Woody Allen films have a tantalizing balance of emotions with fleeting bursts of passion. They lack the garish glare of contemporary cinema; instead often continuing to be ensconced in a cocoon of romantic hues of an erstwhile era.

As senior colourist for Allen’s latest movie, Café Society, Anthony Raffaele knew that he had to adhere to this delicate balance where the protagonists lived a life that was poignant and glamorous, casting them in a honeyed light that was a flawless throwback to the 30s.

Raffaele began his career with Nice Shoes in 2001 and joined Deluxe in 2009. Now at Technicolor PostWorks, he is amongst the sought-after colourists in New York, and counts himself fortunate for getting the opportunity to work with veteran cinematographer Vittorio Storaro on Allen’s Café Society. Raffaele tells Vinita Bhatia what an amazing experience it was to work with Storaro and how he enjoyed grading the movie on Baselight.

You began your career in the shipping department of Nice Shoes. How did you end up becoming a colourist?

After graduating from film school, I ended up working in the shipping department of New York post house Nice Shoes, which had a very good training program. During my eight years there, I learned everything I could about video, film and post-production. I started my journey from shipping to colourist, doing everything from cleaning 35mm film to assisting commercial colourists. At that time I primarily graded commercials and music videos, all working at night.

When I started, we were primarily working with film on Spirit telecines, then switched to non-linear colour correction and finally to Baselight. I moved to Deluxe New York for the next six years, where the opportunity arose to grade Blue Bloods, a big CBS show. I had a chance to do a couple of feature films as well, working with cinematographers like Rachel Morrison, Igor Martinovic, and Dean Cundey.