Welcome to the Tao Of Color’s Interview Series

I release our interviews on Tuesdays. Not every Tuesday. Only on those Tuesdays where I have something to say. Or rather, when I’ve spoken with someone who has something to say. And then, only if I recorded it.

This interview series is dedicated to the Art, Craft, Dark Magic, and Technology of Digital Color Grading for film and video.

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Interview: Sam Mestman, CEO LumaForge

Sam Mestman is the Founder of We Make Movies, the world’s first community-funded production company. He is also the CEO of movie technology company Lumaforge, maker of the ShareStation, a shared storage platform optimized for media and entertainment that is changing the way post professionals collaborate across the world.

As a professional editor and colorist, he has worked for Apple, ESPN, Glee, and Break Media (to name a few), and has edited or colored hundreds of shorts, features, web series, and probably every other type of content you can think of. He is also the architect behind some of the largest FCPX integrations in the world, including Focus, the world’s first Studio Feature edited with Final Cut Pro X.

You can find Sam at:

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Interview: Ben Franklin & Anthony Melton, BloodyCuts.co.uk

Ben Franklin is a producer on the popular web series “Bloody Cuts”, a 13 part horror anthology that can be found at www.bloodycuts.co.uk. As a Director of Post Production by day, Ben has worked in video production for over 7 years as both and editor and colorist.

As the series comes to its midpoint, Ben’s commitment to it has seen him take on many different roles within their productions, demonstrated most recently when he took the Director’s chair for “Dead Man’s Lake”.

You can find Ben at:

Anthony Melton is the Digital Producer for Bloody Cuts Films.  Being a multidisciplinary creative he designs and develops the Bloody Cuts website and brand, generates supporting digital material. Starting with Dead Mans Lake Anthony has been part of the Assistant Direction team and is heading towards Directing his own episode of Bloody Cuts. On Dead Man’s Lake Anthony performed 2nd AD duties and was the lead Editor.

When Anthony is not hooked to his digital “Lamantation Box” for Bloody Cuts, he works for LAW Creative: a marketting communications agency in Hertfordshie and London. You can hear him host the Bloody Cuts podcast here at www.bloodycuts.co.uk/podcast/

You can find Anthony at:

Part 1 | Part 2

Interview: Terence Curren

Terence Curren is the Founder and President of AlphaDogs, a post production facility and design studio located in the heart of Burbank’s Media District, mere blocks from the Walt Disney Company and NBC Studios.

His future in the film and television business was prefigured by an early fascination with cinema; shooting his own films at the tender age of twelve. Terry went on to produce and direct, and then shifted full-time to post production as an editor. He was an early adopter of the Avid Symphony and quickly gained a reputation amongst his peers as an expert on that platform.

Terry’s early focus was on the ‘skilled operator’ as the differentiating factor in post-production, led to the founding of his own post house, as well as the creation of the Editors’ Lounge series and the Digital Service Station media-transfer bureaus, now located across the US and Canada

You can find Terry at:

Part 1 | Part 2

Interview: Warren Eagles

At the fresh age of 17, Warren started his career working with images as a photographer for women’s underwear catalogues.

He moved on to working at several post houses around London before earning the opportunity to work as an assistant in a Telecine suite. His first professional gig as a colorist was in 1988 on Michael Jackson’s Bad World Tour.

Since then he’s:
  • Spent time watching Guy Ritchie’s telly whilst discussing the look for “Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels”
  • Worked on Australia’s first Digitally graded feature film “Blurred”
  • Is now a freelance Colorist in Australia and Asia, has his own grading suite, and is a founding partner of the International Colorist Academy.

You can find Warren at:

Part 1 | Part 2

Interview: Bram Desmet

Bram Desmet is the Managing Director of Flanders Scientific, Inc., based in Suwanee, GA just 30 minutes outside of Atlanta.

Despite holding a B.A.in Philosophy from GA State University – and being an instrument rated airplane pilot – Bram ultimately followed in the footsteps of his father, (a 30 year veteran of the professional broadcast industry) when he joined DDA (a sister company of FSI) and then later Flanders Scientific. Both companies focus heavily on professional display technology.

As Managing Director at Flanders Scientific Bram is a vocal advocate of FSIs core philosophy of providing professional broadcast products that strike an ideal balance between performance, features, and affordability.

Part 1 | Part 2

Interview: Joe Owens

Joe Owens is the Owner / Operator of Presto!Digital Colourgrade, located in chilly Edmonton, Canada.

After getting his start as a camera shader over 35 years ago and now a full-time colorist for over 17 years – Joe’s a well-established presence in his Edmonton market. But his influence is felt around the world – as the leader in the Apple Color forum helping ‘newbies’ (and well established professionals) negotiate the delicate balance between technology, art, and business.

He recently finishing color grading / onlining 12 1-hour episodes of “Blackstone” for APTN / Showcase HD and the color grade for 12 episodes of “Pet Heroes” for CMT.

Joe was kind enough to spend some time with me in my New York office (with sirens and horns) and share his experiences and thoughts of moving from the early days of analog videotape to ‘big iron’ telecine to non-linear digital color grading systems.

Part 1 | Part 2

Interview: Steve Hullfish

Steve Hullfish is an author, editor, producer, and all-around good guy. His editing credits span more than 20 years, including editing the Oprah Winfrey Show for which he won a Daytime Emmy. Other broadcast credits include “Investigative Reports” and “Cold Cases” with Bill Kurtis on A&E and numerous PBS documentaries. He runs his own production company – Verascope Pictures – and his clients include Universal Studios, NBC Television, Turner Broadcasting, HIT Entertainment, Jim Henson Entertainment and VeggieTales.

Steve has written or co-written four books on editing and color correction, including “The Art and Technique of Color Correction” and “Color Correction for Video, 2nd Edition“. Steve is also a frequent writer at the Pro Video Coalition Website with his informative blog,  CUT. N. COLOR.

Steve also recently teamed up with colorist, and one of the team member’s of Apple’s Color, Bob Sliga to develop a comprehensive DVD Training Set on Apple Color; created and sold with Class On Demand.

Part 1 | Part 2

Interview: Alexis Van Hurkman

Alexis is a writer, director, and colorist currently residing and working in New York City. He’s well known for his Apple Pro Training Series on Color Correction within Final Cut Pro. He’s also known as the writer of Apple Color’s user manual, RED Whitepaper (a joint development between Apple and RED), and writer for the User Manuals of Final Cut Pro 2, 3, & 4 plus Shake 4.

Alexis just released a new book, titled Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema (Amazon.com affiliate link). He was kind enough to spend over 2 hours with us discussing his career and the insights he’s gained as a colorist, writer, technical writer, and director. His interview is split into three parts. Part 3 is devoted exclusively to setting up a room for proper color correction and image evaluation.

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3