What Does A Video Colorist Do?

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A creative position often overlooked by marketers.

Unless you’re only making films like Alfonso Cuaron’s latest installment “Roma”, you are going to need a colorist. Even in black and white films mid tones, lights, darks, and greys all need to be considered. When you add the limitless possibilities of color styles and combinations on top of that, things can get messy.

So what does a colorist do exactly? Well, first we need to understand the colorist’s canvas, called raw footage or raw video. Raw footage, as defined by Technopedia, is “the crude output of a video or still camera recording…the footage remains as it was captured, retaining all details, true colors and lighting, which allows for considerable opportunity for modification.”

This is essentially a highly moldable clean slate. Raw footage usually appears as somewhat faded and desaturated to the naked eye. This is perfect for colorists who are now able to take full control over the color they add to a scene, a sequence, and the greater film as a whole.

A colorist, more commonly known as a digital colorist, will work alongside the director and creative team to implement colors that match the creative vision for the film. Without colorists, none of our favorite fantasy worlds could ever have been constructed. Imagine Wakanda in Marvel’s “Black Panther” without the rich greens and shiny, futuristic golds. The purple electricity streaming through Black Panther’s suit? That color was carefully selected and implemented by the digital colorist.

Take a look at the example above from Zacuto.com of a man standing in a parking garage. On the left, in raw footage form, the garage appears well lit with soft greys and light pouring into the space. On the right, the colorist has created the visual tone for the scene. Now, the garage has been rendered into an eerie space with dark shadows and a cold, blue tint completely altering the feel of the scene.

While the digital colorist might not be as well-known as the DP or Director, their work can be appreciated in every scene of a film. This is a fantastic niche position in entertainment for someone who still wants to add creativity to a project without having the desire to write, direct, or produce.

The traditional jobs for colorists still exist in broadcast television but more scripted series are using digital colorists in order to create their final looks. Jobs like senior and junior colorist that existed earlier on only exist in live productions like sports broadcasts, musicals and unscripted productions.

Like video editors, one does not need a degree to do the job. One must only master the art of digital coloring which has been made much simpler by the available color grading software. A little passion, hard work, creativity, experience and commitment is what eventually sets a colorist apart.

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