
Senior Colorist Marcy Robinson Grades HBO Max's Reality with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 31, 2023
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that HBO Films' docudrama Reality was graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Marcy Robinson, senior colorist at Nice Shoes, a New York City based film and episodic post production facility. With a large part of the film taking place in one room, Robinson was tasked with maintaining consistency while creating subtle nuances, an engaging challenge for the colorist.
Image Courtesy of HBO
With a breakout world premiere at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, Reality chronicles the true story of the FBI's interrogation of Reality Winner (Sydney Sweeney), a former member of the United States Air Force and NSA translator turned whistleblower. With Director Tina Satter having transformed the actual interrogation transcript into the successful play Is This a Room, she then adapted it into the riveting chamber film Reality, once again using dialogue verbatim from the FBI's audio recording of the interrogation.
According to DP Paul Yee, Reality is intentionally narrow in scope. It takes place in one house, mostly in one bare room, over the course of a few hours, he said. We wanted to limit the visual stimulus at the start of the movie so that any camera or character movement or lighting cue would feel deliberate and purposeful. As Reality's' story unfolds, the visual language slowly shifts from procedural and objective to subjective and visceral.
Robinson's focus during color grading involved considerable nuanced work, drawing the characters out somewhat from the starkness of the room, and adding exclamation marks through color, sometimes subtly and sometimes more obviously. Additionally, Robinson spent much of the grading process maintaining consistency.
Image Courtesy of HBO
Even though the film takes place mainly in this one room, there were a lot of subtle continuity concerns to keep us on our toes, noted Robinson. The room was quite bare and lit with fluorescent lights. We wanted that to feel authentic in its harshness but also visually appealing, so we walked a fine line with that throughout the grade. We wanted the room to have a beautiful normalcy, but the space itself wasn't very pretty, so that was part of the challenge.
Paul achieved some amazing in camera effects, and we had to match some of those in the grade, she added. In terms of Resolve, we used some OFX glow and tilt shift tools quite heavily at times. I also often used keying tools to keep windows and fluorescent lights in check and balanced.
May 30, 2023Live Social Media Content for Time Warp Mannheim Powered by Blackmagic DesignBlackmagic Design today announced that production company LiveFRAME deployed a multicamera workflow based
May 29, 2023Tribeca Film Festival Entry Sealed Off Graded in DaVinci Resolve StudioBlackmagic Design today announced that the short film Sealed Off, which is
Initially, I thought that the limited locations would make the grade faster than usual, but in the end, it actually made color continuity much more critical, said Yee. For instance, an overall luminance shift in one shot could affect the work for minutes in both directions on the timeline.
I think that the greatest strength of Marcy and my working relationship is that we can discuss the grade in the abstract as opposed to the strictly technical. Her understanding of color theory in tandem with her prowess with Resolve allows her to synthesize the thoughts and feelings in the room and project them onto the screen.
Image Courtesy of HBO
Reality' is an outstanding film and a project that feels very dear to me. I really loved working with Tina and Paul. They are ridiculously talented and such fantastic collaborators, concluded Robinson.
Reality is now airing on HBO and streaming on Max.
Enjoying the news? Sign up for the Creative COW Newsletter! Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly updates on industry news, forum highlights, jobs, inspirational tutorials, tips, burning questions, and more! Receive bulletins from the largest, longest-running community dedicated to supporting professionals working in film, video, and audio.
Enter your email address, and your first and last name below!
-- Sign up: * indicates required
Email Address *
Name
--
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
13/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/04/2026
Explore new Disguise plugins, including Sony's VP integration; Listen to panels across partner booths at Sony and B&H
Disguise, the company powering everyt...
13/04/2026
TAG Video Systems, the leading IP-native Realtime Media Platform, has announced its participation in the Media Exchange Layer (MXL) interop initiative. TAG has ...
13/04/2026
Today, Chaos launched V-Ray for Blender Community Edition at BCON Austin 2026, making its production-proven 3D renderer free for all Blender users. The same Aca...
13/04/2026
Additions strengthen LTN's leadership as broadcasters scale satellite-to-IP transition
LTN today announced the appointments of Mark Romano as Vice Presiden...
13/04/2026
LEEDS, UK, APRIL 13, 2026 NUGEN Audio releases Halo Vision v1.2, a significant update to its real time, customizable audio analysis suite for 3D, surround and...
13/04/2026
Atomos today announced the acquisition of Flanders Scientific (FSI), one of the most respected names in professional reference monitoring. This strategic move r...
13/04/2026
How Mei Semones Built Her Sound from J-Pop, Jazz, and Bilingual Songwriting The indie-pop artist combines agile guitar lines, rhythmic shifts, and lyrics that...
13/04/2026
Cue the Change: Jonathon Heyward Is Making Classical Music More Relatable Nicknamed the Converse Conductor, the Boston Conservatory alum holds top conductin...
13/04/2026
Heat Wave: Inside Miamis Sizzling, Boundary-Blurring Latin Music Scene In a city shaped by migration and exchange, Berklee alumni are helping drive a Latin mu...
13/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/04/2026
DHD audio, developer and manufacturer of digital audio systems for professional broadcast, has launched a comprehensive brand update to mark its 30th anniversar...
13/04/2026
Stegawave, an Irish technology company specialising in forensic watermarking for video content, today announced the launch of its anti-piracy platform for live ...
13/04/2026
New version of Quortex PowerVu delivers a standards-based approach to satellite-to-IP transitions, eliminating the need for baseband workflows and complex infra...
13/04/2026
Grass Valley LDX camera systems enable leading German production company to support broadcast and cinematic live production within a single environment.
Grass ...
13/04/2026
London, UK, 13 April 2026 Techex and MediaKind today announced a partnership to integrate Techexs IP transport and orchestration technology, tx edge, directly...
13/04/2026
In today's hybrid education environments, there is no one-size-fits-all' AV solution. Lightware's extensive AV portfolio addresses this challenge, ...
13/04/2026
Mediaproxy, the global standard for software-based IP compliance monitoring and multiviewing solutions, has developed a new suite of AI-powered tools designed t...
13/04/2026
Freelance Video Cameraman - Los Angeles
Brie Clayton April 13, 2026
0 Comments
Freelance Video Cameraman
April 8, 2026COW Jobs: Director Needed for ...
13/04/2026
Atomos to Acquire Flanders Scientific
Brie Clayton April 13, 2026
0 Comments
Strengthening commitment to precision monitoring, from camera to delivery...
13/04/2026
Digital Anarchy Announces ShotNotes, A Notepad and Task Tracking Panel for Premi...
13/04/2026
NAB 2026 Live Demo at HP Booth Highlights JALI Powered Interactive AI Character ...
13/04/2026
Manifold Introduces AT300 Multiviewer Support at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 13, 2026
0 Comments
and adds HDR-SDR conversion to the recently announced...
13/04/2026
RT Radio 1 has today launched a significant step in its ongoing strategic evolution. Following the launch of its brand-new schedule late last year, RT Radio 1...
13/04/2026
The Late Late Show Opening Act, the search for Ireland's newest country musi...
13/04/2026
RT has today announced the appointment of Annemarie Britz to the position of Chief Financial Officer, RT following a public competition.
Annemarie Britz is c...
12/04/2026
Headphone system designed for immersive monitoring
With the demand for immersive audio showing no signs of slowing down, lots of companies are turning their...
12/04/2026
Beeble expands AI production workflow ahead of NAB 2026 with background remover
Brie Clayton April 11, 2026
0 Comments
Ahead of its upcoming participa...
12/04/2026
Like and Transcribe Mei Semones BM '22 blends languages and techniques to create her singular style.
April 10, 2026
By
Bryan Parys
Mei Semones BM '...
12/04/2026
Cue the Change Nicknamed the Converse Conductor, Jonathon Heyward BM '14 is making classical music more relatable.
April 10, 2026
By
Sarah Godcher Murp...
12/04/2026
Heat Wave Inside Miamis sizzling, boundary-blurring Latin music scene.
April 13, 2026
By
Ricardo Herrera Bandrich
Image by Stella Levi
Down there: Thats ...
11/04/2026
Engineer collective welcome Freddy Knop
Infrasonic, an award-winning collective of audio engineers operating out of Nashville and Los Angeles with credits r...
11/04/2026
Combining launched effects with a proven mission aircraft, Red Wolf and SKY RAI...
11/04/2026
3D printed RL10 rocket engine combustion chambers shown in the manufacturing are...
11/04/2026
Sachtler Highlights Comprehensive Camera Support Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 11, 2026
0 Comments
Sachtler showcases advanced camera suppo...
11/04/2026
Sohonet Launches Media Fabric: A Unified Managed Infrastructure Suite for Film, ...
11/04/2026
AJA Unveils BRIDGE LIVE IP with SMPTE ST 2110 I/O
Brie Clayton April 11, 2026
0 Comments
New IP video solution streamlines modern productions, providi...
11/04/2026
InSync Unveils Advanced Video Processing and Frame Rate Conversion Solutions at ...
11/04/2026
Amagi Launches Newspulse: An Agentic AI Platform That Autonomously Turns Live Ne...
11/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...