Shifting Shades

Dan Cole, senior colorist, Technicolor London, served up a buffet of ingenious hues and shades to paint a vivid image of the future for USS Callister.

- Pradeep Suvarna

The human mind is a tricky thing – it comes up with complex questions like what will happen in the future when technology becomes all encompassing and falls outside the purview of legalese? Are robots and autobots capable of criminal activity and can they be sued for it?

These are just some of the theories explored in the USS Callister, Charlie Brooker’s anthology series about futuristic technology. This feature-length first episode of Black Mirror’s fourth season melds comedy, drama and bits of horror, tracing how gaming and artificial intelligence have made inroads into every aspect of modern life.

Dan Coles, senior colourist, Technicolor London worked on this feature. He tells us how he employed several different grading styles and looks for the distinctly different setups within the film.

How did you start out in post business and become a colorist? Was it something you always wanted to do? 

Like many people in post, I began as a runner and originally wanted to be an offline editor. I started out at SVC, which specialised in commercials, promos and short form – I remember carrying several huge 35mm film cans into the telecine suite for a Spice Girls promo grade, and hanging around to watch some of the session.

So, 1997 was when I first became interested, though it was not until I moved to Telecine that I actually trained as a colorist. One of my first jobs there was assisting in the DVD mastering of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas with Terry Gilliam – at that point I was confident I had found the right job.