FEATURE | FEMALE COLOUR I STS
The Little Drummer Girl
Blonde Animals
Nedbank commercial
A committed industry veteran of 25 years, Jet Omoshebi began her career hanging neg as a telecine colourist in 1993. Over the following decade, she graded hundreds of music videos and commercials at London post houses Rushes, MPC and SVC. Now a senior long form drama and feature film colourist at Goldcrest Post in London, Omoshebi’s work has won numerous awards, including both the prestigious Women in Film and Television Craft Award and the RTS Award for Picture Enhancement. She regularly gives talks and workshops, and has just completed the grade on Trust , a 10x one-hour drama series for FX Channel. “I had the advantage of starting on negative film,” Omoshebi says. “I became familiar with stocks and print processes – it was such an exciting time as colour correction was just coming into the digital age with DaVinci Renaissance. I think we had one shape – a parallelogram, and it would take some years to get to a circle! I still use DaVinci Resolve today, at Goldcrest it forms the hub of our workflow.” “When I started, there weren’t many female colourists or online editors in the UK, but fast forward 25 years and we have a wealth of talented women doing fabulous work in our industry.” JET OMOSHEBI Job title: Senior colourist at Goldcrest Post Production Location: London, UK Recent work: The Little Drummer Girl, Line of Duty, The Night Manager
ALEXANDRA POCQUET
JAX HARNEY
Job title: Senior freelance colourist Location: Paris, France
Job title: Senior colourist at CHEAT Location: London, UK Recent work: Puma commercial, Goldfrapp promo, Vogue Italia short, MyTheresa.com commercial
Alexandra Pocquet discovered grading by chance while working at a photochemical laboratory. After nine years at Mikros Image, she became a senior freelance colourist, and is now grading short and long form shows across Europe using both DaVinci Resolve and Baselight. One of her latest projects has been Varda by Agnès , the last documentary by iconic Oscar-nominated feminist and pioneer of the French New Wave movement, Agnès Varda. Other work as a colourist includes In Our Paradise and Mrs Fang . “Before I went freelance, I noticed there were frequently gender differences in salaries across the industry. There was also a common stereotype that women were more artistic while men were more technical,” she explains. “Things are improving, but sometimes old habits die hard!” Pocquet recommends ensuring images are graded as naturally and discreetly as possible, especially when it comes to working with skin tones. Recent work: Varda by Agnès, Tel Aviv on Fire, Women of Venezuelan Chaos, Blonde Animals
After initially training as a photographer, Jax Harney turned to the International Colourist Academy for classes with Kevin Shaw to make the transition into grading. After a stint freelancing from a spare room at home, she was recruited by the owner at CHEAT, Toby Tomkins, for the role of senior colourist. “Like many other roles within the film industry, colour has a problem with gender balance. I’m lucky to be part of a team showing support to emerging female talent,” Harney says. “Progress is slow but change is happening. My advice to anyone starting out is to knuckle down, be a sponge when it comes to learning knowledge from others, have faith in your work and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.” Harney has now worked across the globe on numerous advertising campaigns for clients including Toyota, Gucci, Peroni, BMW, Vans, Puma, Adidas and Stella McCartney, to name a few.
Portfolio: imdb.com/name/nm2146965/
Portfolio: cheatit.co/colourist/jaxharney
Progress is slow but change is happening. My advice to anyone starting out is knuckle down and have faith in your work
Portfolio: jetomoshebi.com
58 DEF I N I T ION | JULY 20 1 9
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