I’m pleased to introduce Colorist Society’s new logo. Created by designer Dan Gordon, it embodies two themes. Firstly, it is a symbolic representation of the creative eye. Secondly, it highlights the intersection of art and technology by representing color as varying frequencies of light. The design is also flexible. An alternate version features the graphic without the words “Colorist Society”. Chapters who wish to do so, may use this version with their local affiliation. I am very excited about this logo. Its elegance and simplicity evokes artistry and a love for our craft.
We are rebranding not only to give our organization a fresh aesthetic, but also to underscore its growth and evolution. We’ve made important strides this year. Among our notable accomplishments is the launch of Colorist Society Hollywood. This chapter is led by highly accomplished artists who are working diligently to broaden our influence and strengthen our ties with other industry organizations. In April, founding members Lou Levinson, Walter Volpatto and John Daro took part in a panel at NAB where they discussed their careers and plans for the chapter. (See below.) We’re also proud of the efforts of our Australia/New Zealand Chapter who have hosted several live and virtual events independently and with other groups, including the Australian Cinematographers Society. (See below.)
But there is much more to do! We are particularly keen to expand our network of local and regional chapters. Inclusive, active local chapters are vital to our success in building an international organization effective in advocating for our profession. Local chapters also provide opportunities to network, share information and socialize with fellow colorists. If there is a chapter in your area, join it and get involved. If you lack a local chapter, we urge you to gather your colleagues and form one. If you don’t know how to get started, contact us. We will provide support, guidance and resources. Add, if you have ideas for furthering our organizational goals or establishing new chapters, or if you have stories you’d like included on our website, we would love to hear from you. Send your suggestions here.
I also ask the indulgence of those of you have applied for membership and are waiting for a response. The process has been slowed, in part, due to constraints on my time. My apologies for that. The process will also happen faster if prospective members review their applications to ensure they are complete. Rules for membership are available here.
Thank you for your continued support.
Kevin Shaw
President
CSI Gets Social
If you haven’t joined Colorist Society’s Facebook Group, you are missing an opportunity to network with other colorists, see great work from around the world, and keep up with the latest industry developments. Colorist Society began growing its social presence last year. Our Facebook Group now has more than 3,000 followers, features daily posts, and stimulates considerable engagement from colorists and other industry professionals. CSI is also active on LinkedIn.
Three founding members of Colorist Society Hollywood discussed their ambitious plans in a special session at NAB 2022. Apple independent technology contributor Lou Levinson, Warner Media senior colorist John Daro and Company 3 senior colorist Walter Volpatto were among a group of high-echelon color finishing artists who launched Colorist Society Hollywood last fall. Their mission is to advocate for the art of color grading, support diversity initiatives, and create educational opportunities. They also seek to deepen CSI’s ties to other industry organizations.
In a lively one-hour session, Levinson reviewed the origins of video color grading; Daro discussed discuss color and virtual production and Volpatto provided insight into his creative process on projects including Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.
Scores of colorists, cinematographers and other industry professionals turned out in late May for two-day event focused on HDR, co-hosted by Colorist Society’s Australia/New Zealand Chapter and the Australian Cinematographers Society. Held at ACS headquarters in North Sydney, “HDR: Shoot to Screen Weekend” featured a series of insightful panel discussions and technical presentations on best practices for working in HDR throughout the production cycle.
Colorists need to take advantage of every tool for marketing themselves and promoting their work. As most professionals know, IMDb is among the most important resources for maintaining visibility. The site is the authoritative source for who worked on what in every sector of the entertainment industry, so it’s essential to ensure your information is update and accurate.
IMDb’s paid subscription service IMDbPro provides a variety of resources for managing your presence on the site. Subscribers can create custom profiles, submit credits, add contact information, upload videos and many other things. You can also provide professional affiliations, including “CSI.” And, CSI members receive a 25 percent discount on monthly and annual IMDbPro memberships.
As valuable a resource as IMDb is, its treatment of colorists is less than ideal. Colorist credits are not listed consistently, appearing variously under editorial, visual effects and other categories. This makes it hard to identify the colorist of a given project and it misrepresents the role. Color (as well as related tasks such as color timing, conforming and finishing) occupies a distinct place in the workflow of a film or television production. It is not a subcategory of creative editorial or visual effects production. Representing it as such diminishes the role of the artist.
Colorist Society has been persistently advocating for a distinct IMDb category for Color. In part, because of the complexities of updating a database with nearly a half billion records, the site is reluctant to add new categories. That’s why it’s essential to continue our friendly persuasion and involve as many voices as possible. You can do your part by adding your “up vote” to our post on the IMDb forum.
FilmLight Colour Awards to Be Presented in November
Judging is currently underway for the 2022 FilmLight Colour Awards, which recognizes outstanding work by colorists around the globe and in every genre. Nominees will be announced in October with the awards themselves presented at EnergaCAMERIMAGE in November. Colorist Society is among the sponsors.
This year’s competition includes awards for theatrical feature, non-theatrical or television series, music videos, and commercials. It also adds a new category, Spotlight, for work on lower budget features. FilmLight has assembled a distinguished jury of highly accomplished colorists, cinematographers and others from all sectors of the industry. Among them is CSI member Bobola Oniwura, creative director and lead colorist at Ingenuity Pictures.
Last year, colorists HARBOR’s Damien Vandercruyssen (Lisey’s Story) and Picture Shop’s Tony D’Amore (East/West) were joint winners for TV Series/Episodic. Colorist Eric Weidt took home the award for Theatrical Feature for Mank. Post house Le Labo, Paris, won for Innovative Use of Baselight for Miss.
Partner News
LG recently introduced LG UltraFine OLED Pro, a new series of reference monitors. Demonstrated for the first time at NAB 2022, the display series includes 26.5-, 31.5- and 65-inch class monitors. Read more.
Universal Pictures has become the first Hollywood studio to adopt ACES V1.3 as a delivery standard. The studio announced that it would begin using V 1.3, which provides more standardized methods of color management for production and post, as a delivery medium later this year. Read more.
ASUS’s low-cost, ultrawide ProArt monitor received a four-star review from TechRadar. The site says the panel “provides an intriguing ultrawide and high-refresh alternative to the usual productivity and content creation monitors.” Read more.
Blackmagic Design announced the release of DaVinci Resolve 18. Among other things, the new version adds support for real-time remote collaboration via the Blackmagic Cloud service with multiple users anywhere in the world. It’s now available for download. Read more.
Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell proclaimed that the future belongs to multi-cloud storage. His comments came at the company’s first in-person Dell Technologies World conference in three years. Read more.
Dolby announced that Dolby Vision will be used to power a new online shopping experience in partnership with Naver Shopping Live. The initiative will provide consumers with “a new type of virtual shopping experience.” Read more.
LowePost is offering a new series of Color Grading Masterclasses hosted by Mark Todd Osborne, CSI; John Daro, CSI; Chris Jacobson, Derek Hansen and Douglas Delaney. It also offers classes in technique, workflow and look development for DaVinci Resolve. Read more.
Portrait Displays released the latest version of its Calman color calibration software. The new version adds support for current monitors by LG, Panasonic and ASUS. Read more.
CSI Forums
CSI aims to present a unified voice from the colorist community to our fellow professionals and to achieve that we need the privacy of the CSI Forum to discuss matters among ourselves.
The CSI Forum is open to Full, Alliance, Associate, and Corporate members. Check it out now, or if you are not already a member,
join us.
If you have something to share, or something you are looking for use the forums or send a request to
admin@coloristsociety.com
CSI Members please note that our web pages are very image related. To be considered as a featured colorist you need to add a profile image of yourself or a poster of your work. If you have credits with the CSI suffix, posters, or high resolution stills of your work, please forward them to
admin@coloristsociety.com
for inclusion in a newsletter or on the website.
As always, we appreciate our partners!
Click on their logo to check out their offerings.
If you have news, photos, projects your working on, or something else you would like to share with your fellow CSI members in future newsletters, please send us an email at
admin@coloristsociety.com with all the details.
We are rebranding not only to give our organization a fresh aesthetic, but also to underscore its growth and evolution. We’ve made important strides this year. Among our notable accomplishments is the launch of Colorist Society Hollywood. This chapter is led by highly accomplished artists who are working diligently to broaden our influence and strengthen our ties with other industry organizations. In April, founding members Lou Levinson, Walter Volpatto and John Daro took part in a panel at NAB where they discussed their careers and plans for the chapter. (See below.) We’re also proud of the efforts of our Australia/New Zealand Chapter who have hosted several live and virtual events independently and with other groups, including the Australian Cinematographers Society. (See below.)
If you haven’t joined Colorist Society’s Facebook Group, you are missing an opportunity to network with other colorists, see great work from around the world, and keep up with the latest industry developments. Colorist Society began growing its social presence last year. Our Facebook Group now has more than 3,000 followers, features daily posts, and stimulates considerable engagement from colorists and other industry professionals. CSI is also active on LinkedIn.
IMDb’s paid subscription service IMDbPro provides a variety of resources for managing your presence on the site. Subscribers can create custom profiles, submit credits, add contact information, upload videos and many other things. You can also provide professional affiliations, including “CSI.” And, CSI members receive a 25 percent discount on monthly and annual IMDbPro memberships.
This year’s competition includes awards for theatrical feature, non-theatrical or television series, music videos, and commercials. It also adds a new category, Spotlight, for work on lower budget features. FilmLight has assembled a distinguished jury of highly accomplished colorists, cinematographers and others from all sectors of the industry. Among them is CSI member Bobola Oniwura, creative director and lead colorist at Ingenuity Pictures.
