Charlie Productions : Colourist

Our friend Adam likes to joke that a "colourist" is another pejorative term for racist, but someone who takes against all colours of the rainbow, not just skin colours.

Which in some ways is true. A colourist certainly likes to create order amongst the rabble of colours brought to their darkened emporium, lining them all up so they all look alike.

But generally they are doing the bidding of the real fascists in this regard, the director and the DoP, like the Coens and Deakins getting rid of all the greens in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", or Spielberg and Kaminski determining the "Minorty Report" 'everything is metallic and blue and high contrast' look that has been copied time and again ever since that film. Or indeed us and Oli Russell, on Hallo Panda, struggling to find the exact right hue of green that would be acceptable to us...

There is a real joy that can be had in the job of a colourist these days. Watching them work, their hands swift and assured as they spin the three magic balls on the desk in front of them, it can become all too easy to get carried away with defining a look, especially when you can create just about any damn look you like. Adding colour, contrast, taking it away, making things brighter, darker, motion tracking people's eyes so you can have a filter over just their face in the scene and no-one else, it's all possible, it just takes time, and therefore money...

But that's not to say you can't do it at home. As we were getting Hallo Panda graded in Soho (at the behest of Film4), we found out that Apple had bought the very system our (extremely good) colourist Rory was twiddling away at. And so it was that soon enough we all got 'Color' in our own homes - and should we so desire, it's not even that expensive to buy one of those three-ball input devices any more... The fun of the grade can be extended to all hours (and believe me, it will always take all the hours I can ever give it...)

Charlie Productions believe passionately in doing things and always trying to stop in time for tea.

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