
The FX original series The Old Man stars Jeff Bridges as the eponymous lead, former CIA operative Dan Chase, whose off-the-grid existence is rudely interrupted when an intruder breaks into his home. The confrontation sets off an epic game of cat and mouse, forcing Chase to go on the run as multiple parties seek to either bring him in or take him down.
Sean Porter served as lead cinematographer for the series' first season and shot four of the seven episodes, with Jules O'Loughlin, ACS, ASC and Armando Salas, ASC handling the remainder. Production on the series began in 2019 but was then delayed first by the pandemic and then when Bridges had to undergo cancer treatment. With the star's cancer in remission, production resumed and was completed earlier this year, in 2022.
Back in 2019, in advance of the original start of principal photography, Porter and series producer Allen Marshall Palmer met with Light Iron supervising colorist Ian Vertovec to establish the look for the show. Sean knew the look he wanted, Vertovec recalls. It was this rich, colorful, natural look, with more contrast than I expected. A lot of our conversation was about finding this dark level of contrast where theres a real richness to this world. We set the look with some camera tests, and then after a week or two of production, Sean came back and we worked on some scenes they'd assembled. Then Sean had to finish shooting, so we stole time together where we could find it. I took Seans concepts and worked with that through the first four episodes, and then we had our first pause.
When production eventually resumed, Light Iron senior colorist Ethan Schwartz picked up the baton, grading the final three episodes and seeing the series across the finish line. Ethan and I have collaborated on a number of shows, Vertovec shares. He colors What We Do in the Shadows now, and I did Season 1. We both colored on the show Utopia. So weve handed off a bunch of times.
Schwartz adds that when he took the reins on The Old Man, I watched all four episodes Ian had colored, which helped me get a feel for the show and understand the story and its emotional impacts. I was able to see how bright or dark Ian was making certain scenes and how he was achieving those luminance levels.
I was using the same show LUT that Ian built in Baselight, where it was broken out into its raw form, which makes it really beneficial when grading, Schwartz continues. It meant that I could turn off specific aspects of the LUT depending on what the scene called for instead of having to find a new LUT. We wanted to keep the skin tones nice and even but also filmic, with a bit more richness and warmth, and the black level at a dark enough place without crushing anything out, so you get really nice shadows and roll-off. The Old Man lives in this cinematic, dark world, but we didnt want it to be muddy. We wanted it rich, with really strong colors, but without it being poppy. We didn't want it to feel like a TV show.
The colors are more natural and less film muddy,' Vertovec agrees. You really notice it when police lights go off. It feels very true and very real, like there's not so much of a look' on it.
One of the series distinguishing characteristics is its pacing, highlighted by the regular use of long, single takes. I was always blown away by the tone and the pacing of the show, Vertovec offers. One of the big challenges of the grade were these long takes that go through the scene and wrap around the action. It can get a bit more complex when you're juggling all these layers and trying to hide transitions of color, tracking windows for minutes at a time with no cuts.
When it came time to begin grading the first episodes back in 2019, the studio wasn't asking for an HDR deliverable. Nevertheless, Vertovec suggested a Dolby Vision workflow, working natively in HDR while simultaneously reviewing the SDR trim. That way we would have both versions, and I actually find it's easier [to grade natively in HDR], Vertovec explains. Now it's more common, but three years ago it wasn't as normal. We were lucky we did it, though, because now they do want the HDR deliverable.
During the grade for the final three episodes, Porter has collaborated remotely with Schwartz, helping to make sure everything's falling in line with the established look, Schwartz notes. The biggest thing is that it needs to feel like you're watching a film, not a TV show. Maintaining the audience's attention and keeping them really focused on the story is the primary goal. That's the goal for almost every project, but particularly this one because of the action. You want to make sure everyone is engrossed when you get to those points, because they're really intense.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
03/02/2026
Tagboard, a modern, interactive graphics system for news, sports, and entertainm...
03/02/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) announces the launch of Trio, a new S3-compatible cloud storage service fully integrated with EVO for media backup, archival, and...
03/02/2026
50 Production Trucks at center of 160 U.S.-based productions...
03/02/2026
Nielsen, which specializes in audience measurement, data, and media intelligence, announces that it is piloting a new methodology enhancement to more accurately...
03/02/2026
Appear's X Platform will be used by NBC Sports to deliver video compression, satellite modulation and transport stream aggregation for its production of the...
03/02/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
03/02/2026
NHL Network announces its comprehensive programming schedule for the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, underscoring the highly anticipated return of NHL players to...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports has chosen Canon to deliver 115 Canon UHD broadcast lenses for its production of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Canon will also send suppo...
03/02/2026
Audio-Technica equipment will be used by NBC Sports to deliver much of its audio capture requirements across all sporting venues for its production of the 2026 ...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will use Cisco to deliver AI networking technology for its all-IP production of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, including the deployment of...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will utilize Chyron PRIME CG to produce live broadcast graphics to display names, athlete information, scores, statistics, leaderboards, headshots an...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will utilize Grass Valley to deliver advanced signal conversion, rout...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will utilize Planar to deliver leading-edge fine pixel pitch LED video wall technology for its production of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics...
03/02/2026
Taking place in two venues, the 2026 production celebrates the 150th Anniversary of the Super Bowl of Dogs'
When the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show conc...
03/02/2026
For the indoor production, NEP Specialty Capture has mounted a 100-ft. overhead ...
03/02/2026
MTVG Edge, the production-services supplier's software-based production solu...
03/02/2026
In the league's second year, new partnerships enhance broadcast quality for ...
03/02/2026
Rocket Surgery will showcase the combined creative strength of Ross Video, with ...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will utilize Sony Electronics to deliver imaging, monitoring, and tec...
03/02/2026
SMT will provide TVI (broadcast television interface) support services for figur...
03/02/2026
Spotify's annual Best New Artist celebration returned to Los Angeles last ni...
03/02/2026
The smash-hit series The Hospital: In the Deep End returns to shine a spotlight ...
03/02/2026
FoMa Antares: Redefining Camera Stabilization for Modern ProductionsIn high-end broadcast and cinematic environments, precision, reliability, and flexibility ar...
03/02/2026
Viper Shield's robust phase of flight-testing production representative hard...
03/02/2026
Countries throughout the Indo-Pacific have made the ability to defend their people and sovereign borders a top priority, but no single nation can monitor every ...
03/02/2026
U.S. Marine loads a round in an 81 mm mortar system during an exercise. (Credit: U.S. Marines)...
03/02/2026
9905MPx Card features unprecedented level of density with four independent signa...
03/02/2026
Champaign, IL - November 15, 2021 - Cobalt Digital, announced today that three of its products have received 2021 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards. Cobalt, ...
03/02/2026
Cobalt is pleased to confirm that Log4j vulnerability does NOT affect ANY Cobalt products including the HPF-9000 frame.
Given the recent concerns regarding wi...
03/02/2026
Software-based embedding and de-embedding solution will be highlighted at NAB 20...
03/02/2026
Series developed to fill an industry need.
Champaign, IL April 13, 2022 Cobalt Digital will introduce a new series of BlueBox Group (BBG) EO/OE 12G mini...
03/02/2026
Company receives Best in Shows from Next TV and TVB Europe, and two Product of the Year awards from NAB
Champaign, IL - May 6, 2022 - Cobalt Digital Inc. head...
03/02/2026
IBC Preview - IBC Stand 10.B44Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Cobalt will al...
03/02/2026
IBC Stand 10.B44Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Dr. Ciro Noronha, CTO, tapped as a panelist and speaker by many - and then there's the party!
Amsterda...
03/02/2026
IBC Stand 10.B44Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Growth Drives Cobalt Digital to Promote Dr. Ciro Noronha to CTO, and Appoint Anthony Tan as Director of Sale...
03/02/2026
IBC Stand 10.B44Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Dr. Ciro Noronha, CTO, tappe...
03/02/2026
Manufacturer plans also include solutions that provide a path to the cloud and redundancy updatesCABSAT Stand S1-I42Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Dubai - ...
03/02/2026
Award-Winning Product Portfolio is Being Presented on Smart Video Group Stand, and Company's Berend Blokzijl is Scheduled to Share RIST Insight on Innovatio...
03/02/2026
NEW Location IBC Stand 10.F42 Same Hall, NEW StandJournalists: Click to visi...
03/02/2026
TVBEurope spoke with our very own Dr. Ciro Noronha about RIST and more.Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST) is growing in popularity for contribution and d...
03/02/2026
NEW Location IBC Stand 10.F42 Same Hall, NEW StandJournalists: Click to visi...
03/02/2026
NEW Location IBC Stand 10.F42 Same Hall, NEW StandJournalists: Click to visit CobaltCatch Cobalt's Blue WAVE of Innovation in a New LocationHighlights t...
03/02/2026
Cobalt Digital Scores Best of Show Awards at IBC 2023 from TVB Europe and TV Technology
Amsterdam, 2 October 2023 - Cobalt Digital has announced that it has w...
03/02/2026
NAB NY Booth: 1126Cobalt Digital to Present New PACIFIC Ultra-Low Latency 4K HEVC Encoder / Decoder Platform at NAB NY 2023Cobalt's NAB NY Plans Have Live P...
03/02/2026
Cobalt's Inter BEE Line-up Targets 4K 2110 Processing with INDIGO Option and Offers High-Density Routing Solutions with New WAVE SeriesNew Mini Converters a...
03/02/2026
Cobalt Digital's NAB 2024 Plans Include a Simplified Path to ATSC 3.0
Other Highlights include Enhanced IP Multiviewers, Expanded Router and Control Panel ...