In 30 years I have never won an award. Of course there are precious few colorist awards to win and I have always contented myself with the firm belief that the best grading jobs are the ones no one notices. In many ways the job is its own reward, I still get a great deal of satisfaction out of making good images great. And a certain well known colorist in Los Angeles famously said “I get my award at the end of every month”. These days that particular award is most important.
But then last night at the 10th Focal Awards Ceremony that all changed. The restoration of two early series from Sir David Attenborough won the best restoration project award! Admittedly my part in the project was small, but nevertheless it is a very good feeling.
It has however made me realize just how many people are involved in making images great. From the Director and Producer, the client (BBC WorldWide who paid for the restoration) to the crew through to the craft team (at BBC Studios and Post Production Digital Media Services) which in this case included colorists, dust busters, assistants, supervisors and coordinators, researchers (for missing elements – we restored these programs from original camera negative as far as possible), and advisers.
We used DFT Scanity to scan negs, Digital Vision Film Masters, and their DVO Restore and Enhance tools to conform, grade and do much of the restoration, with judicious helpings of Dark Energy and Diamant to finish the job. Media was shared via DVS SAN and checked on Clipster.
Winning an award is great, being on a winning team is better!
Happy Coloring (and indeed restoring)
Kevin
