” and “Image Restoration Tools.” Audience members are encouraged to submit questions during the livestream.

The next Color Space Cadets event is slated for Thursday, October 28 at 6pm GMT and will feature CSI president Kevin Shaw and colorist Warren Eagles (with other iColorist trainers and special guest speakers) in a discussion titled 2021 Show and Film Looks. Watch it here.

Color Space Cadets was launched to keep industry players abreast of the latest developments in their field at a time when many were curtailing training plans and trade shows were cancelled due to the pandemic. “We’re committed to continuing to pass on knowledge,” says Shaw. “These monthly YouTube events feature experts from across the spectrum of production and post-production.”

CSI encourages its members at every career stage to participate in the Colorist Salary Survey currently being conducted by Berlin-based grade.community. The organization, which includes officers of CSI’s German Chapter, are collecting data anonymously on compensation, employment status, job satisfaction, gender and other factors. Access to accurate, broad-based salary information is essential to colorists in assessing their personal situations, professional affiliations and career aspirations. That’s why it’s important for as many colorists as possible to take part. Greater participation means more accurate and informative results.

The organizers of grade.community have published results of an earlier survey from 2019. It covered employment status, experience, working hours, work outside color grading, income and salaries, and other topics. The results are revealing and highlight variations in status, compensation and working conditions among practitioners of our craft. The results were drawn from more than 300 respondents and 50 countries. We congratulate the organizers on a job well done.

In the wake of the COVID pandemic, the work being done by grade.community is more vital than ever. Their current survey will help all of us better understand how the industry is recovering and how our colleagues are faring.

The group’s 2019 survey is available for free download here. To take part in this year’s survey, please follow this link. Again, responses are strictly anonymous.

New competition will announce winners at EnergaCAMERAIMAGE 2021

FilmLight has launched the FilmLight Colour Awards, a new competition honoring colorists and the art of color worldwide. The awards are being organized in association with professional bodies and are open to colorists using any grading technology. Categories encompass theatrical, television and advertising projects, as well as innovative use of FilmLight’s Baselight platform. Winners will be announced at EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021 in Poland.

FilmLight CEO Wolfgang Lempp says the awards are aimed at highlighting the critical role colorists play in the creative process. “The colorist today is far more than a simple ‘color timer,’ matching and correcting,” Lempp explains. “We believe that the most satisfying results are achieved when DPs and colorists collaborate, and indeed many colorists are now involved throughout the whole production lifecycle, from early lens and camera tests through to the very many deliverables now expected.”

Entries are open now through September 15. A shortlist will be announced in October with winners revealed in November at EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021.

Further information and entry forms are available at: https://filmlight.awardcore.com

Information about EnergaCAMERAIMAGE 2021 can be found here: https://camerimage.pl/en/

Dolby Vision has expanded its training and certification options. Three choices are now available for individual colorists:

1. Free self-guided online training

With our self-guided educational resource from the Dolby Institute, you can work at your own pace by focusing on and revisiting the modules that are most relevant to you. The content is the same as the full live instructor-based curriculum, but using videos, graphics, and text pages with built-in logical breaks as well as testing, to make sure that you’ve understood the key concepts.

Start your free training now!

2. Live online training with a Dolby Instructor

Previously only available to Dolby Vision certified post facilities you can now, as an individual, get the nearly eight-hour, in-depth Dolby Vision training with a Dolby instructor. The training sessions are carried out in a small group (in English or Spanish) for only $400. The program includes:

• Module 1: Dolby Vision and HDR Theory/Overview/Workflow – 3 Hours
• Module 2: Color Grading (with DaVinci Resolve) – 2.5 Hours
• Module 3: Mastering, Deliverables, and QC – 2 Hours

Click here for more details

3. Dolby Vision individual certification

Whether you are a colorist or an engineer, finish off your Dolby Vision training experience by becoming a Dolby Vision certified individual for $250. This involves passing both an online multiple-choice test and a practical test where you download a color-graded HDR file/EDL, add the Dolby Vision metadata, and create a Dolby Vision IMF package to submit to a Dolby instructor. Once passed, certified individuals will be allowed to use a Dolby Vision Certified logo on their website or email signature and be listed here on Professional.Dolby.com (ETA April 15, 2021).

Click here for more details