The FilmLight Colour Awards 2024 jury recently gathered ahead of casting their final votes for this year's nominees. During the discussion, George Miller, 2024 Jury Guest of Honour, talked to Jury President, Mandy Walker, and other jurors, about his evolving relationship with colour.
Telling stories
Cinema is always changing, says Miller. I think the big advance in cinema, after its language was defined by the silent filmmakers, was when sound came along. And then, one could argue, the next big shift was the digital revolution.
Miller said the biggest attraction to the cinema for him was to be able to help to tell stories, followed by two other interests.
Two things I've always been interested in. First, the shift in the syntax of cinema and, second, the tools and technology available to us, says Miller. I feel very fortunate that I'm still curious about filmmaking, while working in this digital age. I remember, during the celluloid era, going to labs and engaging with the colourists who, at the time, worked with very limited tools. Back then I was astonished by what they could do. But we never imagined we'd have the plasticity' of the image available to us today.
Discovering the power of the colourist
During the discussion, Miller recalled meeting up with cinematographer Andrew Lesnie during the making of Lord of the Rings, where he truly realised the significance of the role of the colourist in the filmmaking process.
I remember a moment when it really struck me how significant the colourist's role is. I was with Andrew Lesnie, who was shooting Lord of the Rings. We were in Wellington and he took me to the DI suite, which was just a room with a few computers, and he said, what's happening here is that we're not only grading the movie, but Peter is using it as his final pass of the film in terms of VFX.' I remember the shot included horses riding along a river and they all had red eyes, which he did in the DI. He was not only colouring the film, he was also doing digital effects. It was a huge thing.
Fury Road
I've been very lucky to travel along with the technology, doing animations like Happy Feet and then on to Fury Road over a decade ago, adds Miller. The Fury Road cinematographer, John Seale, who came out of retirement for the film, was a pioneer in terms of using gels and all sorts of filters in camera. He is a great operator, he loved the practical element and here he was, shooting his first digital film, on a digital camera. What really struck me, despite his age and experience, was how well he adapted. It really blew me away.
As he went through the process, getting involved intimately with the colourist, he was so excited. He said, you know, I think the day will come, when people will recognise the colourist hand-in-hand with the cinematographer'.
Cinematography, visual effects, colour
And now, a decade later, I am having the same experience with visual effects, adds Miller. The overlap between cinematography, visual effects and colour is much more effective today than it was. And it's a lovely moment because it's so holistic. If we can break down the silos, we will see it evolving even more. It's happening so quickly and it's such a wonderful thing.
Colourist as the nexus
The other person who really turned me on to the potential of colour was Jean-Pierre Jeunet, adds Miller. I remember he said one of his favourite moments making movies was at the end, sitting in a theatre with the colourist in Paris for two weeks - I think it was on Amelie - and it was the most joyous two weeks of his film making. I have come to experience this, too.
For the films I work on, we tend to get the colourist involved early, really forging the path for the visual effects. The biggest problem, I think, with visual effects, is that it can be so widespread - people from all over the planet are working on it - usually spending a lot of time on a specific series of shots. With this, there's a risk of losing cohesion and the colourist is the nexus of all these interactions.
This is why I am so excited to be doing this and seeing all the wonderful work that is being done across so many different platforms and media - it is a very significant moment and one that will develop even more.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
03/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar acquisition for Tegna and set deadlines f...
03/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
03/12/2025
NEW YORK Great American Media said it plans to launch Pure Flix Familia, a dedicated Spanish-language platform, in 2026....
03/12/2025
SOUTHPORT, Conn. Main Street Sports Group has announced that the FanDuel Sports Network app is now available directly on Vizio and on smart TVs with Vizio OS. T...
03/12/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced that Telia, the second-largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's c...
03/12/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. Sinclair said Jay Zollar, vice president and general manager of WLUK-WCWF here, will retire Dec. 31 after 26 years running the stations. Station...
02/12/2025
Case Study: How Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Moved to All-IP Distribution in 60 D...
02/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Lee Corso, Coach, Commentator, FirebrandBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | S...
02/12/2025
SVG All-Stars: Dan Nabors, Senior Director, Remote Engineering, TNT SportsThe veteran tech leader is helping guide Warner Bros. Discovery's at-home' re...
02/12/2025
National Lacrosse League Opens Season With New Cloud-Based Official Replay-Revie...
02/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: The Cinematic Look in Live Production - Bridging Aesthetic...
02/12/2025
SVG India Announces Advisory Board; JioStar's Prashant Khanna Named ChairmanBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 11:15 am
Print This Story |...
02/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: New AI Production Tools Workshop' Features ESPN, F...
02/12/2025
Written and directed by Hailey Gates, Atropia won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival....
02/12/2025
The lightweight and highly portable CORVUS-RAVEN, recently demonstrated at the V...
02/12/2025
The lightweight, rugged Panther 2 tri-band VSAT delivers high-speed data communications for Internet, VPN connectivity and video transmission over commercial an...
02/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
02/12/2025
NGID volunteers in the United States
NGID volunteers in Mexico
NGID volunteers in India
NGID volunteers in Spain
NGID volunteers in Australia
NGID voluntee...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
SAN DIEGO Sony Electronics today introduced the Alpha 7 V (ILCE-7M5), the fifth generation of its Alpha 7 full-frame mirrorless lineup, powered by the newly dev...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on Nexstar Media Group's proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna and se...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters has added a trio of media executives, Veronica Rodriguez, Matt Schnaars and Jeff Warshaw, to its board of di...
02/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
02/12/2025
BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced a new Service Provider Partner agreement with NPC Media, the Australian managed p...
02/12/2025
DPA Microphones today announces the immediate availability of its new N-Series Digital Wireless Microphone System for customers throughout the U.S. In addition ...
02/12/2025
Hiltron Communications reports a well attended and successful Space Tech Expo exhibition, held at the Messe Bremen from Tuesday November 18 through Thursday Nov...
02/12/2025
The beginning of September saw Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, in association with Channel 9 and Triple M, kick off the 2025 Brisbane Festival in spec...
02/12/2025
SGM Lighting is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with ACT Entertainment, under which ACT will serve as the exclusive distributor for SGM's ne...
02/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Telia, the second largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's i...
02/12/2025
European cloud data protection specialist Keepit is expanding its sales network in the DACH region and has gained TIM AG, one of the leading value-added distrib...
02/12/2025
Featured products at ISE 2026
This year s ISE 2026 theme "Push Beyond" reflects Calrec s direction of travel. The company is dedicated to supporting the AV an...
02/12/2025
Czech Television, the national public broadcaster, has deployed one of the largest LiveU live production projects in the region for live sports and news coverag...
02/12/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced the release of v8.2 software for its ZEN and ZEN-W Series, bringing advanced cinematic camera se...
02/12/2025
Global provider of video streaming software and services, Accedo, and OTT platform provider, Magine Pro, have signed a binding agreement to carve out and merge ...
02/12/2025
With proven success in broadcast, OTT, and content supply chains, K.S Avinash set to scale Skandha's service-first approach across APAC
Skandha Media Servi...
02/12/2025
AJA Video Systems has joined the RAVENNA community, a network of partners devoted to advancing the RAVENNA standard for distributing real-time audio over intern...
02/12/2025
HUNT VALLEY, Md. Sinclair and its wholly-owned subsidiary One Media Technologies have released a new report focused on how ATSC 3.0, the IP-based NextGen TV sta...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON Members of the Advanced Television Systems Committee have elected four industry veterans to three-year terms on the organization's board of direc...
02/12/2025
A new survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan highlights how important social media is for younger consumers, with Gen Z spending 5.1 hours a day on so...
02/12/2025
Faculty Notes: Fall/Winter 2025 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.
December 1, 2025
By
Editorial Staff
The cast of Kind of M...
02/12/2025
Today, Mistral AI announced the Mistral 3 family of open-source multilingual, multimodal models, optimized across NVIDIA supercomputing and edge platforms.
M...
02/12/2025
Ring In The Holidays With Our Biggest Sale Ever On Ivory II Pianos!From now until December 31st, you can save 50% or more on every Ivory II piano and collection...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Made in America: How Stranger Things' Electrified the US Economy
Entertainment
02 December 2025
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to cl...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Culinary Class Wars' Season 2 Trailer Teases New Rules, R...
02/12/2025
--
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Unio...
02/12/2025
Harmonic's cOS Platform Will Redefine Subscribers' Quality of Experience, Lowering Churn SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 2, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today...
02/12/2025
At AWS re:Invent, NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services expanded their strategic collab...
The FilmLight Colour Awards 2024 jury recently gathered ahead of casting their final votes for this year's nominees. During the discussion, George Miller, 2024 Jury Guest of Honour, talked to Jury President, Mandy Walker, and other jurors, about his evolving relationship with colour.
