By Sal Malfitano
As a colorist you always hope that every film you work on will have the opportunity to be recognized as an excellent piece of filmmaking. It makes the hard work and creative decisions that went into the film all the more rewarding. That’s how I felt when I learned from director So Yong Kim that Lovesong would be in competition at Sundance this year.
Before the first rough cut of Lovesong was done, I started discussing the approach for color with the director and her cinematographers, Guy Godfree and Kat Westergaard. Starting this early was ideal, as it allowed us ample time to maximize our effort to find the look that best served the story.
The film is about love that develops between its two main characters, Sarah (Riley Keough) and Mindy (Jena Malone). Their story unfolds in a subtle and natural way, and we wanted to make sure that the color acted in service of that narrative.
The film inherently looked and felt different just based on the styles and sensibilities Guy and Kat individually brought to the two halves of the film. Cinematography and color grade are utilized along with the art direction to illustrate a passage of time.
Kat’s first half was warm, less contrasty and had an inviting and colorful feel. In the second half, shot by Guy, more cool tones come into play, with a bit more contrast. The warm tones are from more artificial sources at this point and these convey how the characters have matured and how their relationship has evolved.
What I loved about our process for Lovesong was that the filmmakers didn’t come in with any color references. On many projects, creatives will come in with existing films or still frames as looks that they want to reference. We wanted the essence of footage itself to serve as the starting point. We were only ever referring to the beautiful footage that So, Kat and Guy had captured as the basis for where the look of the film would go.
We started grading this film very early in the post process, basically as soon as we had a rough cut that well represented the core of the film. This gave us the opportunity to reflect on, and feel confident about, each creative decision. By the time the final cut was locked, most of the decisions for color had been made, and it was really just a matter of fine-tuning.
The end result is a look that feels as honest and real as the film itself. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the world getting to see what these artists crafted at Sundance and subsequent festivals.
Human promotes Kamela Anderson to West Coast EP and head of sync
Music production and supervision company Human has promoted Kamela Anderson to West Coast executive producer and head of sync. In this new role, Anderson will oversee all West Coast operations for Human, including PostHuman, an independent postproduction entity.
As Human’s former head of sync and A&R, Anderson helped build the music supervision department. Anderson has spent the past eight years in various roles within Human. She has grown with the company as a rising voice in commercial music.
Anderson’s career in advertising began in sales at HSI Productions before joining Anonymous Content to work in its in-house sales department. After that, her journey at Human began, where Anderson worked on several notable brand films that went on to win many industry awards, including four Clio Awards, a Bronze Pencil, a Gold Andy Award, and a Silver Lion. Her work at Human spans brands like Apple, Xbox, Adidas, Samsung, Amazon, BMW, Netflix, NFL, Meta, Gatorade, Google, Doritos, Mountain Dew, and a Nike spot which garnered recognition from the soundtrack’s artist. For “Dream Further,” Nike’s gloriously girl-powered ad promoting the Women’s World Cup, Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” was synced, delivering optimal emotional impact. Jett later lauded this needle drop as “stunning” and “carrying a strong message beyond the brand” while being honored that year with a Bronze Clio.
“I built HumanSupervision as a new offering in 2020, and we’re continuing to expand our reach, both on the West Coast and internationally,” remarked Anderson. “My creative partner Mike Jurasits and I are very hands-on collaborators and continue to push the envelope with our artist partnerships. Recently, we took a simple music supervision... Read More