The Color Tour Podcast microphone was in London recently to catch up with Thomas Urbye.

Thomas is the senior colorist and CEO of the Post House ‘The Look.’ They are responsible for shows like Sex Education, Fleabag, Top Boy and Landscapers.

We chatted in the new theatre room at ‘The Look’ before moving to a local Noho bar for a Gin n Tonic. Thomas talks with passion about clients, rival companies,

Netflix, HDR and what he is looking for when hiring staff.

Topics discussed

• Using the Grass Valley Rio
• Managing grading and still being the boss
• The Challenges of HDR and Dolby Vision
• Running dark fibre from a data centre at Heathrow for all media and machines
• Grading in Noho.
• A Myth or truth “You are only as good as your last job?”
• What does Thomas look for in a new colorist or intern looking for a job at The Look.

The Color Tour Podcast visits Park City in Utah to chat with Crash Carlucci.

We ski, then chat about his amazing career that has taken him all over the globe. NYC, LA, Sydney, Milan, and Bangkok before settling in Park City.

Crash has some great stories about working at some of the top LA post houses and is proof that it is possible to move around the world as a colorist.

Topics discussed

• Hitting the slopes then Apres Ski Park City style
• How did he get a start in Color
• In the junior US ski team
• Swapping cars with Stefan Sonnenfeld
• What is it like grading in different countries.
• Working remotely on a Reality TV show.

The Color Tour Podcast is back with a fantastic YouTube Live chat re the NAB/Colorist Mixer 2023.

Topics discussed

• Listen in to the pre show before the guys went ‘live’
• Sponsor booth info, where can you find them?
• Tips for NAB visitors
• What is new for 2023, sponsors discuss their new releases.
• Where and how to get Mixer Tickets

The Color Tour Podcast is back with a fantastic live on location Podcast with Kali Bateman in Brisbane, Australia.

Topics discussed

• The journey up the color ladder.
• Being a VFX Colorist for D Neg in Vancouver.
• Starting a boutique post house in difficult times.
• Coloring Elvis for Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin.
• Grading in C19 quarantine whilst 7 months pregnant!
• Getting paid in tattoos, I once got a skateboard for a color job!

It’s great to be back with live on location and in person Podcasts!

Whilst in the UK I headed to Brighton to have a long over due chat with Darren Mostyn.

Topics discussed

• Working his way up from the edit suite
• Producing and posting high end corporate productions
• Starting a boutique post house and keeping it running through a pandemic.
• Killer tips and YouTube fame.
• Working the demo circuit at big trade shows.
• What kit is in his Online Creative shop?
• Living and working in Brighton.

It’s great to be back live with one on one on location Podcasts.

This is the first ‘real’ chat in nearly 3 years!

Topics discussed

• Working for Dado Valentic grading fashion TVCs in Soho
• Knocking on doors with a CV at 18 years old.
• Starting a boutique post house.
• Shadowing legendary Colorist Peter Doyle.
• Running a talent agency with like minded creatives.
• Taking a job in India.

I recently chatted to one of Europe’s leading Color Graders Dave Hughes

Topics discussed

• Working on TVCs in Europe’s big cities.
• What looks do the German’s, Dutch and Belgium’s like?
• Why they use Baselight at Windmill Lane.
• Grading the animated My Little Pony movie, what was it like?
• You are not a true colorist until you have graded a Guinness TVC!
• How he got a start in London.

Season 3 of the Color Tour Podcast has been renamed ‘Not on Tour.’ I cannot travel so the CT Podcast is being conducted on ZOOM. I recently chatted to one of Africa’s leading Color Graders Bobola Oniwura

He studied Architecture so calls himself the ‘Accidental Colorist’ Having moved away from designing houses he co founded a Creative Agency with friends and worked as the Creative Director. Their attempts to find a suitable colorist were not very successful so Bobola decided to jump in the hot seat and so started his color journey using FXPHD videos.

Topics discussed

• How did he go from being an Architect to grading for Netflix?
• What is it like to live and work in Lagos?
• How he learnt to color
• Working on the Nigeria’s first Netflix series.
• Bobola discusses his desire to visit NAB and why he supports the CSI
• Find out who taught him to edit!
• King of Boys: The Return of the King Trailer
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4OeHI3EJuY
• Sugar Rush Trailer
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvoYpx6W2RM
• Merry Men 2 Trailer
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thx-M3hTGLs

Season 3 of the Color Tour Podcast has been renamed ‘Not on Tour.’ I cannot travel so the CT Podcast is being conducted on ZOOM. I talked to Maxine in her DI theatre at Picture Shop during a break in sessions.

Maxine is a Hollywood A list Colorist. Her credits include big tent pole titles amongst a list of over 60 films. She now works at Picture Shop, previously known as Technicolor. We start our conversation with Maxine turning on her Christie 4K projector so I can see her on the ZOOM call. Maxine has an infectious personality that compliments her technical knowledge and creativity.

Topics discussed

• How did she manage to get on a Harry Potter film for her very first DI grade?
• What is it like to work at a big Hollywood Post House?
• Working with Clint Eastwood
• Creating the amazing look of ‘The Book of Eli’
• What are Marvel like to work for?
• Maxine’s thoughts on women in film
• How did the Harry Potter collaboration with Peter Doyle come about?

Season 3 of the Color Tour Podcast has been renamed ‘Not on Tour.’ I cannot travel so the CT Podcast is being conducted on ZOOM.

Setyo is as he says laughing, “I’m one of three gun colorists in Malaysia” He was born in Indonesian before moving to KL. He scored a job at the Blackmagic Design Post House as a VT op and worked his way up to being a senior colorist. Setyo now runs his own Color grading shop in KL.

Topics discussed

• How did he get started?
• What are the challenges of owning and operating your own shop?
• Coloring both TVCs and movies
• Educating his clients to understand the value of color correction
• Losing a feature project to another colorist
• Working at the Blackmagic Design post house and on the ‘Bait’ movie.

Season 3 of the Color Tour Podcast has been renamed ‘Not on Tour.’

I chatted to Juan Cabrera 3 days before the 2020 HPA Awards where he was nominated coloring the TNT show Alienist ‘Angel of Darkness’

Juan started his first company aged 17 in Madrid, Spain. He prepped for his first color grade by reading the Mistika manual on a 5 hour car drive from Madrid to Malaga. Once in Malaga he graded his first short film and his career as a colorist was launched.

Working as a Stereographer on some of Hollywood’s biggest feature films was Juan’s stepping stone to starting his own Post Production shop in Santa Monica called Lightbender Post. He is a Mistika user and works on longform feature films and series.

Topics discussed

• How did Lightbender come about?
• What are the challenges of owning and operating your own shop?
• Coloring with Mistika what are the advantages?
• His first color session in Malaga.
• The HPA Awards nomination for coloring the TNT show Alienist ‘Angel of Darkness’
• Working with JJ Abrahams on Star Trek into Darkness,
• His kit at Lightbender and how he competes with the big competition in Los Angeles.

Season 3 of the Color Tour Podcast has been renamed ‘Not on Tour.’

I visited Toby at CHEAT in 2018. It is a fantastic facility situated in Hackney East London, very close to where I went to school. We checked out his facility and then went to his local pub for a pie and a pint. I didn’t have my recording kit that day, but I made the desision to include Toby on the CT Podcast.

Topics discussed

• How did CHEAT come about?
• What are the challenges of owning and operating your own shop?
• Coloring The ‘End of the F***ing World’ Emmy winning show.
• Doing color research when not grading
• Add grain or not, if so how?
• Battling through COVID 19 lockdown
• Fine tuning the CHEAT Streambox workflow with iPad Pros

Season 3 of the Color Tour Podcast has been renamed ‘Not on Tour.’ I had planned to visit Walter in his new grading suite at Company 3 just after NAB 2020 but COVID 19 meant I never made it to LA. I decided to make the CT Podcast a Virtual Pod and I’m glad I did as this is a great listen.

Walter is one of the world’s leading Color graders. He has coloured over 100 features including Green Book, Star Wars The Last Jedi, and Dunkirk. Walter started his US career at FotoKem before moving to EFilm then to Company 3. He is a great asset to our industry and is always willing to share information and give advice.

Topics discussed

• The Company 3 colorist structure and why you shouldn’t be afraid to get a quote from them.
• How Walter moved from being a factory worker in Italy to being a top Colorist in Hollywood.
• The importance of supporting smaller projects and looking after your DP.
• Dolby Vision on the new Netflix movie ‘The Old Guard’
• The Color workflow for Dunkirk and working with Christopher Nolan.
• The HDR of Star Wars ‘The Last Jedi’ Why people said it wasn’t HDR enough!
• The YouTubers who are spreading the wrong training message.
• How you can transfer from a different country or position.

Topics discussed

• The McDonalds TVC she is colouring shot with the Phantom camera
• Working at Blackmagic, how that helped her get connected
• The transition from TVCs to Longform, what does she prefer?
• How is the Singapore Post Scene?
• What does JB say to clients who say “What will it look like at home?”
• What she is doing to try and secure a grading position overseas.

Chema Alba is one of Spain’s premier color graders. He started out at a film scanning company. Handling film gave him the taste for colouring so he pursued the big manufactures to loan him a machine so he could practice. This showed his enthusiasm as at the time he wasn’t a colorist and the systems were over $300,000!

Topics discussed

• How he got started in the Industry
• Working with director Pedro Almodóvar (Listen for my awkward pronunciation)
• The transition from grading film to digital and from movies to TV
• How hard or easy is it too grade an HDR Netflix show?
• What is it like working on a Netflix show, could you do it?

Marc Wielage is a veteran Colorist based in Hollywood. He has been grading for 40 years and has the credits and stories to prove it. The chat starts at his shop in Hollywood before moving to legendary Hollywood restaurant Canters. Lots of people know him from the many different color forums he follows. Marc has helped many colorists at all levels, so this is a chance to get his backstory.

Topics discussed

• His grading shop is ‘Chroma’
• Working with directors Michael Mann, George Lucus and Russ Meyer (The impressions are fantastic)
• How he finds the time to be so prolific in many different color forums
• Marc’s knightmare session, we have all had them!

www.chromahollywood.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/900152487018899/

Vinegar Syndrome is the company selling the restorations on Blu-ray and HD streaming:

https://vinegarsyndrome.com/

Some of the film projects he has colored are on Blu-ray include Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Dances with Wolves, Die Hard, Cider House Rules, and about 250 others since 2002. He has finished about 100 for Vinegar Syndrome going back to 2014, mostly cult films from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Vimeo page

https://vimeo.com/user28054796

Kevin Shaw has been a colorist for over 30 years. He has worked full-time in London, Italy and Switzerland, and also started the da-vinci training academy in Florida. Kevin co founded the International Colorist Academy and is a driving force behind the Colorist Society International. He currently lives in London, but we took this opportunity to record the Podcast whilst in Beijing last year.

Topics discussed

• How he got started in Color Correction
• Working abroad as a colorist
• How Resolve came to life and how Kevin predicted in 2001 that the big fight would be with Adobe!
• What is the best way to become a colorist?
• Kevin explains the CSI and how you can enrol as a member.

Alter Ego is one of the premier post facilities in the world. Based in Toronto, Alter Ego was founded 10 years ago by Australian Colorists Eric Whipp and Wade Odlum. They specialise in colouring on Baselight but the facility has grown to add VFX and production to its roster. The guys balance colouring TVCs, managing over 50 staff, and still manage to grade blockbuster feature films… How do they do it?

Topics discussed

• Can they switch off the management issues when in a big session?
• The boys discuss the move into using LG C7 monitors for both the colorist and the clients
• Having to finish both English and French versions of their commercials
• Eric graded ‘Max Max Fury Road’ and ‘Lego Movie 2’ – How is grading a big movie different to grading TVCs?

Warren chats to Jet in Soho, London about her extensive work history. The move from TVCs to drama, women in color, and what she thinks of Kevin Shaw. Being headhunted — and on the other hand getting fired in Leicester SQ after a movie screening. How do you get five days to grade a one shot Madonna TVC?

Jet has colored numerous television commercials and has recently finished the TV series Trust by Danny Boyle. Other notable credits include The Night Manager and Luther.

• IMDB bio
• Jet joins Goldcrest
• Goldcrest Bio

This episode comes from Gothenburg on the West Coast of Sweden. It features Nikolai Waldman, colorist and owner at CAN Film.

Warren and Nikolai chat about why he loves FSI monitors, grading Volvo trucks shot on Sony cameras and what he was grading in LA recently.

• DejaEdit – http://deja-soft.com/dejaedit/
• Resolve Collect – https://www.niwa.nu/resolve-collect/
• CAN Film – https://canfilm.se
• Ingen Utan Skuld (Conspiracy of Silence) trailer – https://youtu.be/8ziT4b6ekDI

Warren is in beautiful Auckland, New Zealand for this episode of the Color Tour Podcast chatting to long form colorist Alana Cotton, who works at Images Post and Sound.

They start their chat in Alana’s grading theatre before moving to the new harbourfront area where New Zealand will defend the America’s Cup in 2021.

Topics discussed include Alana’s thought process when grading a feature, women in film, and why she loves the Baselight.

In Dark Places (Teina Pora story for TVNZ)

On Demand Link – https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/in-dark-places

The Ground We Won (2017 Winner)

Website with trailer and full film link – https://thegroundwewon.com/

Sparrow (short film)

http://sparrowfilm.nz/

Website: www.alanacotton.com

Twitter: @alanacotton

Insta: @alanacottonball

Clark Muller grew up on the tough streets of Hackney in East London. He worked his way up to become one of London’s top TVC colorists. He then moved to Brazil via Hong Kong before settling in Los Angeles.

Warren chats to Clark at his Nucoda grading shop in Venice Beach. They chat about the challenges of grading in different countries, and why he left Company 3 to start his own company Incendio.

Tyler The Creator video

“Ashes and Snow” NYC installation

Clark’s past work on the Incendio website

Facebook page for Incendio

Instagram page for Incendio

Incendio main page

Retro Video Links

Freak On A Leash – Korn

Steam – Peter Gabriel

Dirty Little Thing – Velvet Revolver

These Walls – Kendrick Lamar

Stay – Rihanna

Castle of Glass – Linkin Park

Paul Hanrahan left his native South Africa to follow his love of Kung Fu in Taiwan. When a post house in Taipei needed a colorist, Paul realized he could follow both his passions.

Warren chats with Paul at Digimax in both his Nucoda and Resolve grading suites. The conversations continues in a local taxi before concluding in a local restaurant.

Topics discussed:

• Is it hard moving and coloring in a foreign country?
• Differences between the Nucoda and Resolve
• How to get started in the industry

Watch the ‘7-11’ video I discussed Paul in the Nucoda room: https://vimeo.com/262170916

Watch the ‘321 Marathon’ video we discussed in Paul’s Resolve room: https://vimeo.com/260526960

You can contact Paul directly:

Paul Hanrahan
https://vimeo.com/paulhanrahan
paul@guillotinepost.co.za

Episode 2: NAB 2018

Episode 2 of the Color Tour was recorded in Las Vegas at the Sixth Annual NAB Colorist Mixer was held on the Sunday before the exhibition opens. Warren takes the mic behind the scenes of the Mixer and finds out what the colorists have been grading and garners their thoughts on the Mixer concept.

The Podcast opens at the pre-Mixer starting at 5PM continues through to the post-Mixer at 11PM. Luckily the alcohol consumed by the interviewees matches that of your host….you be the judge!

Episode 2 features interviews with the following working professionals:

• Joey D’anna
• Chris Young
• Gregg Lowen
• Andrew Clarkson
• Alexis Van Hurkman
• Robbie Carmen
• Ayumi Ashley
• Patrick Inhofer
  Joachim Zell (JZ)
• Dave Roman
• Crash
• Kevin Shaw
• Dan Moran
• Simon Walker
• Nick Shaw
• Dan Edwards
• Mark Todd Osbourne
• Isabelle Barriere

Episode 1: Vincent Taylor

Vincent Taylor is a senior colorist at Chimney NYC. He has recently relocated to New York after a three year stint with MPC in Shanghai. In this podcast, Vincent describes the challenges of working in a foreign country, including clients and their expectations, and the number of hours he spends on a typical project. We start recording in his new room in Manhattan before moving to his local dive bar to continue our conversation.

Check out this SunTrust 2018 Winter Olympics TV commercial we discuss during the Podcast.