Postproduction house Manhattan Transfer (MT), New York, has signed Clive Christopher, a U.K colorist who will take up residency in New York this July as director of telecine imaging.
Christopher succeeds senior colorist and head of the telecine department, Dino Regas, who left the company in March after 11 years to join Moving Images, New York.
Christopher is currently finishing his contractual duties at London-based post company Sanderson Vere Crane (SVC), where he has worked since ’94 as head of the telecine department.
"Everyone wants to work in New York. It’s one of those places, where if you are given the opportunity to go there, you go. I’ve visited a few times, and it’s a magical city," he said.
Steve Coffey, MT’s VP/general manager, said that the company wanted to recruit a colorist who was in step with the direction the company was headed-the visual effects arena.
Impressed with the work coming out of London and inspired by the success of other U.K. hires at MT, including visual effects artist Julie Watkins and creative director/senior visual effects artist Kieran Walsh, MT decided to scour the U.K. market for the appropriate artist.
"We look at London as being a little bit ahead of the curve in terms of the type of work and trends that are set in postproduction, so we keep our eye on the market, the talent, and what is being produced over there," said Coffey.
"Christopher has the personality and the demeanor to be very successful in New York, and we believe he’s going to have an huge impact both at Manhattan Transfer, and on New York, in general. Someone of Clive’s following brings more work into New York, which is another good thing about recruiting someone of his magnitude and following."
From ’84-’89, Christopher worked at the Moving Picture Company (MPC), London, as a colorist. In ’89, he spent a year at Hollywood-based Complete Post, which was then owned by Carlton Communications, London, also the parent to MPC. He then returned to the MPC as head of the telecine department, where he stayed from ’90-’92. He left MPC to take up a position as senior colorist at POP, Santa Monica, Calif. (POP has since gone through ownership and name changes, most recently merging with sister companies Riot and Digital Magic to form a full service studio R!OT). Christopher then spent a year in Chicago, working at the now defunct Editel as a senior colorist before going back to London and joining SVC.
Recent spot credits for Christopher at SVC include a Haagen Dazs campaign via Euro/RSCG Wnek Gosper, London; Virgin Atlantic’s "Chase the Rainbow" via Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe, London; a campaign for Sega Dreamcast, via WCRS, London, and Rover "Pinball" via M&C Saatchi, London. He has also worked on U.K. music videos for Robbie Williams’ "Angels," "Millennium" and "Let Me Entertain You"; George Michael’s "Outside"; and Spice Girls’ "Say You’ll Be There." Christopher’s arrival at MT will coincide with the unveiling of the C-Reality telecine system from Cintel. The company also recently purchased Cintel’s URSA upgrade package, Callisto, which adds HD capabilities to Cintel’s URSA Gold and Diamond lines.
